Since reforms in 2007–08, aimed at combating extensive corruption in the adoption process, the numbers have fallen drastically.
However, the numbers of children placed with Guatemalan families has remained roughly constant at around 250 per year both before and after the new legislation.
The system was heavily criticised for corruption, coercion and a lack of transparency; large numbers of the adopted babies were effectively purchased from women in rural districts, and as many as 500 cases of kidnapping were believed to be linked to children who were later adopted overseas.
[1] The new system is still viewed as flawed and ineffective; of 153 cases studied in 2010, 78% infringed the new legislation in some way, with as many as 50% involving children who were declared adoptable without a thorough investigation of their background or full attempts to identify their birth families.
In 2006, during the period of active international adoption, it was estimated that only 5% of adoptees were placed with Guatemalan families, which would be around 250 children.