No Referral Yet

Yesterday was the day in which the Director of my adoption agency returned from her trip to Guatemala. I had been anticipating that I would have received a referral following this trip but I called the agency yesterday afternoon and they had no news for me. I was very disappointed and deflated, but am hoping that after they settle back into the office I will receive a call...I am hoping it will be this week.

To make matters worse, the climate for adoptions in Guatemala is getting worse. On Saturday, August 12, forty-six children, believed abducted or coerced from their parents, were taken from Casa Quivira children's home, an orphanage/adoption home, in Antigua. The officials are trying to determine whether the children were stolen or obtained from their mothers under coercion. It was said that most of the children lacked the proper documents to be in the custody of someone other than their birth parents.

The travel situation in Guatemala is also getting worse for adoptive parents. With the raid on Casa Quivira and the inflammation of the people of Guatemala over it, it's not not only unsafe for the adoptive parents traveling, but also for the foster mothers coming to the hotel to take the child for their visits. The climate has gotten more tense in Guatemala. A hotel staff member warned another adoptive family about the situation and shared a story about a Guatemalan man running after an adoptive father with a machete yelling "American baby stealers...go home." The subject was arrested and hauled off the street, but it wasn't before the adoptive father was significantly shaken up by the situation.

I will definitely go to Guatemala to visit Gabriella and go on my pick up trip, I just will have to make sure that I adhere to my agency's recommendations and just use good "street smarts" when going to the embassy. I will not risk my or my my daughter's safety by venturing out on my own because of my curiosity or boredom. Sitting in a hotel room holding my daughter is just fine for me! Safe and sound...until the day she comes home!