CNN Stories on Guatemalan Adoption

There has been an increasing degree of scrutiny and pressure on the adoption process in Guatemala. I am attaching links to two videos on CNN about this topic:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/law/2007/03/12/cho.guatemala.adoptions.affl?iref=videosearch

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2007/10/04/whitbeck.guatemala.cnn?iref=videosearch

Also, the link to the related blog where you can see a broad spectrum of responses.

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/anderson.cooper.360/blog/2007/10/guatemala-adoption-troubling-tale.html

Attaching the following exerpt from the blog which I found particularly interesting to gain further insight into the possible perspective of birthmothers in Guatemala:

To truly understand why a Guatemalan woman places her child for adoption, you would have to understand more then the economic issues that surround her, but also the social issues. A woman in Guatemala is a second-class citizen. A poor Guatemalan woman, and even more, a poor Mayan Indian woman is pretty much the bottom of the social hierarchy. Many people think her of as sub-human in her country. She isn’t educated, she has few rights, she may be kidnapped and murdered without so much as a raised eyebrow from the authorities. Birth control isn’t acceptable or available in most communities, but these women often depend on relationships with men in order to survive because men are paid much more then women and are much more employable. It is a great stigma in Guatemala to give birth to a child outside of marriage. In some Mayan communities it is essentially a crime. She may be thrown out of her home or village, or worse. Many Guatemalan women place their children secretly, so to avoid the stigma and punishment that goes along with it. She risks her life because, as bad as it is to give birth before marriage, it is worse to give your child up for adoption. Many Guatemalans believe the children are being adopted to harvest organs or to be raised as slaved (after all, why would a white American want a baby from the bottom rung of the social ladder? They think). She gives her child up out of love for that child and a strong desire for the child to live and be loved and accepted. It is the greatest sacrifice. What happens when you take that right away? When she can’t place her child, and if she does, the powers that be will hunt down her family and expose her (in order to ask if any of them want the baby)? Children will be abandoned at alarming rates. Back-alley abortions will cause the death of many women. And the truly desperate will give their child over to God.This is a recipe for infanticide and death.