Press Contact
Brigit Helgen
Press Secretary
(202) 224-3244
Amy in the News
Senator hears Guatemalan adoption worries (Star Tribune)
Waiting families may have to wait longer as Guatemala plans changes because of a treaty.
November 5, 2007
http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1528304.html
By Courtney Blanchard
James Carlos Casserly clutched a handful of plastic dinosaurs and a box of raisins in stern concentration. The 2-year-old had missed his Sunday afternoon nap, and his parents wanted to keep him preoccupied. His mother pointed to a photo of a smiling baby girl and asked who she was. He lifted his eyes from the dinosaurs and said, "Ruby."That's right," Julie Casserly said. "That's your sister."
John and Julie Casserly of Minneapolis adopted James Carlos as an infant from Guatemala after a relatively smooth nine-month process.
Ruby Rosario, born Rosario de Jesus in Guatemala, had been expected to join James Carlos in June, but Guatemala's plans to at least temporarily stop processing U.S. adoptions on Dec. 31 may lead to delays.
"You have no control over the system," Casserly said. "James Carlos is really our world. He means everything to us, and it's the same with Ruby. Even though we haven't held her yet, we already love her."
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., met Sunday with members of families and adoption agencies waiting to bring home children from Guatemala.
Guatemalan adoptions have been controversial because of claims that children have been stolen and parents coerced into giving up babies. The U.S. government has cautioned Americans to hold off on new adoption plans until the current dispute is cleared up.
That dispute involves the Hague Convention treaty, which sets rules for international adoption, Klobuchar said. Both countries have ratified the treaty, but neither has fully implemented it. Klobuchar estimated that the United States will be Hague-compliant by mid-2008.
According to the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala City, Guatemala set a Jan. 1 deadline for compliance and no longer will allow adoptions to countries not in compliance then, even if the adoption process started before the cutoff date.
Kjersti Olson, manager of the Latin America program at the Children's Home Society and Family Services in St. Paul, said 5,000 adoptions are threatened by the deadline.
Klobuchar has written to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the head of UNICEF and Guatemalan President Oscar Berger urging compliance and cooperation by all. "I truly believe something will change," she said.
As a single mother, Jessie King of Maple Grove said she said she doesn't have many adoption choices. The system of open adoption in the United States doesn't favor single moms, she said, and China recently closed its doors to single parents, even though she already adopted her 3-year-old daughter, Lily, from China.
As she waits for her baby, Willow, born Amanda in Guatemala, she calls and e-mails friends and relatives to urge them to contact their representative in Congress.
John Casserly said now the couple just have to wait.
"It worked once," he said. "We pray it will work again."
Senator Klobuchar’s Offices
302 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Main Line: 202-224-3244
Main Fax: 202-228-2186
Toll Free: 1-888-224-9043
1200 Washington Avenue South, Room 250
Minneapolis, MN 55415
Main Line: 612-727-5220
Main Fax: 612-727-5223
Toll Free: 1-888-224-9043
1130 1/2 7th Street NW, Room 208
Rochester, MN 55901
Main Line: 507-288-5321
Fax: 507-288-2922
121 4th Street South
Moorhead, MN 56560
Main Line: 218-287-2219
Fax: 218-287-2930
Olcott Plaza, Room 105
820 9th Street North
Virginia, MN 55792
Main Line: 218-741-9690
Fax: 218-741-3692