Xeni is oversimplifying. Guatemala is a strict Catholic country, and as a result, divorces are almost impossible to obtain (lowest divorce rate in the world). Married women must get the approval of their husband and father-in-law in order to give up their children for adoption; both males must go into court and renounce their heir. Lacking that, the child cannot be given for adoption.

So suppose we have a woman who has been separated from her legal husband for ten years. Hasn't laid eyes on him, doesn't even know where he lives. He's not going to go to court for her and renounce the child. And suppose the biological father was a one-night stand, he's gone too. The only way for her to give the child up for adoption is to do so under false pretenses, as a single woman. Although this is legally wrong under Guatemala's laws, it may be morally right, in that everyone who is truly concerned about the child (the mother only) is in favor of the adoption.

Obviously there is also corruption in the system. But the problem at hand - the one the AP stories are written about - is this, married women posing as single women to give up their children. The AP story is not about buying/selling/kidnapping children.