B. POST-REUNION RELATIONSHIP BUILDING

A good way to help adoptive families cope with is to encourage them to share their anxiety with the adoptee in a constructive way. It is important for the adoptee to realize that the process is also difficult for the adoptive family.

3.5 Does the organization help adoptive families cover expenses?

No. Pro-Búsqueda does not offer any financial support to adoptive families (or to any other party).

B. Post-Reunion Relationship Building

While the initial family reunion is a momentous occasion, in many ways it is only the beginning of what is hoped to be a long-term relationship between the biological family and the adoptee. Building such a relationship is challenging, especially with transnational adoptees.

While Pro-Búsqueda does provide some assistance in the development of post-reunion relationships, we acknowledge that this is an area in which greater emphasis should be placed in the future. Currently, ProBúsqueda helps adoptees develop and maintain a communications channel with the biological families. With regard to transnational adoptees from the U.S., Pro-Búsqueda helps biological families who do not speak English with translation and access to the Internet. Family members can visit Pro-Búsqueda’ s office to use the computer or to receive assistance with e-mail, Facebook, and mailing correspondence.

Pro-Búsqueda also helps to arrange for post-reunion visits; while Pro-Búsqueda may not play as active a role as it did in the initial family reunion, Pro-Búsqueda offers assistance in brokering subsequent visits. The key point is that birth families, adoptees, and adoptive families know they can rely on Pro-Búsqueda if they need help communicating with each other.

Pictured on the Left: Mario Ulises Ramos Carballo reunited with his biological parents and sister in El Salvador.

XI. LESSONS LEARNED

These accomplishments are the result of a strong partnership among Pro-Búsqueda, the Alliance, and UC Berkeley ’ s Human Rights Center and the team ’ s dedicated work, plus its capacity to learn and change direction when something was not working. The project increased Pro-Búsqueda’ s forensic capacity. However, the genetic tracing is still conducted out of the country. Pro-Búsqueda has been able to achieve and keep Memorandums of Understanding with certified and accredited labs in these types of forensic analysis. The project also expanded Pro-Búsqueda’ s outreach in the US and enhanced investigations locally and abroad.

Below are the main lessons we learned in the past years. We hope the manual, along with our reflections, is useful to organizations seeking to start a similar project in order to locate the disappeared living, to reunite families, and to seek accountability for the crimes committed.

1. It is important that any effort to identify disappeared children using genetic tracing be coordinated in full partnership with a locally-based civil society organization that is comprised of families of the disappeared so that families of disappeared are full partners in the project with decision-making power.

2. We encourage local organizations or governments interested in identifying disappeared children through genetic tracing to consult with or work in partnership with an international organization with expertise and experience in using genetic tracing to resolve forced disappearances.

3. We encourage all partner organizations to enter into a written Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which clearly articulates the roles, responsibilities, and expectations of each partner organization for the duration of the partnership.

4. We have found it very helpful to have one partner organization be identified as the lead organization and one person from that organization to be designated as the project manager whose job, among others, is to: (1) facilitate the ability of each partner organization to perform their tasks and responsibilities successfully; (2) help all the partner organizations in coordinating tasks so that the project moves forward as a whole, develop and adhere to communication protocols, and distribute project resources as needed; (3) help identify the needs of partner organizations and develop strategies about how those needs may be met; and (4) maintain liaison with organizations providing support.

5. If possible, it is important to budget reasonably for the purchase of project resources, which may include contracting with a lab to conduct DNA analysis, software programs to facilitate DNA and kinship analyses, and provision for secure electronic communications and computers.

6. It is equally important, if possible, to budget realistically for travel, both domestic and international. While electronic and remote communications are vital and necessary, nothing can take the place of face-toface communications while developing relationships, especially when discussing the use and analysis of DNA and the possible identification of disappeared children. This is particularly true in relation to building trust with families of the disappeared.

LESSONS LEARNED

7. In attempting to resolve human rights violations such as forced disappearances, we have tried to execute the Project in accordance with human rights principles, including seeking full and informed consent in the donation of DNA samples; respecting the privacy, agency, and dignity of those involved, including staff of the partner organizations, the families of the disappeared, the young adults who were disappeared as children, and the adoptive families of these young adults; making and executing decisions in a fully transparent way; and operating the project in a nondiscriminatory manner.

8. It is important to develop and have full agreement on a leadership and decision-making structure.