Until last year, Guatemala had the highest adoption rate in the world. Between 2002 and 2007, some 22,000 of its children were adopted by foreigners, more than 90 per cent of them came from the US.
But the practice was marked by lax adoption procedures and plagued by criminals targeting poor mothers. A government investigation into some 3,000 cases in the adoption pipeline found fraudulent paperwork in more than 1,000 of them. There is strong evidence that in many cases babies had been stolen before being traded for adoption. Guatemalan mothers whose babies were snatched in this way are convinced that their children are in the US and now they want them back. People & Power's Bob Abeshouse investigates.
This episode of People & Power airs from Wednesday, 24 June, 2009 at the following times GMT: Wednesday: 0600, 1230; Thursday 0130, 1400, 1930; Friday 0630, 1630; Saturday 0330, 2030; Sunday 0030, 0530 and Monday 0830.