Guatemalan Court Orders Return of Child Kidnapped for Illegal Adoption in U.S.

Sunday, August 07, 2011
Anyelí Liseth Hernández Rodríguez (photo of passport: Erin Siegal)
The U.S. government has been ordered by a judge in Guatemala to return a six-year-old girl kidnapped from her family four years ago and adopted by an American couple.
 
Loyda Rodriguez Morales, the mother of Anyelí Liseth Hernández Rodríguez, searched for nearly five years to locate her daughter, and with the help of a human rights group, the Survivors Foundation, filed a court case in Guatemala.
 
The judge’s order is considered unprecedented in the world of international adoptions, and if the U.S. complies, it would be the first time a government has ordered its own citizens to return a child to its native country.
 
The American couple, Timothy James Monahan and Jennifer Lyn Vanhorn Monahan of Liberty, Missouri, has not been accused of stealing the child. Rather, a child trafficking ring likely kidnapped the girl and delivered her to the U.S.
 
The State Department might ignore the judge’s order for the child’s return. But an advocate in Guatemala says the U.S. is obligated under international law to deliver victims of human trafficking or irregular adoptions back home.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
 
Guatemala Mother Searched 5 Years for Adopted Girl (by Larry Kaplow and Sonia Perez, Associated Press)

Comments

andy 13 years ago
when the child and the pretend mother's dna did not match, the monahan's adoption agency --- with their knowledge --- arranged illegally for the child to be declared "abandoned." that's how they got around the dna test. nine people in guatemala were arrested for corruption in taking pay-offs to arrange for the kidnapping and later "abandonment" --- including the judge in the case. it is clear that anyeli/karen was kidnapped, and her rightful parents who are a dna match never gave consent for the adoption. the adoption is thus revoked and the monahans are no longer the legal parents of this child. actually, the courts in brazil last year did order the grandparents of sean goldman to return the boy to his american father who never gave consent for his adoption by them. so this is not the first time a court has ordered parents to return a child in an unconsented adoption to a parent in a foreign country.
Truth 13 years ago
this child is a victim of human trafficking. dr. and mrs. monahan were aware at the beginning of the adoption process and more than 2 years prior to the child being trafficked to america that the child had been stolen. they tried to 'bury' the evidence. since then they have refused to communicate with the child's mother or with government and court authorities. the monahan's knew the adoption was fake and helped to assist in the falsifications. they are complicit in child kidnapping, exploitation, and human trafficking. the child should be allowed to go home immediately and the monahan's should answer for their criminal behavior. the us government did not require a dna sample of this child or ask for an interview with the birth mother before allowing this child to be trafficked to the us. good christians and patriotic americans are crushed to see the greed and avarice behind this horrendous crime. all those who had any part in the illegal child trafficking of anyelí liseth hernández rodríguez should be held accountable.
nano 13 years ago
no , on several counts. the child was not kidnapped for an illegal adoption in the us. she was kidmapped for an illegal adoption in guatamala. the child was adopted in a guatamalan court proceeding. and she was not delivered to the us. again, the adoption took place in guatemala. the guatemalan courts are to blame. if they had done their jobs properly, this would not have happened. and frankly, i don't see how it happened. the us embassy has required dna tests of mother and baby, and birth mother interviews at the consualte for at least 15 years. the only this could happen would be massive fraud on the guatemalan side.

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