Guatemala Adoption from Wasatch International Adoptions

Guatemala Adoption

Guatemala adoptions have become a very favorable choice among the adoption community. Guatemalan culture, the people, and the relative close distance to the United States have been enticing factors for Guatemala. Most families who choose Guatemala adoption do so because of the guatemala child waiting for adoption

availability of young babies and the fact that Guatemalan children reside in foster homes. The birth mothers of Guatemala are taken care of by our lawyers in Guatemala and receive good prenatal care. The Guatemala foster mothers with whom the babies are placed after birth are loving and caring. The children are happy and bond well with their new families when coming home. Wasatch International Adoptions also works with several orphanages that house older children and sibling groups in Guatemala.

Families interested in Guatemala adoption should be financially stable. Referrals for Guatemala baby boys are usually received immediately after submission of the paperwork but it can take up to one month to receive a referral for a baby girl. The stay in the foreign country when completing a Guatemala adoption is very short, just 3-5 days. Parents may ask to have their children escorted home from Guatemala if they are not able to pick up Child from Guatemala waiting for adoption

Child from Guatemala waiting for adoption

their child. Even though the fees for a Guatemala adoption seem high in comparison to other country programs, costs seem to even out and fall in line with other out of country adoptions because of the inexpensive airline costs to Guatemala and the short stay required in the country.

Guatemala Adoption Timeline

There is a 6 to 9 month wait for completion of the adoption after the dossier is submitted to our Guatemalan lawyer. There is only one trip required for a Guatemala adoption and the parents can ask for an escort for their child, if desired.

Please see our Guatemala Adoption FAQ page for more information.

Fees

Item

Cost

*Application Fee

$500

*Program Fee

$2500

*Home Study Review (for out of state clients)

$150

*Referral Fee

$2000

*Post Placement Fee

$800 (Utah clients) or $600 (out of state clients)

**First Child Foreign Fee

$12,750 (for children from Casa Guatemala Orphanage)
$20,500-$23,500 (for children in private foster care. Fee varies depending on the attorney used.)

**Second Child Foreign Fee

Same as first child fees.

Home Study

$1200 (Utah) $1000-$2500 (depending on social worker found out of state)

USCIS Fee - I600A

$720

Fingerprinting

$85/person

Authentication of documents

$200-300***

Courier for document authentication

$200***

DNA Testing

$700

Fed Ex Fees

$300***

Flight to Guatemala City

$650/person***

Hotel/Food in Guatemala

$95/day ***

Passport for child

$50

Visa for child

$230

Embassy Medical Exam

$100

* Country Fees are never to be considered a stable or set fee as it is not determined nor in the control of Wasatch International Adoptions. The Agency makes every effort to stay current as to fees but third party and country fees may change without notice or reason.*

*These fees are required by the agency, Wasatch International Adoptions.
**These fees are required by the foreign country.
***These fees may vary from dossier to dossier depending on the number of documents (for example a single person’s dossier will be smaller than a married couple’s dossier). Expenses also may vary depending on where and how long you stay in Guatemala.

If you are interested in more information about adopting from Guatemala, please email Kathy Junk.

Please note that the timeline for international adoption is not completely predictable and there could be many factors that might change our estimated timeline for completion. Some of these factors may include political upheaval, changes in policies and laws regarding adoption with foreign government officials or our own government, war, terrorism, natural disasters, the approval of the adoptive parents by either the U.S. government or the foreign government or possible reemergence of birth families. Wasatch does our best to help you as families to understand the realities of the international adoption process, but things can change quickly and timelines for adoption completion can lengthen through no fault of Wasatch International Adoptions.