However Jorge Carrillo, a lawyer who specializes in adoptions, cautions against sensationalism, saying the young ones are often better off with adoptive families from abroad. While many stories of baby-nappings are reported widely, child advocates say the problem with Guatemala's adoptions is far more subtle. That's not true. The legal system is so intransparent that legal adoptions go through, and so do illegal ones. One of the stipulations of these conventions is that nationals should be given preference to adopt over international couples.
Lawyers maintain that their rates include care for the child while the adoption is being processed.
No culture of adoption in Guatemala Carrillo says he and a group of colleagues have been offering pro bono adoptions to Guatemalan couples. But he says there aren't any couples interested. He asserts that Guatemalans have a long tradition of racism, and that most children up for adoption are indigenous or dark-skinned. Further, the strong strain of machismo here has discouraged a culture of adoption, because the men don't want to raise another man's child. Indeed, Guatemala and Haiti share the highest mortality rate in Latin America for children under 5.