GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — The U.S. government has told Guatemala it won't return a girl adopted in 2008 after allegedly being snatched from her Guatemalan mother, because the two countries had not signed the Hague Abduction Convention at the time of the kidnapping, a Guatemalan official said Monday.

Foreign Relations Ministry spokeswoman Celeste Alvarado quoted a diplomatic cable from the U.S. State Department as saying the two countries formally ratified the convention on Jan. 1, 2008, after toddler Anyeli Hernandez Rodriguez was reported abducted by her biological mother in November 2006.

Alvarado said the U.S. note cites Hague Convention articles indicating it isn't required to return the child if there was no treaty in force at the time.

The girl was adopted by a Missouri couple, and a Guatemalan judge ordered government agencies to petition for her return.

The adoptive parents are Timothy and Jennifer Monahan of Liberty, Missouri.