September 28, 2007

2 Corinthians 4:8-9
We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

Wow, there is a lot going on within the international adoption community right now. It is all very scary and I could in an instant be in tears and feel abandoned. But I know that God has a plan here and I have to ride it out. I have to keep my faith and know that God's Will will be done here. I have emailed many of you and asked you to contact your government officials and I have been blessed to hear from many of you that you will do this. If you don't mind, I would love to have you email or mail me copies of your letters so that I can put them in Maya's scrapbook so that one day she will be able to know how may people fought to bring her home.

The Joint Council on International Childresn Services has recently sent out this email as a call to action. This intiative is called the Guatemala 500 initiative in reference to the 5000 children that will be left in foster homes or orphanages indefinately is adoptions are stopped. Here is the article:
Link: http://www.jcics.org/Guatemala5000.htm
Dear Friends,
Guatemalan President Oscar Berger has announced plans to suspend all intercountry adoption with American families on January 1, 2008. Joint Council strongly opposes such a suspension and asks for your support in our efforts to ensure that all children retain the right to permanency through Intercountry Adoption. President Berger's plans also call for the suspension of adoptions currently in-process. Such a suspension would be extremely detrimental to the children referred to adoptive parents. If President Berger's plan is actually implemented, up to 5,000 will unnecessarily remain in foster care or orphanages indefinitely. This situation represents a pending crisis for the adoptive families who have lovingly chosen to provide permanency, safety and love to a child in need and most importantly a crisis for 5,000 children of Guatemala.
What can you do? Make six simple phone calls and one email. 1. Call your U.S. Senator. • You can find your Senators' phone numbers at http://www.senate.gov/ • Ask to speak with the Legislative Director or Chief of Staff. 2. Call your second U.S. Senator. 3. Call your representative to the U.S. House of Representative. • You can find your representative at http://www.house.gov/ • Ask to speak with the Legislative Director or Chief of Staff. 4. Call or fax the Department of State's Office of Children's Issues • Their number is 202-736-9130 • Their fax number is 202-736-9080 5. Call or fax UNICEF Headquarter • Ask to speak with Ann Veneman, Executive Director • Their number is 212-326-7000 • Their fax number is 212-326-7758 6. Call or fax UNICEF Guatemala • Ask to speak with Manuel Manrique • Their number is 011-502-2327- 6373 • Their fax number is 011-502-2327. 6366 7. Send and email supporting Intercountry Adoption to guatemala5000@ • Write briefly or at length • Joint Council will use the cumulative email petition in our advocacy for Intercountry Adoption.
When should you call? Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday (October 8th,> 9th 10th) • For maximum affect, we are asking you to make these calls within a 72 hour window!
What should you say? Speak from your heart and give them the following information. • The Guatemalan government has announced that all adoptions with the U.S. will be suspended on January 1 2008. • Their announcement also indicated that there will be no `grandfathering' of adoptions already in process. • If children referred to families are not allowed to be adopted, they will languish in institutions or foster care. • Your office must get involved and sign the CCAI sponsored letters to the President of Guatemala and UNICEF. These letters ask that all adoptions in-process as of January 1 2008 be allowed to processed to completion under the existing notorial laws. • Your office should contact the Office of Children's Issues at the Department of State. Their number is 202-736-9130.
Can you explain the problem behind the pending crisis? Here is some additional information…
• Guatemalan President Oscar Berger has announced plans to effectively stop all adoptions into the United States including those children who have already been referred to adoptive parents
• Over 5,000 children have been referred
• The birthparents for these children have already relinquished their parental rights. As a result, they currently have no family and the Berger suspension will result in these children having no prospect for a permanent, safe and loving family
• The government of Guatemala currently does not have the finances or facilities to even provide housing for these 5,000> children • The Berger plan is a crisis waiting to happen!

There is also an online petition I am asking everyone to sign.
Please sign this petition authored by Hannah Wallace in response to the most recent DOS warning. http://www.petitiononline.com/foafoa1/petition.html

Finally, but most importantly, please pray! Pray for Maya and all the other children whose lives are in danger if President Berger gets his way. Pray for the children who are in process of adoption that they will come home to their forever families sooner rather than later (or not at all). Pray also that people will look into UNICEF and all the TERRIBLE things they support. Pray for media coverage to uncover these issues. Pray for the adoptive parents that they remain strong. Pray that the US will support their citizens and step in to help here.

If you are interested in reading more go to:
http://www.guatadopt.com/
www.adaguatemala.org/English/news/
http://www.jcics.org/