I have recently began following the blog of an adoptive family (China). Not too unusual. However, this particular family is VERY Christian. Generally, I do not follow those blogs. Okay, a little explanation here. Do I feel I have a calling to adopt? A mandate perhaps? Maybe...okay, yes. But, there are some blogs out there that are so over the top and make such a HUGE distinction between Christians adopting and everyone else that I can rarely stomach it.
However, this particular family had such trauma during travel and almost lost their daughter (to death) that I was compelled to follow their journey and pray alongside other adoptive families that this little girl survive and be released to her new family so that she could come to the states to receive treatment. So...on with the story.
I visited this family blog tonight and found a very good posting where the mom called out Christians who cry "pro-life" but who do not support orphans. A few years ago I was told story about a friend of a friend who was chastised in Kroger parking lot because she had a "pro-choice" sticker on her car. Her response to the man? "How many children have you adopted?" "What?"
So, what's the point? The point is, give a home to a child in need. Give it food, clothing, shelter and most of all, give it love. Pro-Choice or Pro-Life, it does not matter.
A final thought, war is not pro-life. Adoption...now that's pro-life. Hmmm...I guess I'm pro-life after all.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Still Waiting
Hi All. Many of you are asking what's going on with the adoption. Well, we are still waiting.
Here's the lowdown. China is continuing to slow down its adoptions. The US has implemented the Hague Treaty regarding IA and our agency was one of a handful that was denied the accreditation. I won't go into the why's and wherefore's of that one here.
How does that affect us? They no longer have access to Special Needs files, which is where we were hoping to find Arwen.
Now they have reapplied and are waiting to find out if the steps they took to correct the problems were enough to get the accreditation. We pray they were. Hopefully, once approved, they will begin receiving the Special Needs files again. Our agency has a high rate of placing SN kids and is one of the older ones out there working with that program.
Please keep all adoptive families in your thoughts as the landscape of international adoption is changing as rapidly as the global economic situation. Please keep all of the children in your thoughts that are living in horrific conditions and waiting for families. Most of all, keep all of the children who will never be adopted in your prayers because they are the ones who suffer the most.
Number of orphans worldwide: 143 Million
Numberof orphans due to HIV/AIDS: Nearly 18 Million
Number of orphans adopted internationally each year: 40,000
Does something look wrong with this to you?
Here's the lowdown. China is continuing to slow down its adoptions. The US has implemented the Hague Treaty regarding IA and our agency was one of a handful that was denied the accreditation. I won't go into the why's and wherefore's of that one here.
How does that affect us? They no longer have access to Special Needs files, which is where we were hoping to find Arwen.
Now they have reapplied and are waiting to find out if the steps they took to correct the problems were enough to get the accreditation. We pray they were. Hopefully, once approved, they will begin receiving the Special Needs files again. Our agency has a high rate of placing SN kids and is one of the older ones out there working with that program.
Please keep all adoptive families in your thoughts as the landscape of international adoption is changing as rapidly as the global economic situation. Please keep all of the children in your thoughts that are living in horrific conditions and waiting for families. Most of all, keep all of the children who will never be adopted in your prayers because they are the ones who suffer the most.
Number of orphans worldwide: 143 Million
Numberof orphans due to HIV/AIDS: Nearly 18 Million
Number of orphans adopted internationally each year: 40,000
Does something look wrong with this to you?
Christmas Music
We interrupt this blog to give you all the best in holiday music. Please pay close attention to Bruce Springsteen's rendition of "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" as it is Noah's favorite and he can definitely give old Bruce a run for his money!
Dana
Dana
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
The Thumbtown Toad
I had to blog about this book today. We were given this book, if I remember correctly from our dear Australian friends as it was too scary for their son. I remember scanning through it and sort of thinking...maybe in a few years, but it has stayed on the Sun's bookshelf for the last - oh - 3 years. I think somehow we all shied away from this book for some reason. Last night, though, was the night.
We all lay down in Noah's bed and Nathan begins reading this book. My first reaction is absolute horror. It is really a horrific book in some strange way. The Thumbtown Toad (by George Mendoza) is a woman, a horribly wicked woman, that catches people and eats them. The book is illustrated for children and done in short rhyme so it does not seem that bad. But, seriously, it is horrible. But! Strangely, Nathan and I really began laughing at the absurdity of the book and that it was written for children in the early 70's that by the time we got to the end, we were all three laughing hysterically! The end of the book has the Thumbtown Toad going to sleep and having a nightmare and she was so scared she burst into flames. Seriously!
The really funny part - her crow who would spit on her would not even spit on her to put out the flames. All I could think of was "he wouldn't even spit on her if she were on fire!"
Seriously twisted book. But, we all got a good kick out of it. Apparently it is out of print as I have searched the web to attempt to add a photo of it here but I cannot find it anywhere in an image.
Oh well. If you come across it, you'll know what I mean.
Dana
We all lay down in Noah's bed and Nathan begins reading this book. My first reaction is absolute horror. It is really a horrific book in some strange way. The Thumbtown Toad (by George Mendoza) is a woman, a horribly wicked woman, that catches people and eats them. The book is illustrated for children and done in short rhyme so it does not seem that bad. But, seriously, it is horrible. But! Strangely, Nathan and I really began laughing at the absurdity of the book and that it was written for children in the early 70's that by the time we got to the end, we were all three laughing hysterically! The end of the book has the Thumbtown Toad going to sleep and having a nightmare and she was so scared she burst into flames. Seriously!
The really funny part - her crow who would spit on her would not even spit on her to put out the flames. All I could think of was "he wouldn't even spit on her if she were on fire!"
Seriously twisted book. But, we all got a good kick out of it. Apparently it is out of print as I have searched the web to attempt to add a photo of it here but I cannot find it anywhere in an image.
Oh well. If you come across it, you'll know what I mean.
Dana
Monday, November 3, 2008
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Adoption Help/Petition
First, thanks to all of you who went and signed this petition. Yesterday the USCIS announced its decision on the state of adoptive parents who were to be grandfathered in to the new immigration rules surrounding foreign adoption. They have decided to move forward with the grandfather clause. Now, those of us who filed our petition to adopt with the CIS prior to April of 2008, can continue down the same path and stick with our I-600/I-171 instead of falling under the new guidelines. This will be in effect until the year 2014. After that we are on our own. But, that gives us all some breathing room. I pray we are not waiting that long for our girl! Thanks again and thanks to the Universe for helping us out.
Peace out.
Dana
Peace out.
Dana
Monday, October 13, 2008
Please Help - Adoption Petition
Dear Friends,
As you know, Nathan and I are waiting for a referral of a little girl from China. Though we began this journey over two years ago, we have officially been waiting for 20 months. Now, our adoption is in jepoardy, thanks in large part to the USCIS misinterpretation on the legislation passed in regards to the International Adoption portion of the Hague Treaty. Below is an excerpt from a petition I am asking you to sign which gives further explanation. In addition, I have included links to the petition site and the website for the Joint Council on International Adoptive Services - the thinktank/policy setter for International Adoption. This is a personal plea to help us continue on our adoptin journey to bring home a sister for Noah - whose patience for a little sister is beginning to wear thin!
I assure you this is quite serious. Every International Adoption agency in this country is encouraging their clients to get on board and sign this petition and call thier legislators. The past year has seen many changes in International Adoption. Ultimately these things are happening to protect the children, however, it is endangering families like ours who are very qualified to adopt, have jumped through the many hurtles required and have been patiently waiting for a referral. As it stands right now, if we received a referral tomorrow, we have all of our documents in order, could accept the referral and leave in 8 weeks to get our child. With the new rules, if we receive our referral tomorrow, we would have to wait months and months for our new paperwork to be processed. At best, our child would continue to languish in an orphanage while our paperwork is processed by the USCIS. At worst, we would lose our referral entirely. Please help us move this forward so that we can continue to be "paper ready" when our referral comes.
Adoption For All Petition
JCICS
"Recently, the rules and regulations in the United States of America regarding international adoption have changed. Congress passed The Hague into law. When this was done, Congress explicitly stated that families who are in the process of adopting a child internationally and who have been in process prior to April 1, 2008, are considered "transition cases." As such, these families are, by law, grandfathered into the adoption rules and regulations that existed PRIOR TO April 1, 2008 until their adoptions are completed, and these families DO NOT have to re-file under the new Hague guidelines. However, the Department of State and the US Department of Homeland Security's CIS (Citizenship and Immigration Services, aka USCIS) bureau are blatantly ignoring this law and forcing all transitional families to abide by the new regulations. This not only contravenes the law as written, but also creates undue hardship for the thousands of US families affected, and will likely cause the disruption of the adoption.
Thousands of US families have been waiting in excess of 2 to 3 years for their adoptions from China and other countries to be completed. Now these families are being forced by the National Benefits Council (NBC) and USCIS to re-file under Hague, when clearly Congress wanted them to be grandfathered under the I600A rules they were subject to when they began their adoption process. Under the new rules these families will have to pay additional dollars, in some cases running into the thousands in fees to US adoption and homestudy agencies. Having already spent in excess of $10,000, many cannot afford these additional fees. In the next 2 to 3 years >10,000 US families will need to go through the I600A renewal process, which is a quick process, with approval time running from about 6 weeks to 2 months....
The US Congress passed the new rules for USA adopters into law; however, in their wisdom, they had the foresight to see that the adoption process (particularly in China) has been moving extremely slowly, and so the US Congress particularly provided in the law that "transition cases" (those in the adoption process prior to April 1, 2008) can continue their adoption under the rules that were in effect at the time they began the process and UNTIL THEIR ADOPTION IS CONCLUDED."
Please help us with this pending crisi by signing the petition and forwarding this to anyone who might help.
With many thanks,
Nathan and Dana
As you know, Nathan and I are waiting for a referral of a little girl from China. Though we began this journey over two years ago, we have officially been waiting for 20 months. Now, our adoption is in jepoardy, thanks in large part to the USCIS misinterpretation on the legislation passed in regards to the International Adoption portion of the Hague Treaty. Below is an excerpt from a petition I am asking you to sign which gives further explanation. In addition, I have included links to the petition site and the website for the Joint Council on International Adoptive Services - the thinktank/policy setter for International Adoption. This is a personal plea to help us continue on our adoptin journey to bring home a sister for Noah - whose patience for a little sister is beginning to wear thin!
I assure you this is quite serious. Every International Adoption agency in this country is encouraging their clients to get on board and sign this petition and call thier legislators. The past year has seen many changes in International Adoption. Ultimately these things are happening to protect the children, however, it is endangering families like ours who are very qualified to adopt, have jumped through the many hurtles required and have been patiently waiting for a referral. As it stands right now, if we received a referral tomorrow, we have all of our documents in order, could accept the referral and leave in 8 weeks to get our child. With the new rules, if we receive our referral tomorrow, we would have to wait months and months for our new paperwork to be processed. At best, our child would continue to languish in an orphanage while our paperwork is processed by the USCIS. At worst, we would lose our referral entirely. Please help us move this forward so that we can continue to be "paper ready" when our referral comes.
Adoption For All Petition
JCICS
"Recently, the rules and regulations in the United States of America regarding international adoption have changed. Congress passed The Hague into law. When this was done, Congress explicitly stated that families who are in the process of adopting a child internationally and who have been in process prior to April 1, 2008, are considered "transition cases." As such, these families are, by law, grandfathered into the adoption rules and regulations that existed PRIOR TO April 1, 2008 until their adoptions are completed, and these families DO NOT have to re-file under the new Hague guidelines. However, the Department of State and the US Department of Homeland Security's CIS (Citizenship and Immigration Services, aka USCIS) bureau are blatantly ignoring this law and forcing all transitional families to abide by the new regulations. This not only contravenes the law as written, but also creates undue hardship for the thousands of US families affected, and will likely cause the disruption of the adoption.
Thousands of US families have been waiting in excess of 2 to 3 years for their adoptions from China and other countries to be completed. Now these families are being forced by the National Benefits Council (NBC) and USCIS to re-file under Hague, when clearly Congress wanted them to be grandfathered under the I600A rules they were subject to when they began their adoption process. Under the new rules these families will have to pay additional dollars, in some cases running into the thousands in fees to US adoption and homestudy agencies. Having already spent in excess of $10,000, many cannot afford these additional fees. In the next 2 to 3 years >10,000 US families will need to go through the I600A renewal process, which is a quick process, with approval time running from about 6 weeks to 2 months....
The US Congress passed the new rules for USA adopters into law; however, in their wisdom, they had the foresight to see that the adoption process (particularly in China) has been moving extremely slowly, and so the US Congress particularly provided in the law that "transition cases" (those in the adoption process prior to April 1, 2008) can continue their adoption under the rules that were in effect at the time they began the process and UNTIL THEIR ADOPTION IS CONCLUDED."
Please help us with this pending crisi by signing the petition and forwarding this to anyone who might help.
With many thanks,
Nathan and Dana
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