Semillas de Amor goes to Washington, D.C.

As many of you know, in May of this year we had to illegal raids on our children’s home, one day apart. The raids were based on the revenge of two fired employees and an employee of the PGN in Chimaltenango that has had a grudge against us for several years. This man was fired from the PGN two days after the last raid for what he did to us but that never stopped the insane legal process, we never received an apology and have continued to be harrassed and the children, who are ready to go to their families in the United States and England have been held hostage at our children’s home by the Guatemalan government. It was suggested that we pay a visit to Washington, D.C.

Although there is a post on the RAIDS in the May archives on the blog here is a short update:
The Raids in May, 2008
Semillas de Amor is currently under unjust scrutiny by the Guatemalan government and legal system. The seeds of the current dilemma began innocently in April, 2008 when Nancy Bailey released several employees after they were caught stealing from the children’s home. These employees exacted revenge by feeding rumors regarding one of Semillas’ cases to the government agency in charge of processing adoptions (PGN). Over 40 PGN employees raided Semillas de Amor on May 12, 2008 based on these tips. They attempted to seize three of the children whose paperwork was off-site with the Semillas attorney in Guatemala City. Nancy Bailey resisted and refused to allow the children to be taken. Two days later, on May 14, 2008, the PGN raided again with an unfounded court order to take ALL of the Semillas children. Again, Nancy Bailey resisted and filed a legal appeal against the PGN. The local judge in Chimaltenango ruled in favor of Semillas de Amor and stated all children must remain at the hogar.

The “unsuccessful” raids started a series of PGN attacks on Semillas de Amor. The individual Semillas cases were subjected to unfair treatment as they moved forward in PGN; 5 babies were seized and placed in government homes during the unlawfully conducted PGN birthmother interviews in May, June & July. The PGN also initiated a criminal investigation by the Ministerio Publico (equivalent to the District Attorney) which led to another round of birthmother interviews in September, October, and November. In September, the PGN suspended all of the Semillas cases – they are currently “frozen” and none are moving forward or being released. The PGN claims that the MP gave the order to freeze the cases. The MP denies this allegation.

Many Adoptions are complete – Children have passports and Visas.
Before the PGN freeze, 12 children completely finished the adoption process. Their adoptive parents are declared the legal parents by Guatemalan law, and they have obtained Guatemalan passports and U.S. Visas for their trip home. Ironically, the families cannot fulfill their duties as parents even if they reside in Guatemala as the children are still court-ordered to remain at Semillas. In addition, Semillas currently has 13 children whose cases are at a standstill within PGN and 10 children who are released from PGN but delayed in their process by other entities influenced by the PGN.

MP Investigation
The MP investigation is essentially finished for many children. Birthmother interviews and background checks are complete. The MP has sign-off letters prepared and has promised to release them over a dozen times; the first verbal commitment was September 29th. The letters still sit on the MP investigator’s desk. The Semillas legal team believes this to be blatant unfounded stall tactics.

Semillas Legal Battle
Semillas de Amor has legally battled the allegations from the very beginning, and several adoptive parents have hired additional Guatemalan attorneys for their individual cases. After several judicial delays, the general Semillas hearing is now set for March, 2009.

The team of Semillas attorneys recently presented a proposal to judicially separate the children whose cases are complete from the overall Semillas de Amor case. The judge in Chimaltenango agreed in principal but requires a letter of approval from the MP and PGN for each individual case. The PGN states it will not move forward with any Semillas cases or write approval letters for the judge in Chimaltenango without the MP approval letters. Hence, Semillas is currently in a stalemate.

Why did this happen?
The Guatemalan attorneys believe that the motivation behind the actions against Semillas de Amor is as complicated as the situation itself. The most pertinent explanation is that many government employees are desperate to “justify their work.” With the Central Authority taking over new adoptions, many of the current positions will become obsolete with the completion of these adoptions. And secondly, Nancy Bailey resisted the unlawful acts of the PGN when they attempted to seize her children, making her a vulnerable target and inadvertently starting a personal war.

1. Nancy Bailey, founder of Semillas de Amor, is a U.S. Citizen with Guatemala residency.
2. Semillas de Amor is suffering financially. With income from adoptions halted, Semillas de Amor has now supported the needs of 51 children for many months beyond its budget and expectations. The adoptive families are paying a monthly foster care fee and fund raising to support the children and maintain Semillas’ quality of care. But it is not enough. We have 16 children that do not have adoptive families
3. Over the past several years, Nancy Bailey has constructed a new state-of-the art Children’s Village in Parramos, Guatemala. They are only waiting for electricity to move in. Once all of pipeline cases are home, Nancy Bailey will be moving her 16 remaining children to the new Children’s Village. It is her sincere hope to begin working with the new CNA to continue to find homes for Guatemalan children in need. You can see photos of the new property at: www.semillasdeamor.smugmug.com

Summary of Semillas de Amor Washington D.C. Meeting, 11.18.2008

A number of adoptive parents and Nancy Bailey attended several meetings in Washington, D.C. early this week. Attached is the summary of those meetings. All adoptive parents’ names have been deleted so there will be no negative repercussions by the Guatemalan government for being involved in the D.C. meetings. Thank you to Parent 3 for writing such a detailed summary.

First of all, an enormous thank you is in order to Parent 1.
Parent 1 is the one who made these meetings happen by getting the attention of Mark Moore of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute. Another huge thank you to Parent 2 and Nancy Bailey,who flew in from Guatemala to attend. Parent 2’s efforts as spokesperson,with the help of the Semillas legal team, helped our cause tremendously, and so did Nancy’s presence at these meetings.

We had a strong turnout. There were 19 of us advocating for ourchildren from all over the country. We all brought photos of ourchildren, and we also wore bright yellow buttons that said “FreeSemillas.” Collectively, we were a group that had a message we wanted to get across, and I believe we were heard loud and clear.

THE MEETINGS
There were basically four meetings: the first with the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute; the second with staffers of Senators and Representatives; the third with the U.S. Department of State; and the fourth back at the CCAI to debrief. So it was a whirlwind of a day with a few meetings that were very intense. Rebecca Harris, government relations and communications manager for Joint Council on
International Children’s Services, attended all of our meetings, and so did a representative from the National Adoption Council. It is soencouraging to know we have the ears of these influential organizations. We are not alone. People are finally listening, thepeople who can ultimately help us bring our children home.

THE FIRST MEETING: CONGRESSIONAL COALITION ON ADOPTION INSTITUTE

For those of you don’t know, the CCAI is a non-profit group dedicated to raising the awareness about the millions of orphans around the world in need of permanent, safe and loving homes and to eliminate the barriers that hinder those children from realizing their basic right to a family. They are a powerful pro-adoption organization that has already and will continue to help bring attention to our situation. They told us what we should expect at the meetings and how to convey our situation most effectively. Associate Director of Policy Mark Moore and Executive Director Kathleen Strottman talked to us at length, and were excellent sources of wisdom.

THE SECOND MEETING: SENATORS AND REPS
With the auto industry debacle and a large political convention in town, it was a very busy day for us to be in D.C. But that didn’t stop19 staff members from attending our meeting! What an excellent turnout. We had staff members working for senators and congressman from California, Maryland, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia,
Louisiana, Wisconsin and New Jersey. Even Texas came through, after
all, with 2 staffers: one from Sen. Hutchinson’s office and one from Rep. Johnson’s.

The meeting itself was extremely emotional. To echo Parent 1’s thoughts, it was a relief of sorts to collectively come together and finally have someone care enough to listen to our complex predicament. We, as in the parents and Nancy, sat in a big half-circle. The staffers sat across from us. Mark made a presentation on our behalf,
and then Parent 2 did an excellent job explaining the Semillas situation We went around the room and introduced ourselves. This was the tough part, when each
of us had to explain who we were, where we were in the process, and showed photos of our children. By the end of this portion of the meeting, many of us were in tears, including several of the staffers. They genuinely seemed to care about our plight. They wanted to help. Several of them asked questions, and shortly after the meeting, at
least two families were asked to meet with their congressmen personally! What the staffers will do with the information supplied to them will unfold over the next few weeks. The basic message delivered to them was that the children should not suffer indefinitely because of the personal vendetta the Guatemalan government has against
Nancy.

THE THIRD MEETING: THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE
This was a key meeting, because while Guatemala is a sovereign country with its own legal system, etc., the DOS is the part of our government that can, if it chooses to do so, help us in some way, shape or form by diplomatic efforts. There were five DOS representatives who talked to us and asked questions. Our DOS seemed very interested and concerned about our difficulties and how the children of US citizens were being impacted.

Thank you to all the adoptive parents that organized the event, you know who you are and to everyone who attended the meetings. Everyone’s attendance made a difference. We have yet to have any resolution to the vicious cycle of this insanity but hope to soon.

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