This issue of child labor in the developing world is more complicated than many would have you believe. Kids having to go to work at the age of four or five or twelve seems a cruelty, and since the conditions for employment are very often far below any standard we ourselves would tolerate, the idea of abuse often comes into our perceptions.

Anyone who has managed to spend all their years in the comfort of a nation like the USA is sorely stretched to imagine a world where there are no safety nets of any shape or size and where children are often considered as parasitic little creatures uselessly consuming resources better spent on those with more to contribute ... or more able to grab for themselves. The idea of a child desperate enough to fight and steal and resort to all sorts of hideous measures just to obtain enough sustenance to continue on for another day is abhorrent from our armchairs, and terrifying if we ever find ourselves sharing streets with kids living this reality.

As it seems a practice in callous futility to refuse to acknowledge that many of the children sentenced to either years of suffering or an early death should be denied the opportunity of a family through adoption for reasons that have little to nothing to do with the children at all, it may be also unhelpful to deny out of hand the chance for these kids to support themselves through gainful employment.

An assistant professor of anthropology at Baylor University will be speaking tomorrow on "Child Labor in Global Perspective: A View from the Streets of Guatemala", and it's bound to be an interesting talk.

A cultural anthropologist, Dr. Thomas Offit has studied the lives of child street laborers in Guatemala City and worked with Mayans in the textile industry, and suggests that "given the structural reality in Guatemala", child labor is a better alternative for many kids than anything else on offer.

Pointing out that preconceived notions color perceptions, Dr. Offit points out that those with a "Western" view assume that child laborers are victims of exploitation, when their view of themselves may very well be one of having and exerting some control over their lives.

These children are also active agents in making their own and family's lives better by working, he said. Guatemala doesn't have a social welfare system and the economic opportunity is limited, Offit said.

With a far too typical example of misinformation, the article ends with the views of a graduate student who "doesn't agree with child labor, but understands how child labor makes sense if a country has economic problems."

Since international adoptions are closed for Guatemala, and more children stay in orphanages or on the streets, Casares said she is interested to hear how child labor affects orphans.

Just for the record, international adoptions are not closed for Guatemala, although the US State Department is recommending no new processes begin until the institution of the Hague is complete. Other countries do continue to process adoptions from Guatemala.

As to the impact of child labor on orphans, I think it's safe to assume that more children without families or any means of support will mean more children competing for resources.

Keeping in mind that options always available include prostitution and life-threatening work, the fewer children in this situation, the better.