Friday, April 30, 2010
Considering Adoption or Foster Parenting?
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
State Department Issues Warning About Adoption from Nepal
As reported by Adoption Today magazine:
In mid-February the U.S. State Department issued a statement warning prospective parents from adopting from Nepal. A report issued by the Hague Conference on Private International Law pinpointing the weaknesses of Nepal’s current adoption system prompted the warning.
After a visit to Nepal in November 2009, a Hague delegate reviewed Nepal’s new terms and conditions that went into place in 2008. Included in the report were concerns about falsification of documents, improper financial
gain and lack of a child protection system. The report, in addition to one of the first adoption cases from Nepal to the United States being questionable when the child was found not to be a true orphan whose biological parents were actively searching for him, caused the State Department to issue the warning. The State Department states on its Web site: “We caution prospective adoptive parents who have yet to choose a country that the intercountry adoption system in Nepal is not yet reliable. ”
For additional information, visit http://www.adoptinfo.net/.
In mid-February the U.S. State Department issued a statement warning prospective parents from adopting from Nepal. A report issued by the Hague Conference on Private International Law pinpointing the weaknesses of Nepal’s current adoption system prompted the warning.
After a visit to Nepal in November 2009, a Hague delegate reviewed Nepal’s new terms and conditions that went into place in 2008. Included in the report were concerns about falsification of documents, improper financial
gain and lack of a child protection system. The report, in addition to one of the first adoption cases from Nepal to the United States being questionable when the child was found not to be a true orphan whose biological parents were actively searching for him, caused the State Department to issue the warning. The State Department states on its Web site: “We caution prospective adoptive parents who have yet to choose a country that the intercountry adoption system in Nepal is not yet reliable. ”
For additional information, visit http://www.adoptinfo.net/.
Monday, April 26, 2010
40 percent decline in overseas adoptions by Americans since 2004
Idaho's Impact
Haiti scandal overshadows bigger threat to evangelical adoption efforts.
from Christianity Today
The high-profile legal saga of the 10 Idaho-based Baptists arrested in January for attempting to smuggle 33 Haitian children into the Dominican Republic is winding down. But evangelical adoption advocates wonder what the long-term impact will be.
Leading orphan care advocate Russell Moore suggested in the days following the arrests that the scandal might be a black eye to evangelicals' adoption efforts worldwide. But two months later, Moore said he is no longer worried about a fallout.
"In many ways, the controversy served as an opportunity to clarify what we mean and what we do not mean," said Moore, dean of the School of Theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. "No one in the Christian orphan care community is calling for children to be adopted who are not in fact orphans. And no one is calling for children to be adopted apart from the legitimate processes."
A larger hurdle for international adoptions by evangelicals may be new restrictions on adoptions in countries where they have been most prevalent, including China, Guatemala, Russia, Vietnam, and Liberia.
China, which has traditionally accounted for the majority of adoptions to the U.S., rewrote its qualifications for adoptive parents in 2007. Guatemala, the second-largest source of American adoptions, completely shut down its program in 2008 due to widespread corruption, though it will launch a new adoption system this June. Since 2004, these and other restrictions have resulted in a 40 percent decline in overseas adoptions by Americans—from an all-time high of almost 23,000 in 2004 to fewer than 12,800 in 2009, according to the U.S. State Department.
Read the complete article here: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/may/2.14.html?start=1
Haiti scandal overshadows bigger threat to evangelical adoption efforts.
from Christianity Today
The high-profile legal saga of the 10 Idaho-based Baptists arrested in January for attempting to smuggle 33 Haitian children into the Dominican Republic is winding down. But evangelical adoption advocates wonder what the long-term impact will be.
Leading orphan care advocate Russell Moore suggested in the days following the arrests that the scandal might be a black eye to evangelicals' adoption efforts worldwide. But two months later, Moore said he is no longer worried about a fallout.
"In many ways, the controversy served as an opportunity to clarify what we mean and what we do not mean," said Moore, dean of the School of Theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. "No one in the Christian orphan care community is calling for children to be adopted who are not in fact orphans. And no one is calling for children to be adopted apart from the legitimate processes."
A larger hurdle for international adoptions by evangelicals may be new restrictions on adoptions in countries where they have been most prevalent, including China, Guatemala, Russia, Vietnam, and Liberia.
China, which has traditionally accounted for the majority of adoptions to the U.S., rewrote its qualifications for adoptive parents in 2007. Guatemala, the second-largest source of American adoptions, completely shut down its program in 2008 due to widespread corruption, though it will launch a new adoption system this June. Since 2004, these and other restrictions have resulted in a 40 percent decline in overseas adoptions by Americans—from an all-time high of almost 23,000 in 2004 to fewer than 12,800 in 2009, according to the U.S. State Department.
Read the complete article here: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/may/2.14.html?start=1
Monday, April 19, 2010
20 Ways to Become an Adoption Friendly Church or Synagogue
By Paul Golden of Adoption Today Magazine, April 2010.
While most faith groups commonly praise adoption, most American churches and synagogues do not have a single family that adopted a child during the past year. Faith assemblies can and should play a crucial role in encouraging members to “look after orphans in their distress” (James 1:27). Here are some specific ideas on how to become an adoption-friendly church or synagogue:
1. Pray that you and your ministry will become adoption-friendly. Pray that potential couples
will be sensitive to adopting. Pray that the assembly as a whole steps up its involvement
in assisting couples who adopt.
2. Preach key passages on caring for orphans and spiritual adoption. Passages like James
1:26-27 remind us that pure and faultless religion emphasizes care for those who are
least able to care for themselves. Since God cares for us in our affliction, we should care
for orphans in theirs.
3. Invite guest speakers to raise awareness of adoption needs and opportunities. Those
who lead adoption ministries can share their passion in small groups, Sunday School and services. Give members the opportunity to hear about these needs while giving them ways to help.
4. Make adoption resources available to the faith community. A wealth of adoption
resources can be helpful to couples considering adoption. Most of the time misconceptions about the adoption process keep families from considering adoption. The church or synagogue can be a tool to provide helpful facts for couples to make informed decisions.
5. Frequently list pro-adoption ministries and organizations. List them in your bulletin and
have a “resources” link on your Web site connecting to these ministries. You help these
ministries by making them known to your people, but you also assist your people by
providing accessibility to helpful resources.
6. Encourage couples facing infertility to connect with adoptive parents. Some couples hop onto the emotional roller coaster of infertility drugs, and in the process incur huge medical expenses. Graciously counsel those couples to consider the privilege of parenting an adopted child before their emotions and finances are exhausted.
7. Regularly have adoptive parents and birth mothers share their testimony of God’s
goodness and grace. Testimonies can be powerful reminders to the congregation of
what “good” can come out of a “bad” situation.
8. Educate your members regarding the costs involved in the adoption process. Many
members may be unaware of the expenses involved in adoption such as: homestudies,
background checks, attorney fees, airfare and travel costs, especially for international
adoptions. Adoption costs vary from a few thousand dollars to $20,000 or more. The
cost should not scare off potential adoptive families, but should motivate the church
or synagogue to “count the cost” and offer assistance. What price tag can we put on a
young life?
9. Encourage the membership to give financially to adoptive couples. Giving financially to adoptive parents is one of the most — if not the most — significant things you can
do. As potential couples take the giant step of faith in the adoption process, one of the
biggest concerns will be “how are we going to pay for this?” A monetary gift along
with a note of encouragement can greatly encourage the couple by affirming their
decision to pursue adoption.
10. Create a standing fund for adoptions costs. Church or synagogue members can contribute
to this special fund which adoptive families can utilize (either an interest-free loan or one-time gifts to these couples).
11. Challenge Sunday School classes and small groups to raise money for adoptive couples. Love offerings help lessen the financial burden of adoption while exhibiting how the faith community can encourage and support each other. Imagine the surprise on the couples’ faces when they discover that their class sacrificially gave to help in the adoption of their child.
12. Establish an adoptive parents small group in your church or synagogue. Get a key person
to take this on as a ministry. Meet on a monthly or quarterly basis as needed. This support group provides encouragement for those couples in the midst of the adoption process or those contemplating adoption.
13. Create e-mail list-serves of adoptive parents for support and encouragement. Since
the adoption process brings emotional highs and lows, staying connected by e-mail can prove helpful — especially when a couple needs a timely word of encouragement.
14. Connect with local social service agencies. Most counties and states have child welfare and foster care programs in which members should be involved. Many times there is financial assistance for those families who are foster parents or are in fosteradopt programs.
15. Use attorneys or caseworkers within the church or assembly. Some lawyers specializing
in family law are willing to donate their time and expertise to assist a family with the legal documents for adoption. Such volunteers provide both financial savings and peace of mind.
16. Sponsor a child. Find a ministry of like faith that you know and trust — encourage others to do what they can to pray for and financially support orphan and adoption ministries.
17. Participate in mission trips to orphanages abroad. What better way to raise awareness for adoption than to experience the desperate living conditions of others?
18. Maximize special holidays to emphasize adoption. When adoption needs are presented
with sensitivity and discernment, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day can be ideal times to raise awareness of adoption. A special offering could be collected for an adoptive couple. An adopted child or adoptive parent could give testimony to God’s gift of a family to them. At an
annual Sanctity of Life day, typically the third Sunday each January, discussion of adoption can be a poignant reminder to the church of the devastation of abortion, and at the same time a powerful prompting for the church or synagogue to become adoption-friendly.
19. Celebrate adoption as a faith community. Affirm those who pray and encourage others to adopt. Praise those who give financially to adoptive parents. Celebrate the living object lesson of our own spiritual adoption.
20. Support adopted kids as they struggle with questions of identity, abandonment or
rejection.
Adoption is the ultimate expression and outworking of loving the modern day orphan.
While not everyone will be called to adopt, the faith community can and should do what it
can to encourage and facilitate adoption. Will you help your church or synagogue become
adoption-friendly?
This story can be found at http://www.bluetoad.com/publication/?i=36173&&pn=&p=27
While most faith groups commonly praise adoption, most American churches and synagogues do not have a single family that adopted a child during the past year. Faith assemblies can and should play a crucial role in encouraging members to “look after orphans in their distress” (James 1:27). Here are some specific ideas on how to become an adoption-friendly church or synagogue:
1. Pray that you and your ministry will become adoption-friendly. Pray that potential couples
will be sensitive to adopting. Pray that the assembly as a whole steps up its involvement
in assisting couples who adopt.
2. Preach key passages on caring for orphans and spiritual adoption. Passages like James
1:26-27 remind us that pure and faultless religion emphasizes care for those who are
least able to care for themselves. Since God cares for us in our affliction, we should care
for orphans in theirs.
3. Invite guest speakers to raise awareness of adoption needs and opportunities. Those
who lead adoption ministries can share their passion in small groups, Sunday School and services. Give members the opportunity to hear about these needs while giving them ways to help.
4. Make adoption resources available to the faith community. A wealth of adoption
resources can be helpful to couples considering adoption. Most of the time misconceptions about the adoption process keep families from considering adoption. The church or synagogue can be a tool to provide helpful facts for couples to make informed decisions.
5. Frequently list pro-adoption ministries and organizations. List them in your bulletin and
have a “resources” link on your Web site connecting to these ministries. You help these
ministries by making them known to your people, but you also assist your people by
providing accessibility to helpful resources.
6. Encourage couples facing infertility to connect with adoptive parents. Some couples hop onto the emotional roller coaster of infertility drugs, and in the process incur huge medical expenses. Graciously counsel those couples to consider the privilege of parenting an adopted child before their emotions and finances are exhausted.
7. Regularly have adoptive parents and birth mothers share their testimony of God’s
goodness and grace. Testimonies can be powerful reminders to the congregation of
what “good” can come out of a “bad” situation.
8. Educate your members regarding the costs involved in the adoption process. Many
members may be unaware of the expenses involved in adoption such as: homestudies,
background checks, attorney fees, airfare and travel costs, especially for international
adoptions. Adoption costs vary from a few thousand dollars to $20,000 or more. The
cost should not scare off potential adoptive families, but should motivate the church
or synagogue to “count the cost” and offer assistance. What price tag can we put on a
young life?
9. Encourage the membership to give financially to adoptive couples. Giving financially to adoptive parents is one of the most — if not the most — significant things you can
do. As potential couples take the giant step of faith in the adoption process, one of the
biggest concerns will be “how are we going to pay for this?” A monetary gift along
with a note of encouragement can greatly encourage the couple by affirming their
decision to pursue adoption.
10. Create a standing fund for adoptions costs. Church or synagogue members can contribute
to this special fund which adoptive families can utilize (either an interest-free loan or one-time gifts to these couples).
11. Challenge Sunday School classes and small groups to raise money for adoptive couples. Love offerings help lessen the financial burden of adoption while exhibiting how the faith community can encourage and support each other. Imagine the surprise on the couples’ faces when they discover that their class sacrificially gave to help in the adoption of their child.
12. Establish an adoptive parents small group in your church or synagogue. Get a key person
to take this on as a ministry. Meet on a monthly or quarterly basis as needed. This support group provides encouragement for those couples in the midst of the adoption process or those contemplating adoption.
13. Create e-mail list-serves of adoptive parents for support and encouragement. Since
the adoption process brings emotional highs and lows, staying connected by e-mail can prove helpful — especially when a couple needs a timely word of encouragement.
14. Connect with local social service agencies. Most counties and states have child welfare and foster care programs in which members should be involved. Many times there is financial assistance for those families who are foster parents or are in fosteradopt programs.
15. Use attorneys or caseworkers within the church or assembly. Some lawyers specializing
in family law are willing to donate their time and expertise to assist a family with the legal documents for adoption. Such volunteers provide both financial savings and peace of mind.
16. Sponsor a child. Find a ministry of like faith that you know and trust — encourage others to do what they can to pray for and financially support orphan and adoption ministries.
17. Participate in mission trips to orphanages abroad. What better way to raise awareness for adoption than to experience the desperate living conditions of others?
18. Maximize special holidays to emphasize adoption. When adoption needs are presented
with sensitivity and discernment, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day can be ideal times to raise awareness of adoption. A special offering could be collected for an adoptive couple. An adopted child or adoptive parent could give testimony to God’s gift of a family to them. At an
annual Sanctity of Life day, typically the third Sunday each January, discussion of adoption can be a poignant reminder to the church of the devastation of abortion, and at the same time a powerful prompting for the church or synagogue to become adoption-friendly.
19. Celebrate adoption as a faith community. Affirm those who pray and encourage others to adopt. Praise those who give financially to adoptive parents. Celebrate the living object lesson of our own spiritual adoption.
20. Support adopted kids as they struggle with questions of identity, abandonment or
rejection.
Adoption is the ultimate expression and outworking of loving the modern day orphan.
While not everyone will be called to adopt, the faith community can and should do what it
can to encourage and facilitate adoption. Will you help your church or synagogue become
adoption-friendly?
This story can be found at http://www.bluetoad.com/publication/?i=36173&&pn=&p=27
T-Shirts that Support Adoption!
Here are some examples of the cute t-shirts that can be purchased through Adoption Bug. You can also help families that are raising money for their adoptions by purchasing items through their "stores" (http://www.adoptionbug.com/fundraiser_current.htm ).
Two Tales From Florida's Foster Care - from the Orlando Sentinel's "Fixing Foster Care" Special Report
One story is tragic:
Can death of a young man save future kids in Florida's foster care?
In the last photo ever taken of him alive, Regis Little is a handsome teen, his head cocked back confidently, a bemused smile across his lips. A faint patch of young beard curls from his chin. Frozen in that moment, he looks invincible.
In reality, the 18-year-old product of Florida's foster-care system was tragically vulnerable.
One night last July, several months after he had aged out of the system, he was found stabbed in a parking lot off International Drive, a crowd of spectators gathered around his body. By the time paramedics arrived, Regis Little was dead.
Continue with story: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/os-foster-care-freefall-regis-20100413,0,7939142.story
The other is inspiring.
Former foster child travels Road to Independence
When Kamesha Grant turned 18 in November, she packed a suitcase, left her home in St. Cloud, climbed aboard a bus alone and headed for a new life. As a foster child, it was time to move on.
That's the way the system typically works in Florida. But it's not just a shove out the door. In Grant's case, there was something better ahead.
Taking advantage of the state's Road to Independence program available to teens transitioning out of foster care, Grant already had lined up a place to rent, a $1,000 monthly stipend, training in financial matters and life skills, and a detailed plan for her future.
When local child-welfare advocates want an example of how things can go right, Grant often becomes Exhibit A. She is bright, personable and exceedingly polite, and she did something almost unheard of in Department of Children and Families history: She actually asked to go back into foster care.
"Kamesha gets a lot of the credit for being where she is," said Bethanie Barber, her guardian ad litem, the court-appointed attorney charged with advocating for Grant's best interests. "She is very, very savvy, she has incredible internal motivation and she was absolutely receptive to everything we put in front of her."
Continue story - http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/os-foster-care-freefall-kamesha-20100419,0,2535312.story
Can death of a young man save future kids in Florida's foster care?
In the last photo ever taken of him alive, Regis Little is a handsome teen, his head cocked back confidently, a bemused smile across his lips. A faint patch of young beard curls from his chin. In reality, the 18-year-old product of Florida's foster-care system was tragically vulnerable.
One night last July, several months after he had aged out of the system, he was found stabbed in a parking lot off International Drive, a crowd of spectators gathered around his body. By the time paramedics arrived, Regis Little was dead.
Continue with story: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/os-foster-care-freefall-regis-20100413,0,7939142.story
The other is inspiring.
Former foster child travels Road to Independence
That's the way the system typically works in Florida. But it's not just a shove out the door. In Grant's case, there was something better ahead.
Taking advantage of the state's Road to Independence program available to teens transitioning out of foster care, Grant already had lined up a place to rent, a $1,000 monthly stipend, training in financial matters and life skills, and a detailed plan for her future.
When local child-welfare advocates want an example of how things can go right, Grant often becomes Exhibit A. She is bright, personable and exceedingly polite, and she did something almost unheard of in Department of Children and Families history: She actually asked to go back into foster care.
"Kamesha gets a lot of the credit for being where she is," said Bethanie Barber, her guardian ad litem, the court-appointed attorney charged with advocating for Grant's best interests. "She is very, very savvy, she has incredible internal motivation and she was absolutely receptive to everything we put in front of her."
Continue story - http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/os-foster-care-freefall-kamesha-20100419,0,2535312.story
Friday, April 16, 2010
Learn about the Challenges of International Adoption
You may link to and listen to the show here: http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2010-04-14/international-adoption
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Opportunity to Work with Orphans in India
Children's HopeChest is looking for 9 people who are interested in their FIRST vision trip to INDIA June 20 - July 3. The will be an amazing trip to Delhi to work with a school called the The Good Samaritan. On the trip you will work with Dalit children and orphans.
Here are the details: http://www.hopechest.org/india-trip-june-2010/
or email - vince@hopechest.org
Here are the details: http://www.hopechest.org/india-trip-june-2010/
or email - vince@hopechest.org
Parents are Moving Forward with Their Russian Adoptions
To Russia, for love: Adoptive parents on edge as suspension threatened
By Jessica Ravitz
Valera remembered being left in the Russian snow. How he lost his lower arms and some of his toes, he wasn't always sure. At times, he said he was in a fire. The truth of what the 14-year-old experienced in his early years, no one will ever know.
The orphanage where he lives said Valera was abandoned as a small child at a hospital in St. Petersburg, Russia. He had gangrene, the result of meningitis and an infection, which forced amputations. He was released to the orphanage in Nizhny Lomov, where he's waited nine years for parents and a home to call his own.
On Saturday, Stephen Jack and his wife, Christine, will leave their Goldsboro, North Carolina, home to fly to Russia, the final step in a 15-month journey they hope will give the boy what he's always wanted.
"Having never seen him and only knowing a little bit about him, I still feel attached to that child," said Jack, 53, who already has six children, four of them adopted. "I understand he can talk his way into your heart and mind in no time. When the world is opened up for him, who knows what his capabilities and possibilities are? ... If all goes well, on the 21st he becomes my son."
It is a trip the Jacks will take with trepidation.
The actions Thursday of a Tennessee woman who put her adopted 7-year-old son on a plane and returned him to Russia, saying he was violent and that officials misled her family, puts Americans in the process of adopting from Russia on edge. Officials in Moscow have threatened to suspend all American adoptions and the Jacks face a two-week process involving a court appearance and loads of paperwork before they can fly home with Valera.
"What this woman did to us is put us on pins and needles," Jack said. "My wife has been beside herself, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned."
The adoptions of about 3,000 Russian children by Americans are in progress, according to Tom DiFilipo, president of the Joint Council on International Children's Services, an advocacy group for children in need of families. Russia is the second country this year, after Haiti, in which adoptions have been thrown into a tailspin.
No suspension has been announced, but mere talk of such a recommendation spawned a campaign on Monday by the council to galvanize the adoption community and child advocates. People are being encouraged to sign a letter to President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (which will be presented to them Wednesday morning), post blogs and share videos about adoption successes.
"Our message is this is an isolated incident. The adoption system did not fail. What failed was the decision-making process of this adoptive mother," DiFilipo said. What Torry Hansen of Tennessee did is "outrageous and indefensible, and not indicative of the average adoptive parent. One-hundred-thousand people adopt every year. I don't know of another case like this."
The case has rocked the adoption community.
"I talked to parents yesterday, and they're just devastated," said Deborah Gray, a child and family therapist, trainer and author, based in Seattle, Washington, who has 20-plus-years experience working on attachment, trauma and grief issues.
"It makes it seem like these kids are defective, that adoption itself is not a permanent status. ... It's a public embarrassment," she said. "The vast majority of families are enriched by adoption. To have this kind of approach is really off the wall. I can't understand why it would have gotten to this point."
Adoptive parents can feel overwhelmed during transition
She and other advocates said they wish Hansen had reached out for assistance and tapped services available for parents before shipping the child back to Russia after six months.
"There are so many services that were available to her. She could have contacted FRUA [Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption] which is a resource-rich place, gotten a good psychiatric assessment, including hospitalization if necessary to figure out what made this little guy tick," Gray said.
The incident may have been a wake-up call to agencies and those in the adoption community to make sure adoptive families are prepared for challenges and have resources for help lined up in advance, especially if they live in rural parts of the country, said Sue Gainor, national chair of Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption, a volunteer-led nonprofit that offers support and community.
Gainor, who adopted a son from Moscow in 2001, said there are between 600,000 and 800,000 orphans in Russia, with an additional 80,000 to 100,000 in hospitals awaiting placement in orphanages.
"When you slow adoptions, you affect a lot of children," she said. "There's lots of angst in the adoption community. The minute you see the picture of that prospective child, that kid is yours."
Being a parent, child advocates and members of the adoption community add, means helping a child adjust to change and work through challenges.
"This is just so sad because that kid had no chance whatsoever," said Larisa Mason, who directs a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, adoption agency and serves on the board of the National Council for Adoption. "A 7-year-old who changed his whole life within six months -- new language, new food, a new mother -- no question he would have issues. Even a dog would have issues."
In addition to hoping adoptions continue uninterrupted, many also want Hansen punished for her actions.
Natasha Shaginian-Needham is the founder and director of Happy Families International Center in Cold Spring, New York. The agency, established in 1992, helps orphans with special needs (including Valera), with adoptions being part of its work.
"The mother who finds somebody on the Internet, who sold his services for $200 in order to pick up and deliver [him] ... in Russia, demonstrates serious neglect and abandonment," she said. "There was a very high risk that the child could have been met by a pedophile or worse, a killer. The community in Russia is outraged by the fact that the mother may not be punished at all for her inhuman action."
Prospective adoptive mothers like Andrea Wright of Wake Forest, North Carolina, hope she, her husband, Kenneth, and the boy they want to adopt aren't punished because of Hansen's actions.
Leaving St. Petersburg, Russia, on Friday, Wright was overwhelmed with joy and anticipation. The 40-year-old fundraiser and her husband had just spent a week bonding with a little boy they are on track to soon call their own.
The hopeful first-time parents arrived armed with toys to engage little Andrei, who will turn 1 later this month. In awe and with hearts melting, they watched as the child teetered into the room, clasping the hands of an orphanage caregiver.
Of all the toys they brought him, stacking balls and cars included, his favorite item: Cheerios. Though he was a little reluctant at first, he warmed up during their stay. When they left him, he waved his arms to say goodbye.
In six to eight weeks, they have plans to return to Russia to appear in court, the next phase in their journey to become parents.
"We've been working on the process for close to a year. It's been one procedural thing after another. ... We are so prepared to be parents and have worked so hard to get to this point," she said. "We're hoping that since we've been to Russia once that we'll be allowed to continue. We're trying to go with a lot of faith and prayers at this point that it'll all work out."
http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/04/13/russian.adoption.families/index.html?hpt=C1
How to Help Stop Sex Trafficking
Children's HopeChest has a program in Russia to "stop sex trafficking before it begins."
Tom Davis explains on his blog: http://networkedblogs.com/2TS3Y
Further, CHC is selling these necklaces in which the proceeds go to help the victims of sex trafficking.
"There are a limited number, so buy now to help support victims of sex trafficking in Moldova and the Young Mother’s Program in Russia- give the gift of LOVE to many!
A nice 18″ inch Sterling Cable Chain with a lobster clasp holds a 1″ inch Handmade Sterling circle that is hand stamped with “Love” and it is paired with a sterling flower Charm and a Beautiful Black Onyx Gem that is hand wrapped in Sterling silver."
To purchase: http://www.adoptionfathers.com/2010/04/11/supportyoungmothers/
Tom Davis explains on his blog: http://networkedblogs.com/2TS3Y
"There are a limited number, so buy now to help support victims of sex trafficking in Moldova and the Young Mother’s Program in Russia- give the gift of LOVE to many!
A nice 18″ inch Sterling Cable Chain with a lobster clasp holds a 1″ inch Handmade Sterling circle that is hand stamped with “Love” and it is paired with a sterling flower Charm and a Beautiful Black Onyx Gem that is hand wrapped in Sterling silver."
To purchase: http://www.adoptionfathers.com/2010/04/11/supportyoungmothers/
A Novel About Human Trafficking
Surviving Human Trafficking: A Noir Fairy Tale
by Oscar Villalon
In Koba the Dread, Martin Amis' concise history on Stalin's legacy of perversity, the British novelist makes the point that the enormity committed by the Soviets during (and before and just after) World War II somehow didn't get the deep traction in the consciousness of the West that the inhuman crimes of Nazi Germany did.
Sofi Oksanen's disturbing, riveting novel Purge partly operates in opposition to that fog of forgetfulness. Her book's story — an escaped Russian sex slave turns up out of nowhere, collapsing in front of the dilapidated house of an elderly woman in Estonia — is a jolt.
Set in 1992, only three years removed from the joyful optimism undammed by the demolition of the Berlin Wall, Purge burns through the mists to show how decades of debasement have twisted society in the former USSR into one characterized by crime and cruelty. Oksanen couches this larger theme within a tight, unconventional crime novel, one punctuated by dreadful silences, shameful revelations and repellent intimacies. By examining the toll of history on a close, personal level, Oksanen, an acclaimed Finnish playwright and novelist, makes the cost of mere survival (never mind the price of retaining one's dignity) sickeningly palpable.
Yet for all its darkness, Purge is an engrossing read. Continue with review - http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125915533&ft=3&f=1025,1032,1036,1132
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Reminder that the Vast Majority of Adoptions are Positive and Joyful!
An essay from NPR from an adoptive father:
Mercy On A Parent: Show Adoption's Happy Cases
by Eric WeinerI've gotten very quick with the remote control these days. I can change channels or hit the mute button in a fraction of a second. You see, I don't want my 5-year-old daughter to hear the adoption news out there, because lately, it seems, it's all bad news. The Russian case, the American missionaries accused of sneaking children out of Haiti — these stories raise questions that I'm not prepared to answer. Not yet, at least.
My daughter knows she is adopted. My wife and I don't hide that fact, but nor do we dwell on it. It's just one more thing, we tell her, that makes her special. Once, we were at an ice cream parlor, and the clerk asked my daughter: "Where are you from, little girl?" "Kazakhstan," she replied proudly. I can still recall the shocked expression on the clerk's face.
Only now is my daughter beginning to understand that we don't look alike, she and I. Coursing through her veins is the blood of Genghis Khan and the Mongols. Coursing through my veins is the blood of the Jews of Eastern Europe. It doesn't matter, though. Love trumps genetics. Every time.
There's something mysterious and wonderful about the bond between an adoptive parent and child. For me, that bond gelled as soon as I saw her photo — sent by e-mail from the adoption agency. She had bright eyes and a huge bald head — "Buddha Baby," we called her. Normally I'm not one to believe in fate, but at that moment, I knew, just knew, she was destined to be my daughter.
Adoption is not what you think it is. It is not, as one well-meaning person told me, "an act of mercy." My wife and I did not adopt our daughter to "save" her or to demonstrate our innate goodness. We adopted her because we wanted a child and couldn't have one biologically. That's why we filled out endless reams of paperwork, underwent a background check, spent thousands of dollars we couldn't really afford.
Like our case, the vast majority of international adoptions end happily. Of course, you don't hear those stories. Good news is not news — which is a shame, really, because every time there's an adoption scandal, countries overseas get spooked. Sometimes, they suspend all adoptions, as Russia is reportedly considering now. When that happens, the main victims are the children sitting in orphanages, waiting for parents who may never arrive.
That's what nearly happened to us. At the time, there was a similar case involving a Russian child adopted by an American parent. This parent had allegedly beaten the child to death. It was a terrible story, and Kazakh officials — very much in the Russian orbit — were threatening to suspend all adoptions, including ours. My wife and I spent several tormented weeks holed up in an apartment in the Kazakh city of Almaty, wondering whether we would be allowed to bring our Buddha Baby home.
In the end, cooler heads prevailed and adoptions were allowed to continue. I hope that is what happens now. Meanwhile, I've figured out what I'll say the next time someone tells me that adopting my daughter was an "act of mercy." Yes, I'll reply, it was, and it is we — my wife and I — who are the recipients of that mercy.
Eric Weiner is a former reporter for NPR and author of The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World. This story may be found at
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125906714&sc=fb&cc=fp
Monday, April 12, 2010
Russia Threatens to Halt Adoptions By Americans
(CNN) -- Top officials from the U.S. State Department plan to travel to Moscow this week to push Russia to allow adoptions by U.S. families to continue.
The trip comes after a U.S. family sparked outrage by sending an adopted 7-year-old boy back to Russia alone. Officials in Moscow have threatened to halt all adoptions by U.S. families.
"We were certainly shocked, as was everybody, about the return of the child. We are hoping to work with the Russians to continue the adoptions of children," said Michael D. Kirby, principal deputy assistant for consular affairs.
"We have had over 50,000 children adopted from Russia. The vast majority are doing great here in the United States."
Families in the United States have adopted 14,079 children from Russia in the last five years, including 1,586 in 2009, according to the State Department.
Russia is the third most popular country for U.S. families adopting children internationally, behind China and Ethiopia.
The family that returned the boy said he showed violent and psychotic behavior -- and that officials in Russia had given no warning.
"I am sorry to say that for the safety of my family, friends and myself I no longer wish to parent this child," Torry Hansen wrote in a note in the child's backpack.
She added that Russian orphanage workers "lied to and misled" her about the boy, Artyem, who was renamed Justin Artyem when the family adopted him last year.
In a phone call with CNN, Hansen's mother, Nancy Hansen, said the boy "had a hit list of people he wanted to hurt." No. 1 on that list: his American mom.
The final straw, the adoptive grandmother said, came last week when the family caught him trying to start a fire in the home.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, in an interview with ABC News, called the boy's return a "monstrous" act.
Kirby, speaking to CNN's "American Morning," said, "We have to talk about how we can follow up after the children are adopted. First, are the parents properly screened in the process? Are the agencies that are screening them doing all that they could do to ensure that they are prepared to be new parents?"
He added U.S. officials also must work with Russians "to make sure that the children themselves are also fully understanding what is going to happen to them as they move to a new country in a strange place."
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/04/12/russia.adoption/index.html?hpt=T1
Sunday, April 11, 2010
April 29 Is Approaching Quickly!
http://www.christian-alliance-for-orphans.org/summit/
FSMO Seeks Help from Orlando's Faith Based Community to Send Foster Kids to Summer Camp
If you belong to a church who is planning to send kids to camp, would you be willing to ask if your church could take a few foster kids? Once we find out if churches are willing to take some kids, we are going to work on finding sponsors for them. Please let us know if you can help. This is the first official request from the state to the faith based community and is a wonderful opportunity to have a Godly impact on a child.
Please let us know what you think. Let us know if your church can help or if you could just give us a contact person at church and we will follow up with asking.
We are under a bit of a time constraint since it will take some time to clear all the paperwork needed for these kids to attend camp. If you have any info, would you please get it to us by Sunday, April 25.
Thank you,
CGC
Friday, April 9, 2010
Children's HopeChest "Young Mother's Program"
For Mother's Day 2010, Children's HopeChest is selling beautiful, handmade, one-of-a-kind necklaces to raise funds for girls in their Young Mothers Program. Keep an eye out for the "Love Goes Around" necklace and their Breaking the Chain Mother's Day gift campaign.
About the Young Mothers Program: When orphans are released from the orphanage in their early teen years, they enter a critically vulnerable time. In the case of these women, they found themselves pregnant and alone. Still children themselves, they had nowhere to go. That's where HopeChest comes into the picture.
Learn more: http://tomdavis.typepad.com/HopeChest-YoungMothers.pdf
About the Young Mothers Program: When orphans are released from the orphanage in their early teen years, they enter a critically vulnerable time. In the case of these women, they found themselves pregnant and alone. Still children themselves, they had nowhere to go. That's where HopeChest comes into the picture.
Learn more: http://tomdavis.typepad.com/HopeChest-YoungMothers.pdf
Family Services of Metro Orlando's "Give a Child a Childhood" Fundraising Breakfast to be help April 29
Did you know...
•more than 37% of former foster youth cost rather than contribute to society because they never received the supports and resources they needed to grow into healthy and productive citizens?
•more than 200 central Florida children died in 2008 due to abuse? While each life is priceless, the economic impact of these needless deaths is in excess of a half billion dollars every year.
•there are enough central Florida children awaiting adoption each year to fill fifteen classrooms?
•families of abused children generally suffer from as many as eight major life challenges - job loss, homelessness, domestic violence, addictions, physical and mental illness - all at once?
•even as the need increases, government provides only a shrinking fraction of what it costs to provide basic protection of children? We rely on individuals like you for support of our programs to improve the quality of life for children and families in our community.
The challenges children and families face are too large for nonprofits alone to solve. Family Services of Metro Orlando empowers everyone to be part of the solutions many in our community so desperately seek.
To register: http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07e2opqff970b1a227
Guardians Ad Litem Provide a Voice for Children
An Orlando Sentinel article on how Guardian Ad Litems help abused and neglected children
Murray McMahon could be at a driving range, peppering a distant flagstick with golf balls.
Instead, the retired Westinghouse engineer aims for a more important target with his free time: protecting children. McMahon, 79, of Yalaha devotes five hours a week, often more, to his duties as a guardian ad litem, a court-appointed volunteer entrusted with looking out for the best interest of an abused or neglected child.
"A child needs a voice in court," said McMahon, whose wife, Marilyn, also serves as a guardian for endangered children in Lake County. "We're the only one in the court who's there just to speak for the child. Everybody else there has their own interest, everybody else there has a lawyer to speak for them – mom, dad, DCF [state Department of Children and Families]."
Florida's guardian ad litem program, which will celebrate its 30th anniversary Tuesday, depends on trained volunteers who are supposed to act as independent investigators and advocates for children. State law requires that every child in foster care be provided with an advocate. But the program has its critics.
"It should be abolished," said Richard Wexler, executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, a nonprofit watchdog organization that monitors the nation's many child-welfare systems. "A child's voice in court is not the GAL's [guardian ad litem's] voice."
Wexler said the volunteers, who are overwhelmingly white and middle class, may be well-meaning, but often bring with them an inherent racial and class bias that fails to serve families who are disproportionately poor and minority.
Continue story: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/law/os-law-and-you-and-guardians-20100322,0,4194381.story?page=1
To learn how to become a Guardian Ad Litem in Florida:
http://www.guardianadlitem.org/
Murray McMahon could be at a driving range, peppering a distant flagstick with golf balls.
Instead, the retired Westinghouse engineer aims for a more important target with his free time: protecting children. McMahon, 79, of Yalaha devotes five hours a week, often more, to his duties as a guardian ad litem, a court-appointed volunteer entrusted with looking out for the best interest of an abused or neglected child.
"A child needs a voice in court," said McMahon, whose wife, Marilyn, also serves as a guardian for endangered children in Lake County. "We're the only one in the court who's there just to speak for the child. Everybody else there has their own interest, everybody else there has a lawyer to speak for them – mom, dad, DCF [state Department of Children and Families]."
Florida's guardian ad litem program, which will celebrate its 30th anniversary Tuesday, depends on trained volunteers who are supposed to act as independent investigators and advocates for children. State law requires that every child in foster care be provided with an advocate. But the program has its critics.
"It should be abolished," said Richard Wexler, executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, a nonprofit watchdog organization that monitors the nation's many child-welfare systems. "A child's voice in court is not the GAL's [guardian ad litem's] voice."
Wexler said the volunteers, who are overwhelmingly white and middle class, may be well-meaning, but often bring with them an inherent racial and class bias that fails to serve families who are disproportionately poor and minority.
Continue story: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/law/os-law-and-you-and-guardians-20100322,0,4194381.story?page=1
To learn how to become a Guardian Ad Litem in Florida:
http://www.guardianadlitem.org/
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
An Editorial on Adoption from Christianity Today
210 Million Reasons to Adopt
Haiti's devastating quake reminds us that orphans matter to God.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/april/13.55.html?start=1
Two years ago, a Christian couple from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, fell in love with an abandoned toddler, born with a disability and living in an orphanage in rural Haiti. Already adoptive parents of a Liberian child, Katy and Josh Manges decided to adopt the toddler, Malachi, who has a treatable bone disorder.
Then the January 12 earthquake that crushed so much of Port-au-Prince, costing an estimated 230,000 lives, put the prayerful plans of the Manges family in limbo. It also laid bare before the world how badly orphans and vulnerable children may be treated when they get caught up in red tape, corruption, and political correctness.
For the Manges family, the outcome was success. In late February, Malachi arrived in Miami into the welcoming arms of his new family. Yet the adoption required two years of effort, delayed by local politics and requiring a personal signature from Haiti's prime minister. At the last minute, rioters at Port-au-Prince's airport derailed Malachi's departure, falsely alleging that he and other adoptees had phony paperwork.
This episode stands alongside another, the still-unfolding saga of the Idaho Baptists who were arrested on suspect charges of child trafficking. The latter may have a long-lasting chilling effect on inter-country adoption just when adoptive parents are needed more than ever. There are 210 million orphans worldwide, and adoptions to the U. S. have dropped 45 percent since 2004.
The greater problem isn't with potential adopting parents. It's with a system that is severely broken. Christian leaders and churches have much to offer in advocating for the reform of confusing adoption laws, stronger enforcement of international norms, and making adoption more affordable, more visible, and a more honored practice.
Jedd Medefind, president of the Christian Alliance for Orphans, recently told Christianity Today that immediately after Haiti's quake, many agencies fielded waves of calls from people with a strong impulse to take Haitian orphans into their homes. Rather than dismiss or belittle this impulse, Medefind encouraged them to consider the many ways of supporting the children, recognizing that adoption is a long and uncertain process. Family reunification, orphanages, extended family care, and child sponsorship all have a role to play in meeting the needs of vulnerable children in crisis or chronic need.
But Medefind is quick to note that powerful political and cultural barriers often make adoption an arduous process that takes too long and costs too much. "The reality is that there are thousands of children, before and after the earthquake, who are genuinely in need of parents," he says. "To the extent that parents can't be found, we should not relegate children to living on the streets or [in] orphanages. The political and cultural factors often become unspoken reasons why children are forced to remain in institutional care or on the streets, which is a profound tragedy."
The political and cultural barriers stem from warped ideas about what is in a poor child's best interest. It isn't in the best interest of abandoned children to grow up destitute and barely literate, regardless of the imagined cultural benefit of remaining in their home country. Haiti itself is a vivid example of injustice. The government tolerates a modern form of child slavery by allowing 225,000 children ages 6-14 to work as restavecs (unpaid, indentured domestics).
Adoption, domestic or inter-country, should not be looked down upon as inferior at best or as a last resort. The 150,000 South Korean orphans adopted worldwide (99,000 to the U.S.) since the 1950s testify well to the durable difference a loving adoptive family can make.
For Christians, the biblical basis for adoption bears repeating. The Book of James beckons every true follower of Christ to become involved in the lives of orphans (and widows). It's not for married couples only. Godly, never-married singles have successfully adopted, and most readily affirm the ideal that each child should live with a mother and father—whenever possible. So, Christian singles should not be automatically excluded from the pool of possibilities for adoption.
Adoption experts provided CT with four ways churches can increase their involvement:
CT recently talked with a never-married woman who adopted a young girl from Kazakhstan into her home (at a personal initial cost of $36,000). For her, the question was, "Are we talking about live souls?" Not mere "victims" or "political symbols" or "the needy," but children for whom Christ died, who need a home where the love of God is lived and shared with the least of these.
Haiti's devastating quake reminds us that orphans matter to God.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/april/13.55.html?start=1
Two years ago, a Christian couple from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, fell in love with an abandoned toddler, born with a disability and living in an orphanage in rural Haiti. Already adoptive parents of a Liberian child, Katy and Josh Manges decided to adopt the toddler, Malachi, who has a treatable bone disorder.
Then the January 12 earthquake that crushed so much of Port-au-Prince, costing an estimated 230,000 lives, put the prayerful plans of the Manges family in limbo. It also laid bare before the world how badly orphans and vulnerable children may be treated when they get caught up in red tape, corruption, and political correctness.
For the Manges family, the outcome was success. In late February, Malachi arrived in Miami into the welcoming arms of his new family. Yet the adoption required two years of effort, delayed by local politics and requiring a personal signature from Haiti's prime minister. At the last minute, rioters at Port-au-Prince's airport derailed Malachi's departure, falsely alleging that he and other adoptees had phony paperwork.
This episode stands alongside another, the still-unfolding saga of the Idaho Baptists who were arrested on suspect charges of child trafficking. The latter may have a long-lasting chilling effect on inter-country adoption just when adoptive parents are needed more than ever. There are 210 million orphans worldwide, and adoptions to the U. S. have dropped 45 percent since 2004.
The greater problem isn't with potential adopting parents. It's with a system that is severely broken. Christian leaders and churches have much to offer in advocating for the reform of confusing adoption laws, stronger enforcement of international norms, and making adoption more affordable, more visible, and a more honored practice.
Jedd Medefind, president of the Christian Alliance for Orphans, recently told Christianity Today that immediately after Haiti's quake, many agencies fielded waves of calls from people with a strong impulse to take Haitian orphans into their homes. Rather than dismiss or belittle this impulse, Medefind encouraged them to consider the many ways of supporting the children, recognizing that adoption is a long and uncertain process. Family reunification, orphanages, extended family care, and child sponsorship all have a role to play in meeting the needs of vulnerable children in crisis or chronic need.
But Medefind is quick to note that powerful political and cultural barriers often make adoption an arduous process that takes too long and costs too much. "The reality is that there are thousands of children, before and after the earthquake, who are genuinely in need of parents," he says. "To the extent that parents can't be found, we should not relegate children to living on the streets or [in] orphanages. The political and cultural factors often become unspoken reasons why children are forced to remain in institutional care or on the streets, which is a profound tragedy."
The political and cultural barriers stem from warped ideas about what is in a poor child's best interest. It isn't in the best interest of abandoned children to grow up destitute and barely literate, regardless of the imagined cultural benefit of remaining in their home country. Haiti itself is a vivid example of injustice. The government tolerates a modern form of child slavery by allowing 225,000 children ages 6-14 to work as restavecs (unpaid, indentured domestics).
Adoption, domestic or inter-country, should not be looked down upon as inferior at best or as a last resort. The 150,000 South Korean orphans adopted worldwide (99,000 to the U.S.) since the 1950s testify well to the durable difference a loving adoptive family can make.
For Christians, the biblical basis for adoption bears repeating. The Book of James beckons every true follower of Christ to become involved in the lives of orphans (and widows). It's not for married couples only. Godly, never-married singles have successfully adopted, and most readily affirm the ideal that each child should live with a mother and father—whenever possible. So, Christian singles should not be automatically excluded from the pool of possibilities for adoption.
Adoption experts provided CT with four ways churches can increase their involvement:
- give adoptive families space to tell their stories in church;
- find ways to give small starter grants to people interested in adopting;
- encourage the adoption of children with special needs; and
- develop a full spectrum of responses, from child sponsorship to adoption.
CT recently talked with a never-married woman who adopted a young girl from Kazakhstan into her home (at a personal initial cost of $36,000). For her, the question was, "Are we talking about live souls?" Not mere "victims" or "political symbols" or "the needy," but children for whom Christ died, who need a home where the love of God is lived and shared with the least of these.
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