Voice 1
Thank you for joining us for today’s Spotlight program. I’m Ryan Geertsma.
Voice 2
And I’m Liz Waid. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1
For most parents, having a child is a blessing. A child brings love and joy into the home. Many people around the world hope to someday have a child.
Voice 2
However, for some parents, having a child is difficult. They may not be able to care well for their children. Sometimes, they can get help - from family or friends, from the government or aid groups. But sometimes this help is still not enough. So some parents decide to put their child up for adoption. They ask an organization or the government to find new parents for their child. They give their child to a new family.
Voice 1
Rosa-Maria Mendizabal lives in Guatemala. Seven years ago, she gave birth to a daughter. She already had two young sons. And the father of her children did not want to care for them. She did not have enough food or money to give her children what they needed. So Rosa-Maria made a difficult choice - she chose to give her daughter up for adoption. She tells her story.
Voice 3
“What could I do with three children? I did not have anything to give the two I already had, so I could not provide for a third child.
I went to a woman to talk about my problems, and she told me about the adoption process. I decided to give my daughter up for adoption because I did not have anything ready for her, I had nothing. I wanted her to have a family and somebody to support her.
Now I have a job and I have a way to provide for my other two children. Things are much better and they can go to school.
My work involves the adoption process. I talk to mothers who are giving up their children. And it is easier to know why the mothers are giving up their children because now I know how they feel.
I understand that the children can have a better life, they can have a home, they can have enough to eat.
I am still sad that I gave my daughter up. I long to see her. But I know that if I had kept her, she probably would have died.”
Voice 2
Adoption is difficult for the parents who give up a child. Usually, they do not see that child again. But they understand that they are giving their child a better life.
Voice 1
Many parents who adopt children are from the United States. And just like Rosa-Maria’s daughter, many of the adopted children come from Guatemala. In 2007, U.S. families adopted more than 4,000 Guatemalan children.
Voice 2
However, there is concern that some adoptions happen for the wrong reasons. When a family adopts a Guatemalan child, they must pay almost 30,000 dollars. Most of this money goes to law experts, lawyers. They make the adoption legal. Some people believe that these lawyers act improperly. They may pay women to give up their children for adoption. Or they may accept children who were stolen from their parents. By doing this, some lawyers hope to earn more money by working on more adoptions.
Voice 1
The United Nations’ children’s organization, UNICEF, has urged the Guatemalan government to make a change. UNICEF’s top worker in Guatemala, Manuel Manrique, said,
Voice 4
“Guatemala needs a new adoption system. Right now, we are just finding children for families that want a child. Instead, we should only have adoptions where a child needs a family.”
Voice 2
Norma Cruz is the director of the Guatemalan Survivors Foundation. She helps women whose babies have been lost to adoption. She also believes that Guatemala needs to change the adoption laws.
Voice 5
“We are not against the adoption of children that do not have a family. What we are against is this business that it has become. People are getting rich selling children that have been taken away from their mothers.”
Voice 1
Ana Escobar is one of the women that Norma has helped. Ana says that her six month old daughter was stolen from her in March of 2007.
Voice 6
“I used to have a business selling shoes. I kept my daughter with me while I worked. One day a man came into my store. He threatened to hurt me and demanded that I give him everything in the store.
...While he attacked me, other people came into the store and took my baby. By the time he let me go, my baby was gone.
Since then, I have been looking for her. I have no idea where she has gone. She would be fourteen months old now.”
Voice 2
With help from Norma Cruz and the Survivors Foundation, Ana hopes that she will find her daughter. But it may be very difficult.
Voice 1
Because of stories like this, the Guatemalan government has put a new adoption system into place. Beginning in 2008, all adoptions must use many new rules. For example, a central government authority will approve all adoptions. Families will not use individual lawyers. And the fee system will be clear. This should keep the adoption process more honest.
Voice 2
Parents giving up children for adoption must also prove that they are the child’s real parent. To do this, they must take a DNA test that can compare the child’s genes to the parent’s genes. This way, a person cannot give up a child that is not their own.
Voice 1
The Guatemalan government hopes that this new system will stop illegal adoptions. They hope that it will keep children safe. They believe that it will stop adoptions that happen for the wrong reasons.
Voice 2
But some people are afraid that these new rules will hurt children. There are many children’s homes in Guatemala. Workers in these homes care for children, when their families cannot care for them. These homes are often paid for by adoption money. Under the new rules, the homes will not be able to collect this money.
Voice 1
Susana Luarca is an adoption lawyer. She also started a children’s home in Guatemala. She is very worried. She fears that children’s homes will close without help from adoption money.
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“These new rules do not help children. These rules have not helped in other countries where they have been used. The rules only stop adoptions.”
Voice 2
Without the homes, it is unclear what will happen to these children. It is difficult to know what Guatemala should do. Adoptions can be a wonderful thing for children and for families. But if they happen for the wrong reasons, they can be very harmful, too.
Voice 1
What do you think about this issue? Do you think the Guatemalan government is doing the right thing? Or do you think the new rules will hurt children who need new families? You can e-mail us your comments at radio @ english . net.
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