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.

It has come to our attention today that our password-protected feature is not working correctly. This feature is to provide children extra privacy on the Internet for a variety of reasons. To use this feature you simply have to be a basic user. It is not necessary for basic users to upgrade to a premium membership in order to request and receive a password. We apologize for the error and for the extra step that this will cause over the course of the next few days. If you would like more information about a child that is password protected please contact the listing agency. The agency information is located on the photolisting. We are working on this error and will have it fixed shortly so that the password will immediately be sent to your registered email address as intended. Thank you for your understanding!

Kind Regards,

Katie Brabson, MSW
www.precious.org
katie@precious.org

The Department of State warns potential adoptive parents and adoption service providers of the risk of initiating new adoptions from Vietnam at this time. The 2005 Memorandum of Agreement, required by Vietnamese law to authorize adoptions between the United States and Vietnam, expires on September 1, 2008. The United States is strongly committed to continuing intercountry adoptions from Vietnam if possible. Our primary concern is to ensure that the children and families involved in the adoption process are protected from exploitation. The Government of Vietnam shares this concern. Both countries acknowledge that more needs to be done.

Discussions about revision and renewal of the Agreement are a priority for both governments, but there is no certainty a new Agreement will be in place on September 1. In view of the processing time required in Vietnam from placement to the Giving and Receiving Ceremony, an adoption process begun now cannot be completed before the current Agreement expires. We do not know whether the Government of Vietnam will continue to process pending cases if the current Agreement expires before a new Agreement takes effect. Moreover, given concerns about the existing level of protection for children in Vietnam, it is unlikely that the Agreement can be renewed in its current form.

The United States Government stands ready to support Vietnam’s efforts to strengthen and improve accountability in its adoption system and to develop its capacity to regulate adoptions. In some cases, our background investigations have revealed evidence of irregularities, ranging from forged or altered documentation to cases where children have been offered for adoption without the apparent knowledge or consent of their birth parents.

In response to these problems, in November 2007, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service and the Department of State instituted new procedures to verify that children identified for placement meet the requirements of Vietnamese and U.S. law, before the child has been adopted under Vietnamese law. The Embassy strongly advises prospective adoptive parents not to travel to Vietnam until they have received notification from the Embassy that their case is ready for final processing and travel is appropriate. Parents should contact the Embassy immediately if anyone, including their adoption service provider, encourages them to travel to Vietnam prior to receiving this notification. The Embassy can work together with adoption service providers, Vietnam’s Department of International Adoptions, and local authorities to resolve issues such as the scheduling of a Giving and Receiving Ceremony.

We continue to urge Vietnam to comply with the terms of the 2005 Agreement and to establish a process that protects the interests of all parties involved in adoptions.

For more information on this matter please visit the Department of State website on Intercountry adoption.