Does that mean that all US adoptions from Guatemala have to be Hague compliant adoptions?
No, not technically. While the US signed the Hague Convention in 1994, and the US Congress passed implementing legislation in 2000, the United States has not yet ratified the Convention, which will set the entry into force into motion. The US will not ratify the Convention until the final Hague regulations that will govern US adoptions are fully developed. Therefore, Guatemala’s accession to the Hague does not directly affect US-Guatemalan adoptions, as the US is not yet a party to the Hague and the Hague only affects adoptions between two Hague countries. However, Guatemala’s accession will very likely have an indirect affect on adoptions because Guatemala will likely enact new adoption procedures that will be applicable to all Guatemalan adoptions.
