Written by Chris Huber

We hope that all of you are doing well and enjoying the last days of summer.  We wanted to take this opportunity to update you on some recent developments in Guatemala.  There continue to be many rumors floating around concerning various changes to the adoption laws in Guatemala.  There was yet another adoption law presented to the Congress last week which is basically a compilation of bits and pieces of previous adoption law proposals.  As always, FTIA has been closely monitoring the situation through our attorneys in Guatemala and other contacts.  We have been receiving very accurate and timely information regarding this proposal from our attorneys in Guatemala.  We are happy to announce that the Congressional Commission reviewing the bill decided not to approve it for presentation to the full Congress.  When the commission does not it approve a bill, it means the bill cannot be presented for a vote before the full Congress and the future for this particular bill does not look very good.

For the past few years, there have always been many rumors circulating about Guatemala.  We want to reassure our families that we will pass along to you only true and accurate information.  One point of clarification that is worth mentioning is regarding the common rumor of an immediate shut down on adoptions.  There is no individual person or organization in Guatemala with the legal authority to suspend adoptions.  Any changes would have to be made through new legislation and that is a time consuming process.  Even after the passage of a new bill, it would take weeks or months before it would take effect and almost all of the new laws permit cases already in process to be completed under the laws which were in effect at the time they began and thus would not affect any families with referrals at the time. 

We do want to remind all of our adopting families about a change in the policy of the US State Department regarding the issuance of the child's visa during your trip to Guatemala.  In the past they were able to issue the visa for adoptive children the same day as the interview at the Embassy.  Guatemala was one of the very few countries where that was still a possibility.  Due to increased security measures, the US State Department can no longer complete the visas on the same day which will necessitate an additional day in Guatemala for our adoptive families.  We hope that you will see this as a positive change allowing you additional time to get to know your child’s country of birth.

Over all, the process in Guatemala continues to move well.  We are still receiving a steady flow of referrals and our wait times continue to stay low.  We are still seeing wait times of 0-1 month for infant boys and 2-3 months for infant girls.  Processing times from receipt of the power of attorney until travel continue to average about 5-6 months. 

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