Customer Reviews

Finding Fernanda: Two Mothers, One Child, and a Cross-Border Search for Truth

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I could not put down this book for so many reasons. Erin Siegal's tale of soul-crushing loss and ultimate triumph is interwoven through the true story of two amazing women, each seeking truth and justice for the same little girl. This book goes beyond "Adoption Corruption and Fraud 101" and opens the door to the reasons why many of these crimes existed in the first place. Issues that played a role such as of Evangelical Christianity, entitlement, greed, charity and altruism are explored through a meticulously crafted and well-researched work, with hundreds of real-life accounts and testimony of those that "lived it". After reading this book, it is easy to see why adoption corruption cannot be separated from human rights abuses and violence against women.

As an adoptive parent of a child from Guatemala, I am not offended by this book in the least, rather, I am pleased that the light can now shine on what transpired, in the hopes that it will never happen again. As they say, sunshine is the best disinfectant, and this book goes above and beyond to shine a little light in some very dark places. Places that are not easy to visit, but must be, if we are to continue to allow international adoption.

Erin Siegal: thank you for your obvious hard work and dedication to the women and children of Guatemala, and for telling this story in a heartfelt, intelligent, and honest way. I cannot recommend this book highly enough, especially for adoptive parents of children from Guatemala, adoption stakeholders, regulators and government officials.

Where can I start a review of Erin Siegal's Finding Fernanda? I know Erin Siegal as an online friend and someone who came to me for advice on this book. Why me? Perhaps it is because I made my story public more than a dozen years ago as one of 22 families victimized by an illegal Mexican adoption/baby smuggling ring. At that time, I called for the adoption industry to police itself and remove the cancerous, criminal, profiteering element that infected its underbelly. Back then, I underestimated how deep that infection was. It turns out that it is a systemic infection that pervades all international adoptions, even today and even with the regulations of The Hague Agreement that were intended to prevent abuses.

There are now hundreds of stories that involve most sending countries, like Betsy Emmanuel's and mine. What Siegal has done with Finding Fernanda that makes her book a must-read is take a purely journalistic approach to the story she presents. She reports on what she learned without passing judgment. The reader can draw his own conclusions about motives, about who the good guys are and who the bad guys are, and the conclusions become devastatingly obvious.

Stories like this are by their nature very convoluted, and Siegal does an amazing job of making the twists and turns as easy to follow as possible. Her preamble includes a section on the cast of characters which can serve as a reference should the reader get confused. A photojournalist by trade, Siegal uses one photo per chapter and each one is carefully chosen to supplement the story appropriately while having the most impact.

What you'll learn in the book is that international adoption involves a great imbalance of power. The wealth, privilege, and entitlement of prospective adoptive parents in developed Western receiving countries directly impacts the poverty and vulnerability of mothers in impoverished and underdeveloped sending countries, leading to a money-driven market that exploits women and children for the benefit of the middlemen who procure and place the children. This is made abundantly clear in Finding Fernanda. What Siegal has done that is unique is to include the story as experienced by an impoverished, exploited mother who was stripped of two of her children for the adoption trade without her informed consent. Women like Mildred Alvarado have always had no voice, but now, Siegal has given her a voice and presented her view. For that reason alone, every single person who has been touched by international adoption must read this book and go to [...]. You will feel the anguish, pain, suffering and strength of Mildred Alvarado when you read her story. This book will make you angry and it will make you cry.

There is one other party that has never had a voice in international adoption, and that is the one that belongs to the exploited children. Readers need to pay careful attention to Siegal's description of Ana Cristina, the child stolen from Mildred Alvarado's womb and reunited with her years later. In that description is a harrowing picture of the kind of damage done to children by corrupt international adoptions.

Erin Siegal deserves a standing ovation, if not a journalistic award, for her thorough research, her writing skills, her hard work and her braving of a dangerous, criminal world in order to get this story told. Bravo Erin!

This book documents a Guatemalan mother's search for two of her children who were stolen and put up for adoption. What started out as being a research-based thesis evolved into a very compelling book that dissects the baby trade. What should be - and often is - a very special and loving event in the lives of the adoptive families and children is easily exploited due to the financial gains that can be made. Erin Siegal goes to great lengths to accurately portray both the facts of this corruption as well as the emotional toll it takes on the lives of all those involved -- the birth family, the adoptive family, and most of all the children. It is an eye-opening book that delves into these fraudulent practices and follows a mother's journey to find her daughters - a journey that may not have been possible if not for the help of many people, especially an American woman whose family had once been in the process of adopting Fernanda. Having been told many times that Fernanda was no longer available, her suspicions were aroused when the little girl "disappeared" into the underground adoption world of Guatemala. Even after adopting another child, she continued to try to track down what had happened to Fernanda, a quest for the truth that eventually led her to Fernanda's mother and her ongoing search for her children.

A very touching and informative book - and extremely well written. I could hardly put it down. It is a must-read for anyone interested in international adoptions and may help potential adoptive families detect the difference between an honest adoption agency and an unscrupulous one, saving heartache for many people. The story of Finding Fernanda not only pertains to Guatemala, as many countries face similar problems.

Finding Fernanda: Two Mothers, One Child, and a Cross-Border Search for Truth
Finding Fernanda: Two Mothers, One Child, and a Cross-Border Search for Truth

"Finding Fernanda" is a courageously well-researched, and probably unique to date, description of the "two sides" of what has too often gone wrong in intercountry adoptions.

While this fascinating and chilling book successfully sets out to provide an in-depth examination of a single such case, it implicitly demonstrates two wider and vital issues.

First, the violation of children's rights in intercountry adoption is essentially a systemic problem - in other words, individuals involved tend first and foremost to take advantage of the weaknesses of the law and procedures in place rather than wholesaledly contravene them. So the answer is not simply better law enforcement, but necessarily changing the framework in which these adoptions are undertaken.

Second, the fundamental issue is not the totally false one of supposedly being "for" or "against" intercountry adoption, as some still try simplistically to portray it. The issue at stake is rather: are the right children being declared adoptable abroad for the right reasons, and does the consequent process uphold and protect those children's human rights?

"Finding Fernanda" provides an accessible and totally credible insight for all concerned into the good, bad and truly ugly - not of intercountry adoption as such, in fact, but of the way its original purpose is now so frequently transgressed and manipulated by too many, for different reasons, in countries of origin and receiving countries alike.

It is not just an "adoption" book, but a human rights saga about the untold abuses and depravity that occurred (or occurs) in Guatemala.

It documents what happens when women's rights are ignored and women and children become goods to be sold and bartered.

The book, "Finding Fernanda", is this century's "Les Miserables", with one exception....
this story of the best and worst in human nature is true.

Disclaimer: Not only am I a parent to a child adopted from Bulgaria, I am a member of PEAR and had some brief correspendence with Ms. Siegal.

This book will come as a shock to some in the international adoption (I.A.) community. To others, it will not. Ms. Siegal exposes two ugly undersides of I.A.

The first is how children are obtained for "placement". Replace Guatemala with Vietnam, Cambodia, Eithiopia, China, Russia, Bulgaria, Korea, India, Nepal and I hate to write it, but these countries do not differ in how [many] children were obtained. Multiply Mildred Alvarado by thousands.

We may want to believe our children were "abandoned", but I no longer believe that anymore. Most AParents will argue differently and with good cause [especially those who adopted from Russia] about their childrens' origins. "Finding Fernanda" at least puts a face to the biological source of [many] of our I.A. children.

The second underside, the portion we lived through in our own adoption(s), was the abject horrible treatment by self-appointed "adoption agency directors" (are you listening Sue Hedberg? Snow Wu? Nina Kostina? Denise Hubbard? Margaret Cole-Hughes? Linda Perilstein?). Although I and Betsy Emmanuel are vastly different, she and I share one huge thing: the living hell that dealing with a Narcissistic, control freak agency director can wreak over you life. The hoops jumped through so you can bring your child home.

Having been though the state complaint process like Mrs. Emmanuel did with Florida's state licensing commission, I know the shock and sadness that accompanies the "slap on the wrist" these "adoption professionals" receive.

HOWEVER, there is nothing individual states can do because the adoptions are foreign, outside of state jurisdiction. After thinking you've done the right thing by filing a complaint, it is a tremndous let-down knowing the Narcissistic Control Freak Agency Director got away clean.

I truly respect Mrs. Emmanuel for taking a stand and doind the RIGHT thing in telling her story and by extension, that of Fernanda and Mildred Alvarado.

Having adopted our youngest from Guatemala in 2003, many people in this book were familiar to us. While we have a connection with our child's birthmother and foster mother, we know of many instances of illicit activity, human trafficking and bribery in the Guatemalan adoption world. Much of what Siegal writes mirrors our experience - DNA testing, social worker reports, PGN, adoption facilitators, US embassy as well as the underbelly of international adoptions. This is a must read for all adoptive parents, potential investigative journalists and adult adoptees. An amazing documentation of two mothers' plights for truth and freedom.

Finding Fernanda is a captivating book that evokes all emotions: frustration, anger, disbelief, hope, happiness. Ms. Siegal does an amazing job of presenting the complex and complicated stories of the characters involved and has clearly done an incredible amount of research on international adoption. Excellent book!

When I started this book, I didn't know much about adoption. Now that I'm finished, I can only hope that those who make the laws in our country wake up and pay attention to child trafficking in adoption! This book is a stunner, hard to put down, beautifully written and meticulously detailed. Highly recommended.

I couldn't put this book down. A beautifully written non-fiction narrative that is so compelling, you'll stay up late into the night reading. This piece shines light on an issue that the US government, adoptive families, and numerous other stakeholders have chosen to ignore. This is a must read for those well-intentioned folks considering international adoption. Educate yourselves. And read on to find out what happened to Fernanda.