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

A compelling nonfiction narrative following an American housewife and a Guatemalan mother whose lives abruptly collide while searching for the same little girl Finding Fernanda is a dramatic cross-border tale of love, faith, and greed that shines light on the pervasive problem of corruption in international adoption.In 2008, Guatemala supplied more children than any other country in the world to adoptive American families. The tiny Latin American nation, infamous for criminal impunity and corruption, surpassed much larger countries, including China and Russia. Of the 100,000 children adopted into the United States between 2004 and 2008, over 20,000 were Guatemalan. Finding Fernanda, a gripping true story based in hard investigative reporting, tells the side-by-side stories of an American housewife trying to adopt from Guatemala and the birth mother whose two children were stolen from her. Each woman gradually realizes her unwittingly yet pivotal role in what was one of Guatemala’s most profitable underground industries: the buying and selling children for international adoption. Finding Fernanda is an overdue, unprecedented look at how adoption corruption occurs– and a poignant, riveting human story about the power of hope, faith, and determination. The book and project website is online at http://findingfernanda.com