Precious

Drop in International Adoption Sparks Debate

Jason — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 23:28:04 +0000

“I see ‘em! I see ‘em!” he exclaimed as his parents, Chris and Jenny Romano of Deerfield Township, appeared in a walkway at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. Atop Chris’ shoulders was Tommy, a smiling 4-year-old boy they had just adopted from Ethiopia.
The Romanos, exhausted but exuberant after 16 hours on planes, soon were surrounded by their four biological children and more than a dozen family members and friends holding welcome signs and balloons. Somebody handed Tommy a small U.S. flag, which he waved enthusiastically.
“Welcome to America,” Chris Romano said as he bounced the boy on his arm.
Scenes such as this one, which occurred April 1, are becoming less common as the international adoption landscape shifts dramatically, the number of such placements plummets, and advocates and critics line up on either side of the issue.
In the United States, the number of children adopted internationally has fallen 52 percent — from a high of 22,991 in 2004 to 11,058 last year. In comparison, 25,000-30,000 children were adopted through private agencies and about 50,000 were adopted through the foster care system in 2009, the most recent year for which those numbers are available.
Elizabeth Bartholet, a Harvard law professor and international adoption expert, said those numbers are “pretty stunning. I see it as a crisis for international adoption, which I think is a crisis for children worldwide.”
But others say a needed transition is under way, and that international adoption should be the last resort for finding homes for unparented children. Loose regulations and the large sums of money changing hands have spawned corrupt practices, they say, and as abuses are exposed, many countries have shut down or severely limited inter-country adoption.
“Which is as it should be,” said Julie Gilbert Rosicky, executive director of the American branch of the International Social Service, a nonprofit active in 140 countries. “We should not be adopting children when children are being bought and sold or being stolen.”
Some 81 countries have ratified an international adoption protocol called the Hague Convention, aimed at protecting children and safeguarding both birth parents and adoptive parents. But of the top five countries from which Americans adopt, only China is a party to the convention.
Countries that have shut down their adoption programs because of fraud and corruption include Vietnam, Nepal and Guatemala, which a few years ago was one of the biggest sources of international adoption.
Ethiopia is now the No. 2 source country for children adopted by Americans (after China). In March, it announced a new policy, intended to decrease fraud, that could reduce the number of foreign adoptions by up to 90 percent.
“Some (country closures) just come out of the blue,” said Thomas DiFilipo, president and CEO of the Joint Council on International Children’s Services, a nonprofit that advocates for orphaned and vulnerable children.
Kurdistan, for example, had a system that was working well, he said. “They had a couple of allegations of paperwork corruption, and (three years ago) it just shut down, basically overnight.”
Impoverished countries also feel other pressures to curtail international adoption.
“It’s easy for those countries’ leaders to think it will be popular politically to decry (international adoption) as a modern form of colonialism,” Bartholet said. “And it’s easy to think it will be popular to stand up to the United States.”
And yet, “to close down a service to children is an inappropriate and damaging response,” DiFilipo said. “It’s abusive to the kids that are in the system (waiting) to be adopted, and it’s abusive to the ones who could have found a family and never had the opportunity.”
DiFilipo’s organization advocates for laws, funding and aggressive prosecution aimed at halting corrupt adoption practices.
“No one is saying that international adoption is the only or even the primary solution. The solution is in-country,” said DiFilipo, whose organization has promoted domestic adoption in Albania, Russia, China and Africa. “But until we get to that point, adoption internationally might be the most viable (alternative).”
Certainly there’s no lack of people willing to adopt children from other countries, DiFilipo said. “We could be finding homes for tens of thousands of more kids each year.”
UNICEF defines an orphan as a child who has lost one or more parents. It estimates there were 132 million such children in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean in 2005. Of those, 13 million had lost both parents.
“The next question is, do they have other family members?” said Rosicky. “That’s the heart and soul of our practice here in the U.S. — if someone doesn’t have parents to take care of them, what about aunts, uncles, grandparents?
“Inter-country adoption is not the first solution. It should be the last solution. Countries should come up with alternatives for permanency in their own countries first.”
But she acknowledges that it will take years to build such systems of care and realign priorities. In some African cultures, for example, people are stigmatized when they take in a child from another community.
“The problem is, what do you do with all those kids in the transition, who are in orphanages now, and may or may not be (able to) reunify with their families,” Rosicky said. “That’s a terrible, terrible place to be. There are no easy answers.”
Rosicky said that international adoption will continue to be in the best interest of some children. Meanwhile, for Americans seeking to adopt internationally, the ramifications of the changing landscape are profound.
“It used to be, five to 10 years ago, that people looking at international adoption had some degree of certainty that at the end of the process they’d be bringing home a child. It was pretty predictable,” said Cherie McCarthy, director of Amberley Village-based Adoption Connection, which does home studies.
“Now things have been changing so much, I don’t think they have that level of certainty anymore.”
Often, people who chose international adoption over domestic did so because of concerns about contact with the birth family. And some families preferred to go overseas because they could adopt healthy, younger children. But new adoption rules have changed the landscape.
“We’re seeing a lot of kids that are older, who have either been in institutional care, or who have been victims of some kind of trauma or neglect or poverty in their country. So the situations we deal with once the kids come home are more complicated than they used to be,” McCarthy said.
That trend magnifies the importance of local resources — such as Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center’s International Adoption Center — that can serve families as they deal with more complex adoptions.
For prospective adoptive families, one thing hasn’t changed, DiFilipo said.
“It takes a commitment to a child, whether you know who that child is today, or you don’t. The commitment is unbelievably important.”

LET EVERY ORPHAN EXPERIENCE GOD’S UNFAILING LOVE

Jason — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 03:22:25 +0000

The Christian Alliance for Orphans unites more than 80 respected Christian organizations and a national network of churches. Working together, our joint initiatives inspire, equip and connect Christians to “defend the cause of the fatherless” in adoption, foster care and global orphan care. Through the annual Summit, the Orphan Sunday campaign and an array of other initiatives, we seek to help grow communities in the local church known for “defending the cause of the fatherless” (Isaiah 1:17). More…

LET EVERY ORPHAN EXPERIENCE GOD’S UNFAILING LOVE

Jason — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 03:21:51 +0000

LET EVERY ORPHAN EXPERIENCE GOD’S UNFAILING LOVE
The Christian Alliance for Orphans unites more than 80 respected Christian organizations and a national network of churches. Working together, our joint initiatives inspire, equip and connect Christians to “defend the cause of the fatherless” in adoption, foster care and global orphan care. Through the annual Summit, the Orphan Sunday campaign and an array of other initiatives, we seek to help grow communities in the local church known for “defending the cause of the fatherless” (Isaiah 1:17). More…

Two 15 yr old orphans from Ukraine need a host family

Jason — Thu, 12 May 2011 17:23:22 +0000

My friend Kelly Putty just posted this on her Ordinary Hero blog. Please pass the word so we can find someone to help

“Two 15 yr old orphans from Ukraine are needing a family to host them in their home in America for 4 weeks during the summer. Deadline has been extended but the need is urgent! Preferably, host family needs to live in the Middle TN or surrounding area in order for the girls to be within the appropriate distance from their program coordinator. This could be a life changing experience for these two young friends who need to experience life outside of being orphaned in the Ukraine.

Please take a moment and read the OH BLOG today to find out more information on this situation and how you can help. A $1000 scholarship is being offered for each of these young girls in order to help get them to America for this life changing opportunity.

You may also email Jan Richey with any questions you may have at jan.richey@ltcfp.net”

Pray NOW for Ethiopian Christians – Add your prayer HERE!

Jason — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 01:56:34 +0000

Thousands of Christians have been forced to flee their homes in Western Ethiopia after Muslim extremists set fire to roughly 50 churches and dozens of Christian homes.
At least one Christian has been killed, many more have been injured and anywhere from 3,000 to 10,000 have been displaced in the attacks that began March 2 after a Christian in the community of Asendabo was accused of desecrating the Koran.

The violence escalated to the point that federal police forces sent to the area two weeks ago were initially overwhelmed by the mobs. Government spokesman Shimelis Kemal told Voice of America police reinforcements had since restored order and 130 suspects had been arrested and charged with instigating religious hatred and violence.
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said the Islamist group Kawarja is believed to have incited the violence.

“We believe there are elements of the Kawarja sect and other extremists who have been preaching religious intolerance in the area,” he said at a Saturday press conference. “In previous times, we have cracked down on Kawarja because they were involved in violence. Since then they have changed their tactics and they have been able to camouflage their activities through legal channels.”

The string of attacks comes on the heels of several reports of growing anti-Christian tension and violence around the country where Muslims make up roughly one-third of the total population but more than 90 percent of the population in certain areas, 2007 Census data shows.

One of those areas is Besheno where, on November 9, all the Christians in the city woke up to find notes on their doors warning them to convert to Islam, leave the city or face death, a Christian from Besheno told FoxNews.com on condition of anonymity.

“Under the Egyptian constitution we are supposed to have freedom of religion, but Muslim leaders in our town don’t allow us that right,” the source said.
Later that month three Christians in Besheno were assaulted in religiously-motivated attacks and three others were forced to flee the city after being told that Muslim leaders had commissioned hit men to kill them, one of the exiled Christians told FoxNews.com.

“We were told by some Muslims that live in the city that there was already a plan to kill us and that the people who were assigned to kill us had already come from another city to do it.”
A witness to the three attacks was then assaulted in January after testifying about them in court, International Christian Concern (ICC), an organization that aims to fight Christian persecution, reported.
In the southern town of Moyale, a Christian was sentenced to three years in prison in November for allegedly writing “Jesus is the Lord” in a copy of the Koran, Compass Direct News reported. Christians from the area told the website he had actually written the phrase on a piece of cloth.

Sources also told Compass authorities had offered to release the man, Tamirat Woldegorgis, if he would convert to Islam, but he refused.
Additionally, two of his friends were fined for visiting him in prison and taking him food, Compass Direct reported.

And in Oma Village on February 26 a Muslim mob with rocks and rods assaulted and wounded 17 Christian college students who were distributing Bibles during a mission trip, ICC reported.
The mob overwhelmed government security forces that attempted to protect the students, but the students eventually fled, the ICC website said.
“The violence against Christians in Ethiopia is alarming because Ethiopian Muslims and Christians used to live together peacefully. Besides, it’s extremely disconcerting that in Ethiopia, where Christians are the majority, they are also the victims of persecution,” Jonathan Racho, ICC’s Regional Manager of Africa and South Asia, told FoxNews.com.

Meles said that the government is doing everything it can to stop religious violence.

“We knew that they were peddling this ideology of intolerance, but it was not possible for us to stop them administratively because they are within their rights,” he said. “If we can find some association between what they are doing by way of preaching and what happened by way of violence, then of course we can take them to court.”

Racho, originally from Ethiopia, said the fact that the government waited a full week before sending troops to Asendabo shows that it’s not doing enough. Going forward, he said he hopes the government “will take measures to ensure that such attacks will not happen in the future,” including bringing all responsible parties to justice to show this will not be tolerated.
“The Ethiopian government has arrested around 130 of the perpetrators, and we hope they will be prosecuted according to the law.”

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/03/24/thousands-christians-displaced-ethiopia-muslim-extremists-torch-churches-homes-2057387870/#ixzz1HZVtwzZl

Urgent: Please Pray and Petition for Ethiopia’s Waiting Children!

Jason — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 05:59:02 +0000

Last week Ethiopia’s Ministry of Women’s, Children’s and Youth Affairs announced plans to reduce intercountry adoption by 90% beginning March 10, 2011. This would be a tragic, unnecessary and a disproportionate reaction to concerns of isolated abuses in the intercountry adoption process.

We support the Ministry’s goal of ensuring ethical adoptions that serve the best interest of children and serve all vulnerable children & families.

Please consider signing this petition to respectfully urge the Ministry to consider the overwhelmingly positive, ethical and legal services provided to children and families through intercountry adoption.

And please PRAY that God would bring an end to any corruption that does exist and allow the precious children of this country to continue finding forever families.

Precious.org Welcomes Adoption By Shepherd Care!

Jason — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 22:43:45 +0000

Adoption by Shepherd Care (ASC) was founded in 1980 based on Christian principles and the desire to serve women involved in crisis pregnancies and families desiring to build their family through adoption. Out of that desire, an adoption agency was founded that now meets the needs of both birth parents struggling with an unplanned pregnancy and families desiring to complete their families through adoption. ASC is a Hague-approved, Florida licensed child-placing agency with offices in Hollywood, West Palm Beach, and Central Florida. Agency staff members are skilled and experienced professionals who have both the heart to serve birth parents and the professional knowledge to help them through the adoption process. ASC recognizes that your primary goal is to adopt a child. ASC is committed to providing the best quality adoption services that include the following: Free information meetings, Private consultations, Domestic & Hague approved International adoption services, Adoptive parenting classes, Coordination of all legal requirements, Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children,Domestic & International post placement suprevision & reports, Birth parent interviews, & Birth parent support services.

Haitian Adoptees Thriving in New U.S. Families

Jason — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 06:02:40 +0000

A year after a devastating earthquake in Haiti killed more than 230,000 people and left 1.5 million homeless, families across the U.S. are celebrating life with the children they saved from the decimated Caribbean nation.

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

Featured Blog: Kelly Putty’s Ordinary Hero

Jason — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 08:17:58 +0000

My wife Nancy and I have run Precious.org now for over five years. We have seen thousands of children featured on the site adopted and have had the privilege of getting to know so many amazing people who give so much of their lives to advocating for the fatherless. Until recently I didn’t really know how to refer to those “types” of people. Not until my wife shared the Ordinary Hero blog with me. Kelly Putty has an amazing story to tell. I encourage you to take some time and visit Kelly’s blog today and be inspired to become the “ordinary hero” God has destined you to be!

Join Lifesong for Orphans in giving a gift with purpose!

Jason — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 16:22:59 +0000

It’s that time of year again. Holiday music rings through car stereos and store speaker systems. Decorations and lights bring new life to homes across America. Families gather together. Malls fill with anxious shoppers in search of that one perfect gift for their loved ones. It’s the season of love, joy and family.

As we celebrate the upcoming holidays with our families… As we remember the birth of our Savior… And as we enjoy the many traditions that come with the Christmas season, let us also remember those who won’t be celebrating this Christmas.

Remember the 147 million orphans worldwide who won’t receive a gift from a parent. Remember the children living on the streets whose only Christmas wish is survival.

What if, this year, your family gave a gift that can’t fit under a tree? What if this year you gave Christmas to a child in need?

Christmas in the form of…
Education
Food
Home
Adoption

This year join Lifesong for Orphans in giving a gift with purpose. A gift that will speak Jesus to a child.

Introducing Lifesong’s 2010 Christmas Gifts of Purpose Catalog. Tis the season to bring joy and purpose to orphans.Gifts of Purpose