Hiatus on Guatemalan Adoptions

In the midst of investigating claims of fraud, Guatemala has halted all foreign adoptions.  Since January, adoptions that were once handled by private attorneys have been handed over to a government agency. The US State Department has reported evidence of coercion and payment by attorneys, in addition to lawyers paying young women to conceive children solely for the purpose of adoption. 

This reform of adoption policy in Guatemala potentially affects over 2,300 adoptions, many of them involving American parents.  This has dramatic potential for international adoption, with an increase of adoptions from Guatemala increasing from 3 percent of off American adoptions in 1990 to 20 percent of all adoptions in 2006.