I believe the violence waged against the women in Guatemala through the kidnapping of their children for the adoption market is a tangible human rights violation. What is not as tangible, is the injustice and victimization of the adoptive families and the children caught in the middle. Unsuspecting families who may be separated from an adopted child they dearly love suffer a fate of unspeakable sorrow. The children who are torn from the only mother and father they know, who are deprived of their truthful origins and original family—and then potentially deprived of their adopted one—may suffer tragic consequences far into the future. I have met mothers on both sides of this scenario and on both sides of the border. The grief and loss of so many is not something I am capable of defining or remotely expressing in words, but it has made me unable to turn away.
Because I am an adoptive mother, I feel I must address both sides of the issue, despite being a strong and vocal supporter of the women in Guatemala. I believe most potential adoptive parents enter into adoption with an open heart and the best of intentions to parent a child defined by trusted profiteers as an “orphan”. It is this trust and good will that can render many adoptive parents oblivious to the larger profit motive and market their dollars helped create, and also can make them prime targets for fraud. Not only did adoptive parents trust those they paid (like agencies and facilitators), they trusted the US government and other entities to monitor the safeguards established to protect the system from corruption. But the system failed, and the ripple effect of these crimes is just beginning to be seen.
How did this happen? Who is responsible? Those directly involved in the fraud or kidnappings? Those who were to monitor established safeguards? Adoption facilitators and agencies? Adoptive parents? Or a perfect storm of all of these factors? In Guatemala, despite being known for issues of impunity and a weak judicial system, there have been arrests, sentences and imprisonments. But in the US, there has been no justice and no accountability. Those that profited millions through illicit adoptions and outright kidnapping enjoy the fruits of their crimes with no laws or regulations in place to hold them accountable. The US government has failed to come forward and publicly address the corrupted DNA system, kidnappings, or the US Embassy’s seeming continued use or involvement with banned facilitators or persons investigated for fraud. If the safeguards employed were working, how is it possible stolen children “passed” DNA tests? If we cannot trust these DNA tests, who can guarantee the legitimacy of thousands of adoptions? What does this mean for up to 25,000 adoptees?
In order to find justice and prevent history from repeating itself, I believe we must examine the system breakdowns, have accountability, and start on a path to justice. Addressing the system failures and corruption does not render every adoption fraudulent. It protects future families and children from fraud. There are thousands of legitimate orphans in the world who need homes, there is no reason to resort to illegal methods in Guatemala or any other country. But without addressing and resolving what happened in Guatemala, the how, when, and where the system failed, we are destined to repeat the same horrible scenario, and another wake of victims will surface, ironically, all under the guise of child welfare.
Jennifer Hemsley is an adoptive parent from Los Angeles, CA. Jennifer and her husband Todd have been in the adoption process for over two years after blowing the whistle about falsifications on the child’s DNA test. You can read about their story HERE.