Adoptions in Jalisco may be placed on hold following the release of a video that appears to show two psychologists trying to convince two girls at a Guadalajara children’s home to be adopted by an Italian rather than a Mexican couple.
The controversy over the video prompted Claudia Corona, the director of the State Family Council (Consejo Estatal de Familia or CEF) – the agency that oversees adoptions in the state – to take a two-month leave of absence from her post while the matter is investigated.
The video was taken in the Pedacito de Cielo home, where the girls have lived for almost five years. It shows the psychologists first offering “anti-lying” candy to the sisters, aged 5 and 7, before getting them to agree to “have new parents” rather than go and live with their baptismal godparents.
At the end of the video the girls are asked if they would mind having Italian parents, to which the elder one states that she wants Mexican parents. One of the psychologists replies, “Perfect, that’s not a problem.” The girls then put their thumb prints on a piece of paper.
The video was released to the media last week at a press conference presided over by Guillermo Ogarrio, the president of College of Family Rights. He said it was “perverse and grotesque” how the rights of the girls were manipulated during the interview.
Also present at the press conference were the girls’ godparents, Carmen and Walter Fedorenko, who in January submitted an application to become the siblings’ legal guardians. The couple had been longtime volunteers at the children’s home, where they became close to the girls.
For reasons that are not clear, the CEF last month prohibited the Fedorenkos – who have three children of their own – of having any contact with the girls.
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