Birth moms face second tough adoption choice

updated 5:32 a.m. ET June 19, 2008

GUATEMALA CITY - The 24-year-old Guatemalan mother had already given up her baby once. Now, months later, the baby girl was back in her lap, smiling and playing with her mother's fingers.

And Karen Donis had to make the decision all over again.

The heart-wrenching process is part of a new Guatemalan government effort to ensure that mothers really wanted to give their babies up — and that children weren't bought or even stolen to be adopted to U.S. couples.

Sitting on a plastic chair in a neon-lit room cuddling her 8-month-old daughter, Donis ached to keep the child. But she knew she could never give her the life she deserved.

"I have turned the problem inside out, and I can't, I can't ... " said Donis, tears falling onto the girl. "I thought about keeping the baby, but I can't."

Sold or stolen?
Once just steps away from joining new families as U.S. citizens, the child is one of 2,286 Guatemalan babies now stuck in limbo, facing uncertain futures as Guatemala reviews every pending case.

One by one, women were called into a large room to prove they gave birth to the babies and swear they were not sold or stolen. Then, they were asked to make what for many had been the most difficult decision of their lives — again.

Almost all insisted on remaining anonymous and would not talk to journalists, fearing public scorn. But Donis agreed to let an Associated Press reporter attend her interview, a rare and exclusive glimpse into the heart-wrenching government review process.

The old system was ridden with conflicts of interest, false paperwork and illegal payments, but it quickly delivered babies to U.S. homes, and birth mothers could console themselves that their babies would have abundant opportunities for a better life.

Government-run orphanages
Now, most of these women don't even have that: Babies whose adoptions have been annulled will likely spend years in government-run orphanages before they can be adopted under the new rules.

Of the 2,286 pending cases, authorities have reviewed about 750, annulled 26 adoptions and are pressing criminal charges in nine against birth mothers, lawyers and civil registrars who allegedly forged documents, Attorney General's spokesman Jorge Meng said Monday.

Four birth mothers have decided to take their babies back, but even those cases must be cleared first, Meng said.

Meng suspects only a fraction of the fraud cases have been uncovered so far, since the easiest ones were reviewed first — those involving birth mothers who agreed to come in. Hundreds of other mothers have simply disappeared, and authorities suspect the people involved are laying low to avoid being charged with crimes.

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