Guatemala Adoptions: Defining child and orphan

Most children adopted by American citizens in Guatemala qualify in the category of “orphan”, but if your child is under 16 and has been living with you for more than two years, the child may still be granted entry clearance. In these cases, you can apply for an immigrant visa for the child on the grounds of his/her being the “child of an American citizen”. This article describes the process of adopting an “orphan”, a significantly different process to that of adopting a “child”, so if you feel your child qualifies in this category you should contact the DHS/ICE in Guatemala for more information.

Before your child will be granted a visa in the orphan category, the US authories must be satisfied that s/he fits the definition as laid out in the Immigration and Nationality Act. Your child must be “an orphan because of the death or disappearance of, abandonment or desertion by, or separation or loss from, both parents, or for whom the sole or surviving parent is incapable of providing the proper care and has in writing irrevocably released the child for emigration and adoption ….” The two most commonly successful ways of meeting the definition are given below:

Irrevocable release by the sole or surviving parent

The child has a “sole” parent – meaning the mother, if the child was born out of wedlock – and no father or step-father. The mother is regarded by the DHS Board of Immigration Appeals as living in poverty (by Guatemalan standards) and unable to provide for the child at the standard of the local area. The mother has officially relinquished responsibility for and rights over the child, and given permission for him/her to be taken to the United States.

Abandonment by both parents

Cases in which the child has been abandoned by both parents are much more complex, and tend to take much longer to process than those cases of “irrevocable release by the sole parent”. In order to fit the legal definition of ‘abandonment’, the parents must have no intention of returning to the child or arranging care for him/her with another adult. The child can fall into the category of “orphan”, despite having living parents, because s/he has been abandoned by or separated from his/her parents. There are strict criteria that must be met for a child to qualify in this category. Generally, cases of abandonment in Guatemala are situations where parents have relinquished responsibility for their children and physically left them to provide for themselves.

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