I want to make you aware of a wonderful new effort to help Russian children who are being victimized by their country’s senseless ban on adoptions by American families. As you know, these children are living in dismal conditions, with little hope of a permanent family except through inter-country adoption. These children have parents in America who want to bring them home, but instead, they are now suffering – even dying – in institutions.
To take a stand against this tragedy, my good friend Laura Ingraham released a compelling video appeal to President Putin to reverse the ban.
I know her video will inspire you as much as it inspires me:
In addition to Laura’s efforts, there is a growing coalition of like-minded leaders, advocacy organizations and everyday people who are standing up to give a voice to orphaned and unparented children, not only in Russia but throughout the world.
Last week I led a coalition of nine other senators from both sides of the aisle to introduce Children in Families First (CHIFF). We believe the U.S. government needs to do a better job of helping to ensure that all the world’s children grow up in safe, permanent and nurturing families. CHIFF is about bringing our diplomatic influence and resources to bear to preserve families, reunify families, or create families through kinship, domestic or international adoption. CHIFF does this by reallocating resources and realigning some government agencies to make the government more effective without any extra spending or bureaucracy.
Watch our press conference introducing CHIFF.
Although CHIFF already has a lot of support from many key organizations and individuals, we need more to pass this important piece of legislation. If you would like to learn more about CHIFF and how you can become involved, please visit landrieu.senate.gov/chiff. And of course, you can always reach out to me and my staff: Whitney Reitz at whitney_reitz@landrieu.senate.gov or Libby Whitbeck at libby_whitbeck@landrieu.senate.gov.
Sincerely,
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