Adoptions From Guatemala Getting Tougher

In her mind, Tracy Hartig already sees a baby's fingers touching her first book. She sees a nursery, not a guest room. And in the pictures from Guatemala, she sees her daughter Amelia, not a stranger up for adoption.

"When you see her face you can't help but just fall in love right away," she says.

"How attached are you?" asks CBS News correspondent Kelly Cobiella

"Extremely, extremely," Hartig says. "She's part of our lives."

The Hartigs are among some 3,700 U.S. families in the process of adopting children from Guatemala, who are now unsure if they'll get a child because of a sudden change in the rules.

It is a change spear-headed by Guatemalan President Oscar Berger who has ordered a halt to adoptions January first.

"The system was completely unregulated," says Tom Difilipo of the Joint Council on International Children's Services. "The fees were uncapped, no one really knows how many foster parents are out there, how many orphanages."

Lax regulation is one of the reasons adoption agencies have seen interest in Guatemalan babies skyrocket.

While other countries tighten their guidelines - South Korea won't consider single parents, China even dictates how much a parent can weigh - the Guatemalan government has little oversight and virtually no rules.

The country is second only to China in the number of children going to U.S. families today - a number that has nearly doubled in the past four years to more than 4,000.

"There are going to be some families that Guatemala was their only option," says Hayley Wilmes of Commonwealth Adoptions.

It's not clear what the new rules will be or whether couples like the Hartigs who've already started the process will have to follow them.

The Hartigs have spent nearly $30,000 on this adoption, but it's not the money they worry about, it's the little girl.

"What will happen to her?" Hartig wonders. "What will be her fate if she isn't able to come home? Where's she going to go? Who's going to take care of her?"

Questions they hope they'll never have to answer.