Why Mexico?

So many people have asked: Why are you adopting in Mexico? I'm not sure if this is a polite way of asking why are you adopting or why Mexico?

Once we had made the decision to adopt, we needed to figure out where a Canadian/New Zealand family living in Abu Dhabi could adopt from. As far as we could find out, there were no precedents. We knew of one Dubai-based British/New Zealand couple who'd adopted from Guatemala, but following the British laws. They were now having huge difficulties convincing the NZ authorities to recognize their adoption, and were hence uncertain of being able to get NZ citizenship for their children. There were a sprinkling of Canadian families in Abu Dhabi and Dubai who'd adopted, e.g. from Vietnam and Ethiopia. However, after contacting an extremely rude and unhelpful woman at the NZ citizenship office, we discovered that Vietnamese adoptions were not recognized by the NZ government. So my question to extremely-rude-woman was: Which countries can we adopt from? No definitive answer, and as far as she was concerned, we were better off not pursuing adoption. A most disheartening phone call, and when I pressed her, she admitted that perhaps China, perhaps India, and perhaps Chile were possibilities, but couldn't be guaranteed. Why do they have to make a it so difficult?

In the meantime, a Belgian family living in Dubai posted information about their adoption in Mexico from earlier in the year (2007). Despite the 2-4 month wait from the time the child was born to the time we could come home, and the need to make two trips to Mexico (or stay and live there during the process), it seemed like a possibility. I was drawn to Spanish-speaking countries, as I speak Spanish, and I felt that this would help with later keeping our child's culture alive.

So I called grumpy-lady again, and asked about Mexico. Turns out Mexico is not a non-possibility. I won't call it a possibility, as that would be admitting too much!

Canada turns out to be much more open to intercountry adoptions, and the Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi has no objection to writing a no-objection letter. Ha ha.

So, Mexico it is, and I start to read everything I can get my hands on about adopting in Mexico. Which is... nothing really. There's hardly any information on the internet. It seems like there really aren't many adoptions going on there. Well, we'll be trailblazers! Turns out to be quite true.