Latin American Culture Camps

When Carlos gets a little older, I really hope we can attend Latin American Culture/Adoption camps on a regular basis. From what I’ve read about these camps, they provide internationally adopted children various benefits:

• learn more about their birth culture and heritage
• connect with other children from their birth country
• connect with other adopted children

And there are benefits for the families of adopted children, too:

• show the adopted child that the family is interested in his or her heritage
• connect with other families with adopted children
• learn more about their child’s birth country and traditions

Plus, it just sounds like a fun thing to do as a family!

I decided that now is a great time to start looking into these camps, since it helps to divert my attention from the fact that Carlos is not home with us quite yet. Here is a list of some of the camps I’ve found on the Internet:

Latin American Heritage Camp (Colorado)
An article about one family’s experience at the 2006 LAHC

La Semana – The Family Culture Camp for Kids From Latin America (Minnesota)

Mis Amigos Culture Camp (sponsored by Latin America Parents Association, National Capital Region (LAPA-NCR) (Washington D.C.)

Guatemala Adoptive Families Event (GAFE) (New Jersey)

Mi Pueblo (Ohio)

Heritage Camp (sponsored by Families for International Children) (Michigan)

The Hague Convention and Guatemala

Here are some questions my husband e-mailed to the Department of State last week:

Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2006 10:09 PM
To: AdoptionUSCA@state.gov
Subject: The Hague Convention and Guatemala

I have just a few questions regarding the United States implementation of the Hague Convention with regard to Guatemala.

1. What is the expected time frame in 2007 the US will implement the Hague Convention? (beginning of the year, middle, end,…)
2. Is it possible that the US would stop adoptions from Guatemala at some time before the US implements the Hague Convention? If so, when?
3. How far along in the international adoption process will potential adoptive parents need to be if they are adopting from Guatemala? i.e. submission or approval of the INS form I-600A, Submission or approval of INS form I-600, etc…)

Thank you.

And here is the department’s reply:

From: AdoptionUSCA [mailto:AdoptionUSCA@state.gov]
Sent: Friday, December 01, 2006 10:09 AM
Subject: RE: The Hague Convention and Guatemala

Dear Mr. Wehrwein:

Thank you for your inquiry on whether the implementation of the Hague Convention has any bearing on an adoption case already in process from Guatemala. We can understand your concern, and Congress, in passing the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 (IAA), took this situation into account. Section 505(b) of the Act states that neither the Convention nor the IAA (and its implementing regulations by implication) shall apply if the application for advance processing of an orphan petition (I-600A) or petition to classify an orphan as an immediate relative (I-600) is filed before the date the Convention enters into force for the United States. The date of the Convention’s entry into force will be posted on our web site (www.travel.state.gov) and published in the Federal Register well in advance of its entering into force. We hope to implement the Convention in 2007 but do not yet know the precise date when that will happen.

Prospective adoptive parents who have not filed the I-600 or I-600A or equivalent forms before the Convention enters into force will have their entire Hague adoption governed by the Convention, the IAA, and the regulations implementing the IAA. This generally means that prospective adoptive parent(s) will need to select an accredited or temporarily accredited agency or approved person to provide adoption services to handle their case. If you have already filed the I-600 or the I-600A, then the Hague Convention will not apply in your case.

In regard to the specific situation in Guatemala, please monitor our website for updates. Below is a link to the most recent information on Guatemala. We will update this information as the situation warrants. It is important to note that unless Guatemala becomes compliant with the Hague Convention that once the U.S. ratifies the Convention that any future adoptions between the United States and Guatemala will not be permitted. The U.S. Department of State is however working closely with Guatemalan Government officials at the highest levels to ensure that adoption reform is designed to be in the best interest of the children. We are very concerned about reports that the Government of Guatemala might enact legislation that would immediately stop adoptions. In our dialogue with the Government of Guatemala, we continue to stress the importance of a smooth transition to a new procedure or system that complies with the requirements of the Hague Convention. The United States wants to make sure that no child is caught in the system as changes take place.

http://travel.state.gov/family/adoption/notices/notices_2859.html

We hope this information is helpful to you.

Sincerely,

Hague Implementation Staff
U.S. Central Authority
Department of State

We were both quite impressed with the quick and detailed reply. Although to be honest, they are probably used to answering these types of questions, and they might just do a copy-and-paste type of thing to answer them all. Nonetheless, it’s just another tidbit of information to file away in the ‘I-don’t-really-know-what’s-going-to-happen’ place in my brain. And it’s another reason to try and trust God, since He’s got it all figured out anyways.

Here’s hoping and praying that whatever happens IS the best thing for the children, and that corruption in the adoption process can be eradicated (if we lived in a perfect world) or at least greatly mitigated.  I have so much more to write on the entire corruption thing, but I need to get through my Linear Algebra course first.  The final is quickly descending upon me (Dec. 14), and I still have to figure out eigenvalues and eigenvectors.