URGENT

I just received this from our agency director this morning. We are not sure if this is correct or not but, as you can see in the next paragraph this is from a "very reputable" source. I ask that everyone will come together and PRAY for these children and there birth mothers. May they feel a hedge of protection around them and may they know that there's are MERELY LIES. Even if you are not or have not adopted PLEASE pray!!!

Evidently, this is actually being circulated by Karen from HAPS, a very reputable agency.



Hi there clients--

It was reported to me today (by ATTNY NAME HERE) who was at PGN in
connection with birthmother interviews (being conducted by PGN and CNA
staff) that birthmothers are being offered money to cancel their
adoptions:

Specifically, if a birthmother cancels her pending adoption and takes
back her child, she will receive (at least this is the promise) Q500 (
which is approximately $70 US ) per month until the child turns 18
years of age.

This is quite shocking, taking into account that

the only role that CNA was supposed to have in old adoptions was to
register and certify them as such
the role of PGN, under the old adoption law, was to ascertain that in
every case that all Guatemalan and international norms with regard to
child protection had been met
under the new adoption law, old cases that were properly registered
and certified as such were supposed to be handled completely as old cases
PGN never had the role of bribing birthmothers to cancel their adoptions
therefore, this is hardly the time for PGN to take on that role
moreover, since CNA apparently does not even have enough money to take
care of children entering orphanages in 2008, nor enough money to
fully carry out its administrative mandate, how in the world does it
plan to fund these promises to birthmothers ?
This ugly turn of events requires strong action, and it also requires
that the word be spread rapidly. It would make me happy to see the
contents of this email disseminated via word of mouth from one family
to another, but more importantly, publicized on the various e-lists
and adoption blogs and Guatemala adoption news websites that you all read.

If enough families bring this to the attention of their agencies, and
if enough agencies alert their Guatemalan facilitators (some of whom
probably do not know about this), maybe there will be a groundswell of
indignation that will lead to telephone calls and emails to our State
Department, to the Guatemalan Embassy in Washington and to the offices
of President Colom and the PGN in Guatemala City.

Indeed, perhaps some of the agencies potentially affected will even
see fit to send some money to Guatemala to launch a legal attack (
such as the filing of an amparo ) on this strange method of stopping
adoptions.

Karen Cummings Dushnick
Director of Guatemalan Adoptions
HAPS
PHONE 732-292-0360
FAX 732-292-2545