....FRAUD EXPOSED
Guatemala's quick adoptions made the nation of 13 million the world's
second largest source of babies to the U.S. after China. But last year
the industry was closed down, starting with an August 2007 raid on
what had been considered one of the country's most reputable adoption
agencies.
Voluminous fraud has been exposed since then -- false paperwork, fake
birth certificates, women coerced into giving up their children and
even baby theft. At least 25 cases resulted in criminal charges
against doctors, lawyers, mothers and civil registrars.
Thousands of adoptions, including that of the Hemsleys, were put on
hold until this year, when the newly formed National Adoptions Council
began requiring birth mothers to personally verify they still wanted
to give up their children. Of 3,032 pending cases, nearly 1,000 were
dismissed because no birth mother showed up.
Prosecutors suspect many of the babies in these cases never existed --
that Guatemalan baby brokers registered false identities with the
council in hopes of matching them later to babies obtained through
fraud....
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