Benefits of International Adoption

• You do not wait to be chosen by a birth mother. Instead, you will be sent photos and medical reports of available infants and you choose your child.
• With Guatemala adoptions, once your paperwork is approved, you can meet your child at any time. You can visit as often as you like for as long as you want. Adoptive parents stay with their baby at the hotel's adoption suite that is equipped for children. You also have the option of staying in Guatemala the entire time. And you can bring your baby home in as little as 4 months.
• You can choose a child from Russia, China, Brazil, Guatemala, Colombia, El Salvador, Kazakhstan, Panama, or Ukraine.
• With domestic adoption, most birth parents prefer married couples. With international, this is not an obstacle.

Guatemala Adoption Program

Ethics and Standards

Home At Last complies with the law of the countries that it works with to bring children to their forever families for the sake and well being of the children as well as the benefit of the adoptive parents.

Adoptive Parents

Marriage
Single women and married couples

Age
Required minimum age for single women and at least one parent from the married couple is 25 years of age. There is no maximum age for adoption of an older child in Guatemala, however, maximum age for adoption of an infant is 55.

Referrals
Referrals for a child are normally made upon completion of your dossier Referrals for infant boys often have less of a wait than referrals for infant girls. Referrals are also available for older or special needs children. The wait for these referrals varies, depending on the children and their situation.

The Children
In Guatemala, infants and older children of both genders are available, with the possibility of a slightly longer wait for infant girls. Infants typically go directly form their birth mother's custody into private foster care homes where they receive excellent, individualized care and attention. They receive medical testing and care during this time. Adoptive families receive photos, updates, and sometimes videos, when available, of their children during the adoption process. There are many children waiting to find their forever families.

About Guatemala
Guatemala is a beautiful Central American country that borders the North Pacific Ocean, between El Salvador and Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea between Honduras and Belize. This small country is no larger that the size of Tennessee, yet, it contains many diverse regions such as; tropical cloud forests, mountainous highlands, and coastal regions. The population of Guatemala is about 17,700,000.

Other Important Facts
Capital: Guatemala City
Currency: Quetzales
Language: While Spanish is the primary language,over 40% of the population speaks an Indigenous language as their primary language.
Government: Constitutional Democratic Republic
Religion: Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Indigenous Mayan beliefs.

Time-frame
While most adoptions in Guatemala take between six and eight months, it depends on factors such as how fast you complete your dossier and receive the USCIS approval. Other factors that could effect the time-frame are the court systems of the Guatemalan government.

Travel
Adoptive parents can make plans for an initial visit with their child after approval is received, approximately 6-8 weeks after the dossier has been sent to Guatemala.

One or both parents may travel, but it is not required to finalize your adoption. If you choose, the child can be escorted home to the United States for an additional fee. Parents typically stay in the adoption suite of a designated hotel in Guatemala City.

Click Here for US State Department Guatemala Travel Information.

Post Adoption
Two post placement home study reports are required for Guatemala. Your social worker will meet with you to complete these reports at the time intervals of 3 and 6 months after you return home with your child.

Getting Started

Click Here to Request an Information Packet