U.S. Adoptions Fueled by Guatemalan Kidnappings

Guatemalan Government Steps In

In January, the Guatemalan government implemented a new law and temporarily suspended adoptions following the high-profile raid of the Casa Quivira orphanage last August. In the raid, 46 children intended for American families were seized by Guatemalan government officials, and at least five women were found who had been issued false identities to obscure their true relationship to the children they delivered to the orphanage.

Neither the U.S. State Department nor Guatemalan officials would estimate the number of kidnapped children who end up adopted by American families, but Cruz estimates it could be as many as 50 percent of all U.S. adoptions of Guatemalan children.

Last week the Guatemalan government said it would investigate and put on hold each of the 2,286 pending international adoptions, of which nearly half are missing proper documents or include other irregularities, according to Associated Press interviews with the Guatemalan attorney general.

The government's new focus on pending international adoptions offers little solace to Par. Human rights investigators believe her daughter was adopted by an American family more than a year ago.

Last week, Par and three other mothers of kidnapped children began a hunger strike outside the presidential palace.

Daughter Tracked by Investigators

For days after Par's daughter, Heidy — then 1 year old — went missing, Par visited every police station she could to file a report. Three months later, with pressure from the Sobrevivientes Foundation, police found the kidnapper. Soon after, they believe they found documents that confirm the girl, who turned 3 on May 1, was adopted by an American couple.

Six months ago, Sobrevivientes investigators and a team from the Guatemalan national police department found a passport and adoption documents, issued by the Migration Department, to a girl Heidy's age under a different name.

Investigators recognized the girl in the passport photo. It was Heidy.

The foundation would not reveal the name or location of the American family that they believe adopted Heidy, because the investigation remains active. The Guatemalan government is overseeing the investigation, and Par has given a DNA sample in an effort to confirm her maternity.

Cruz said the case could soon be closed and Par reunited with her daughter. The American couple, like many who adopt from Guatemala, likely believed they were dealing with a reputable agency and had no idea the baby had been kidnapped, according to Cruz.