ABSTRACT
In this chapter we review the role of intercountry adoption in Guatemala and the limited domestic child welfare system, including structures, service delivery and trained workforce, prior to ratification of the 1993 Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (henceforth referred to the Hague Convention, Hague Conference on Private International Law, 1993). We explore the subsequent development of a domestic child welfare system that moved from reliance on intercountry adoption and institutional care as the primary solutions to at-risk and abandoned children to domestic family-based care for at-risk children. This process has seen successes and challenges and can provide cautionary lessons for other low-resource countries with a history of intercountry adoption.
