Sunday, March 25, 2018

Road to foreign adoption leads to happiness

A big thank you to the Homan family for such a great story of advocacy in addition. #saveadoptions.
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By Sydney Albert
FORT RECOVERY – The adoption process is a long and challenging road that can sometimes end in heartbreak.
A local mother who has adopted internationally five times, however, says welcoming a child in need into the family is well worth the effort.
Alison Homan and her husband, Ted, had always wanted a big family. They had said they wanted four children, and during the first two and a half years of marriage, Alison Homan delivered three babies. However, one child didn’t live long after birth, and the back-to-back pregnancies were taking their toll on Homan, who didn’t feel she could handle another one.

Monday, March 19, 2018

URGENT, please take action

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There are two easy steps you can take today to help save international adoptions:
  • First, sign our White House petition. The White House promises it will respond if the petition receives 100,000 signatures in 30 days.
  • Second, we also invite you to share it on Facebook, Instagram, or other social media platforms and to invite your friends and family (anyone over 13 years of age with an email address can sign)to sign the White House petition.
15 million orphans globally have lost both of their parents.
81 million Americans have considered adoption, but for many it is too complex and too expensive.
International adoptions by Americans have plummeted by 81% since 2004, from about 23,000 adoptions in 2004 to only 4,200 international adoptions budgeted in 2018 by the international adoption accrediting entity. If this dramatic trend in international adoptions by Americans continues, international adoptions may completely end by 2022.
Mary Landrieu, Former United States Senator and former Co-Chair of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption, recently said: “Congress passed the Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption believing that this action would pave the way for a more ethical, transparent and streamlined process for inter-country adoption. We were moved by the overwhelming number of abandoned children in the world and their obvious need for loving families. We pushed hard for passage, and the State Department was designated by Congress as the lead for implementing this important initiative. Sadly, several years later, it is clear that this decision was a tragic mistake. Instead of shoring up the process and providing support for sending countries, the State Department has twisted the intent of the treaty to close one country after another. The process has become far more cumbersome and far less transparent. American parents who want to help and lovingly raise a child are often made to feel like criminals. As a result, inter-country adoptions have fallen to an historic low, and they continue to decrease each year as the need of desperate, abandoned, and orphaned children increases. Major change is required now before it’s too late.”
We recognize a child’s right to a family when one is not available in his/her birth country and the loving character of American families. We ask President Trump and Secretary of State Pompeo to investigate the causes of the 80% decline in intercountry adoptions since 2004 and to solve the U.S. international adoption crisis. The leadership of the Office of Children’s Issues has been unresponsive to collaborating with adoption community leaders to solve problems and continues to reinterpret regulations in ways unintended by Congress in the Hague Intercountry Adoption Act. The adoption community including agencies, attorneys, adoptive parents, and adoption advocate organizations stands ready to work with the Administration on implementing various achievable solutions that have been identified by adoption leaders.
Together, we will make a difference in the lives of orphans around the world. Thank you.

Prepare for your MIND TO BE BLOWN….. But First Consider Signing This WHITE HOUSE Petition!

Dear Friends, family and, colleagues,
Next week will be exciting and should be a monumental in causing change in the State Department of Intercountry Adoption.  A mind blowing article should come out Monday morning in the Federalist and Tuesday morning Nathan Gwilliam, CEO of Adoption.com and Save Adoptions’President, Ron Stoddart, Esq., will be on the Glenn Beck Program. Put these on your calendars to catch them both.  You don’t want to miss these!! 
However, since the most effective route to change is through the White House, we have also created an online Petition to the White House at:
Please click on the link, read the petition and, if you agree, sign it today.  The White House guarantees they will respond if we have 100,000 signatures within 30 days – but we want to reach 100,000 by the end of the day on Wednesday.  We can do this with your help.
PLEASE, go to the Petition and sign now.  Then, please send this on to your friends and family and post it on social media.  We can’t leave any stone unturned.  On behalf of the thousands of orphaned children who will find permanent families because of your help – THANK YOU! (After signing this WH petition, Hit reply and let me know you have remained a friend to 15 million orphans that I’m working every day and night to serve – Just ask my own family and the Hopscotch families we work with every single day)
*IMPORTANT: Check your clutter/spam/junk mail to ‘verify’ your email after signing the petition or your signature will not be counted.

Bucking Trump Deregulation Agenda, State Department Chokes International Adoption

Adoption advocates say the State Department is making international adoption rarer and more expensive than ever to consolidate government control over private agencies.
By Jayme Metzgar
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In September 2016, just as the presidential race was entering its final weeks, the State Department quietly proposed new regulations governing international adoption. Adoption advocates sounded the alarm, saying the regulations would severely hamper Americans’ ability to adopt overseas. I wrote about this for The Federalist just days before the November election.
Then, to almost everyone’s surprise, Donald Trump was elected president. On the day of his inauguration, Trump began a regulatory reform effort, announcing a moratorium on all new regulations from executive agencies. Ten days later, he issued an executive order requiring agencies to repeal two regulations for every new one they proposed.

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Photolistings for International Adoption May Be Banned – Please Help!

The US Department of State is considering banning photolistings for children available for international adoption.
US State Department to ban international adoption photolistings
There is a lot we don’t know and the State Department has not issued a final rule, but they are currently considering whether the practice of “soft referrals” is a violation of their regulations. We have not seen an official definition of “soft referral” but it appears to include photolisting—or more specifically allowing international adoption agencies to place a child who is on a photolist.
Photolisting is a common practice in both foster care adoption and international adoption. In fact, it is considered best practice in child welfare for finding homes for harder-to-place children–older kids, kids with health issues, and sibling groups.

Intercountry Adoption Agencies Face Massive Hikes In Regulatory Costs


#IntercountryAdoption advocates fear that the fee structure planned by a new State Department accreditation contractor could threaten the operation of the largest American placing agencies.
https://wp.me/p1VkZN-1As

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

We All Could Use A Little Good News: Appointee To Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, Has A REAL Heart for Intercountry Adoption!


After four long years, he’s home at last! # MikePompeo #SaveAdoption #HelpUsAdopt #MakeAdoptionGreatAgain
https://hopscotchadoptions.wordpress.com/2018/03/14/we-all-could-use-a-little-good-news-appointee-to-secretary-of-state-mike-pompeo-has-a-real-heart-for-intercountry-adoption/

Abandoned in Guatemala: The Failure of International Adoption Policies



More than 52,000 children have been caught crossing our southern border since October of last year, including several thousand children from Guatemala. Until 2007, more than 5,000 Guatemalan children were adopted by parents from other countries each year. Under pressure from groups like Unicef, however, Guatemala shut down intercountry adoptions. Today, the only way Guatemalan children can come to the U.S. is to cross the border illegally.
Reason TV took a critical look at Guatemala’s intercountry adoption policies back in 2011.
"Abandoned in Guatemala," produced by Paul Feine and Alex Manning. Approximately 20 minutes.
Original release date was October 6, 2011. Original writeup is below.
"If we shut down international adoptions, that’s 5,000 kids a year whose lives we are ruining, whose lives could have been wonderful, and we’re dooming them by shutting them into these institutions. So, to me, that’s fundamental evil."
—Harvard law professor Elizabeth Bartholet
In 2007, Guatemala’s privately run system of adoption attorneys, orphanages and foster care providers helped nearly 5,000 abandoned children find homes with loving families around the world. But then the Guatemalan government shut down international adoptions, created a centrally controlled adoption agency and nationalized the orphanage system. The plan was to promote in-country adoptions, but that plan hasn’t worked. Last year, only 35 children were adopted by Guatemalan families.
Why did the Guatemalan government put an end to a system that was giving thousands of abandoned children a chance at a better life? And what did UNICEF have to do with it? Reason.tvproducers Paul Feine and Alex Manning went to Guatemala to find out.
"Abandoned in Guatemala: The Failure of International Adoption Policies" is a film about the promise of international adoption and the sad reality that international adoptions around the world are decreasing, largely due to the influence of UNICEF. It’s also a film about a privately run system that worked and a state-run system that is failing. Most of all, "Abandoned in Guatemala" is a film intended to raise awareness about international adoption in the hope that in the near future more abandoned children will be placed with loving families, wherever they happen to live.

Friday, March 9, 2018

What Is All The Commotion In International Adoption? Watch this video and share!

Take these steps:
  • Watch this short 3 minute video.
  • Familiarize yourself with the problem and solution facing inter-country adoption.
  • Share this video on your personal Facebook page.
  • Share this video on your agency Facebook page.
  • Forward to adoptive families

Don’t miss this! Social Media Webinar: Guiding Your Adopted Child

Social Media and the Adopted Child | Thursday, March 22

Social media has revolutionized the way we connect with one another. This has meant that open adoption communication is more convenient than ever before.
Join Tina Feigal as she shares strategies and tips on how adoptive parents can:
1. Talk to their child about searching
2. Be aware of oversharing someone else’s story
3. Identify safety risks and how to avoid them
4. Institute limits on screen time and location
Tina FeigalTina Feigal, M.S., Ed. is the Director of Family Engagement at Anu Family Services/Center for the Challenging Child in St. Paul, MN. As a former school psychologist, Tina’s passion is bringing peace to homes by helping caring adults to heal challenging child behavior with the specific, highly effective techniques of Present Moment Parenting. Learn more about Tina Feigal >

Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Adoption: No More Waiting Children?

What if RainbowKids could no longer show you the faces of children who are waiting for families?
What if one person, with all the power, believed that families interested in adopting should not be allowed to view children who are legally available for adoption?
Couched in legalese,with the invention of a new term called "soft referrals", that is exactly what is being proposed by the person heading the Office of Children’s Issues at the US Dept of State.  The idea is that no family without a homestudy should be allowed to receive information on a legally waiting child.  This is completely contrary to how US Foster Adoption works for waiting children.  Children waiting for adoption in the USA may be viewed by anyone visiting the national database at AdoptUsKids.org, or any of the state websites featuring waiting children in fostercare.
Under new leadership, the Office of Children’s Issues has taken radical steps to impose new fees on families wishing to adopt, crushing oversight requirements on adoption service providers, and now a vague instruction to agencies that repercussions may be implemented (retroactively!) should they fail to comply with instructions about sharing information on specific children with interested families.
How many families would adopt a child with Cerebral Palsy, had they not have first seen his or her photo?  There are over FIVE HUNDRED children with CP waiting on RainbowKids.  What chance do these children have of finding families if this new leadership at DOS has their way? ZERO! 
Bulgarian Organizations Submit Letter to US Departement of State on Behalf of Special Needs Children:
The situation at the Office of Children’s Issues has become so dire, that 15 Bulgarian Organizations have written a letter outlining how shutting down advocacy for children with medical special needs goes against the Hague Covention.  This letter was submitted this week and may be read here.
What can you do?? Read this about rising fees in adoption, and know that shutting down waiting child advocacy is part of it. This is happening. Don’t let it!
SAVE ADOPTION
Special Needs Spotlight: Heart Defects
How many children with a heart defect are waiting for a family on RainbowKids?
ONE THOUSAND-FIVE-HUNDRED AND FIFTY FOUR
ALL of those children will not be able to receive advocacy, including being featured here and on RainbowKids.com, if child-advocacy for international children is shut down. Including these twins at right.
No homes for waiting children.  No International adoption.
One THOUSAND.  Five Hundred.  Fifty Four….that is how many with just this single special need are waiting for a family.  Adoption needs RainbowKids. These children need families.  ONE PERSON at the Department of State Children’s Issues should not be the reason these kids fail to be raised in a loving family.
Featured Country:  Burkina Faso
There are many children waiting in Burkina Faso
Married couples between the ages of 30-50 may adopt a child or sibling group from the West African country of Burkina Faso.  Children range in age from infants to teens. Travel consists of 15 days in country. 

Thursday, March 1, 2018

Adoptions Have Dropped 72% Since 2005 – Heres Why! by Mark Montgomery AP Feb 28, 2017

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)
Mark Montgomery, Grinnell College and Irene Powell, Grinnell College
(THE CONVERSATION) When Ethiopia stopped allowing its children to be adopted by foreign parents in January, it became the latest country to eliminate or sharply curtail the practice. In recent decades South Korea, Romania, Guatemala, China, Kazakhstan and Russia – all former leaders in foreign adoption – have also banned or cut back on international custody transfers.
In 2005, almost 46,000 children were adopted across borders, roughly half of them headed to a new life in the United States. By 2015 international adoptions had dropped 72 percent, to 12,000 in total. Just 5,500 of these children ended up in the U.S., with the remainder landing in Italy and Spain.
Today, most children adopted internationally come from China, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ukraine. But even China, which has been the top sending country since the late 1990s, has decreased its foreign adoptions by 86 percent.