Nearly 1,100 Haitian children have been adopted by U.S. families since a magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck near Port-au-Prince on Jan. 12, 2010, according to State Department statistics.
In Bridport, Vt., Tim and Annette Franklin told the Burlington Free Press that 3-year-old Gedeleine is now singing and speaking in English and has made many new friends at her local church since coming to the United States via Miami roughly 10 days after the earthquake.

“We stayed up all night long,” Tim Franklin told the newspaper of the night before adopting the girl. “We waited for them to call her name. That was our cue to go and get her. The children were in the adjoining room. We could hear them singing. We were all crying.”

When the couple united with the girl, who is HIV positive, an instant bond ensued. She eventually settled into their Vermont home within about two months. Now the Franklins are in the process of fundraising to adopt again, this time a 13-year-old boy from Ethiopia.

“We can’t change the world for all those kids, but we can change the world for some,” Tim Franklin told the newspaper. “If people can’t adopt, they can support an adoption or orphanages. It would be wonderful if these children could stay in their own countries, but the economic situations in these areas are often dire.”

In Flower Mound, Texas, Maya Poulter, whose odyssey from Haiti to Iowa made national news last year, continues to thrive, her mother told the Des Moines Register in an e-mail last week.
Mandy and Matt Poulter had nearly completed the adoption process when the earthquake struck. After racing to Haiti, they picked up Maya and four other Haitian children who were in the process of being adopted by families in Iowa, the newspaper reports.

The girl, now 5, has grown nearly 8 inches since arriving in the U.S., Mandy Poulter told the newspaper in an e-mail.

“Almost unbelievable that she could grow that much in a year! She’s a very girly girl and would wear skirts and fancy shoes every day if we’d let her,” the message read.
The Poulters moved to Texas last year after Matt was transferred by his employer, but they hope to return to Iowa within a few years.

Meanwhile, in Suamico, Wis., Jaime and Patrick Franklin say the past year has simply flown by since they adopted then-2-year-old Shae. Now 3, the girl has easily adjusted to her new life and enjoys swimming and dancing lessons.

“It seems years and years ago quite honestly,” Patrick Franklin told WFRV.com. “She loves to color. She loves to dance [and] sing.”

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/01/12/haitian-adoptees-thriving-new-families/#ixzz1AtNq3l1J

YOU are God’s Plan for the Orphan

The United Nations reports that the number of orphans around the world waiting for help is more than 140 million.

This global crisis is present even in the United States where over 120,000 children now wait to be adopted from the foster care system.

But God commands every Christian to act and to care for orphans and we would like you to join us this fall as we serve the orphan.

To help raise awareness of today’s orphan crisis, we, along with our friends at Focus on the Family, and Hope for Orphans (a ministry of FamilyLife), worked together to produce Answer the Cry, a special video program hosted by bestselling author Francis Chan. Answer the Cry features musical performances by award winning artists Steven Curtis Chapman and Mark Schultz. Answer the Cry also addresses ways that every Christian can have an impact on the life of an orphan.

This special program is available to you at no cost–visit CryOfTheOrphan.org/Promote to learn more about the video and how you can utilize it for an orphan awareness event in your community. You can help us promote Answer the Cry by sharing this page with your friends!

Will you also consider joining us on Orphan Sunday (November 7) to stand for orphans, to defend the fatherless and care for the least of these? More details on how to get involved are at CryOfTheOrphan.org.

Here’s How You Can Help
Find ways to help orphans
at www.cryoftheorphan.org
Find more Orphan Sunday ideas
at www.showhope.org/OrphanSunday

Article from showhope.org

Precious.org has an amazing group of agencies that we work with to help connect waiting children from around the world with potential parents just like you! Each agency agrees to follow our strict ethical guidelines in the work they do.

ICA has been a fully licensed international and domestic non-profit adoption, foster-care, and humanitarian aid agency since 1990. ICA’s mission is to: promote and secure the emotional, spiritual and physical welfare of children who have been victimized, abandoned or persecuted; to widen the horizons of Americans by sending them to foreign countries to experience differing cultures through a myriad of work projects, camps and activities; maintain a Hague compliant licensed child placement agency under a different name in accordance with the laws of the State of California in order to provide temporal foster care and adoptive placement; maintain several programs to enhance ICA’s mission which is not limited to but includes immigration and refugee resettlement services, foreign student exchange program, fair trade, cultural camps, mission programs and tours, and other social service programs.

They are a wonderful agency and we encourage you to watch and pray for the children they will listing from the Philippines who are waiting to find their forever families!

The U.S. Embassy in Lome, Togo and the Office of Children’s Issues will continue to monitor the situation and will provide further information on adoption.state.gov as it becomes available. Please monitor adoption.state.gov for updated information on the Government of Togo’s new eligibility requirements for prospective adoptive parents which will be posted under Country Information.

Please visit the foster care month website to learn more.

On April 1, 2008, the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (the Convention) enters into force for the United States. As of this date, the provisions of the Convention will govern both immigrating (incoming) and emigrating (outgoing) intercountry adoptions between the United States and other Convention countries.

Implementing the Convention and the IAA has led to many changes in the U.S. intercountry adoption process. Some of these key changes are:

1. Federal accreditation, through accrediting entities designated by the Department, of adoption service providers who provide certain key adoption services in connection with Convention adoption cases.

2. The replacement of the Department of Homeland Security petition forms I-600A and I-600 for orphans with new forms I-800A and I-800 for “Convention adoptees.”

3. New documents will be issued by consular officers overseas in Convention cases stating that the requirements of the Convention and the IAA have been met for an adoption or custody declaration completed overseas. These are the Hague Adoption Certificate (HAC) or Hague Custody Certificate (HCC), which will accompany the IH-3 or IH-4 immigrant visa.

4. For the outgoing adoption or custody declaration completed in the United States, the Department will issue the HAC or Hague Custody Declaration (HCD) stating that the requirements of the Convention and the IAA have been met.

5. The creation of the Adoption Tracking Service (ATS) through which the Department will track both incoming and outgoing cases. For the first time, it will be possible to track the cases of American children who are adopted by citizens of other (Hague) countries. Previously there was no federal role in these cases, and no system for collecting information from the various states about the numbers and destinations of American children adopted abroad.

6. The creation of a Hague Complaint Registry to track public complaints related to intercountry adoptions.

For more information on the Convention’s implementation in the United States, please visit the “Intercountry Adoption” section of their website.

Hosted by Calvary Chapel in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, May 1-3, 2008

Nashville, TN (March 13, 2008) The Christian Alliance for Orphans, consisting of adoption placement agencies, orphan care organizations and church leaders whose collective aim is to inform, educate and engage God’s people to love and care for the world’s 143 million orphans, will hold its fourth annual Summit from May 1 through 3rd at Calvary Chapel in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

This annual gathering presents an opportunity for believers to unite their voices in speaking up for those who have no voice, and their passions in motivating other believers to ask God how they might engage in the lives of orphans around the world. Churches as well as other interested individuals are encouraged to attend. Main session speakers at Summit IV include: Jedd Medefind, Special Assistant to President George W. Bush & Deputy Director of the White House Faith-Based Initiative; John Fuller, of “Focus on the Family” Radio and VP of their Audio & New Media Division; Kay Warren, author and wife of Pastor Rick Warren, and Executive Director of Saddleback’s HIV Initiative; Pastor Bob Coy, Sr. of host church Calvary Chapel, Ft. Lauderdale; Howard Dayton, co-founder of Crown Financial Ministries; and Dennis Rainey, best-selling author, president and co-founder of Family Life and host of “Family Life Today” radio program. Entertainment and worship will be provided by recording artist and adoptive dad of two children from China, Geoff Moore and World Help’s Children of the World Choir.

As in previous summits, Summit IV will offer breakout sessions in which attendees can learn from church orphan ministry leaders and advocacy organizations from across the globe. Sessions are designed to educate attendees on how to start or improve adoption, foster care, and/or orphan care ministries within their churches, as well as how to enhance the practices of the orphan care professional.

Members of the Alliance must meet specific doctrinal, financial, and program standards in order to be part of the Alliance’s agency referral list. These standards give churches added assurance of the foundational beliefs and integrity of agencies with which they are looking to partner in serving orphans.

The unified effort of The Christian Alliance for Orphans reaches the broader Christian community with the needs of orphans, and presents opportunities for adoption, foster care, and orphan ministry worldwide. The Alliance’s vision is simple — that every orphan may experience and know the love of Jesus Christ. Together, the Alliance believes Jesus’ followers can and must be His hands and feet in reaching the orphan for His glory.

Cost is only $89 per person if you register by April 11th.
Registration after April 11th and through May 1st is $125 per person.

For more information about the Christian Alliance for Orphans and registration, please visit their website at www.christianalliancefororphans.org.