Heartbreaking

Recently we asked everyone we know to write letters on behalf of VN adoption. This article highlights why it is so important.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42479

How you can help

The following initiative is SOOOO important for our adoption. Without the support of our government, our adoption will probably fall through and we will have to start over. Please especially read the "How you can help" section at the bottom. I will be creating a letter that I will happily forward to you. I can also send you the names of all representatives who you should contact. If you know anyone else who could help with this campaign, please feel free to copy this and send it on.
The more emails and phone calls, the better!

Lisbeth and Chris

May 21, 2008

Joint Council is pleased to announce A Child's Right Campaign for Vietnam. Please join us on June 2nd by contacting Members of Congress and urging them to join the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Co-Chairs and sign their letter to Secretary Condoleezza Rice in support of the recommendations found in "A Child’s Right Campaign for Vietnam.
”

A Pending Crisis

The U.S. Department of State has expressed concerns related to corruptive practices associated with intercountry adoption between the U.S. and Vietnam.

In response to their concerns, the Department of State will allow the functional closure of adoptions on September 1, 2008 and thereby end one of the most basic of human rights: the right to a safe, permanent and loving family.


Not only will those orphans eligible for adoption continue to suffer the detriments of orphanage life, so will thousands of other orphans and vulnerable children. This is because the service providers engaged in finding U.S. families for Vietnamese orphans also provide a myriad of services to the most vulnerable of children.


As a result, the end of intercountry adoption with Vietnam also brings the end of social services such as family preservation and counseling. It also marks the end of humanitarian services such as educational sponsorships, clean water programs and many health related initiatives.


End Corruption, Not a Child’s Right to a Family

While Joint Council shares in many of the Department of State’s concerns, we believe the solution is not the termination of adoption and elimination of a child’s right to a family. Joint Council, its Member Organizations, NGO’s including Ethica—a leading voice for ethical adoption, the Vietnamese government and Members of the United States Congress firmly believe that the solution is a rational child-centered approach designed to strengthen services, regulate providers and prosecute violators.


A Child’s Right Campaign for Vietnam

In response to the looming crisis facing the children of Vietnam, Joint Council today--May 21, 2008—initiates A Child’s Right Campaign for Vietnam. A Child’s Right Campaign for Vietnam proposes a series of rational recommendations that address the issues of abuse, protect the integrity of Vietnamese families and ensure the right of every child to a permanent, safe and loving family. The overriding goal of this campaign is very simple: to end corruption, but not a child’s right to a family.


As part of this campaign Joint Council delivered a letter to the Congressional Coalition on Adoption (CCA) Co-Chairs: Senator Mary Landrieu; Senator Norm Coleman; Congressman James Oberstar and Congresswoman Ginny Brown-
Waite requesting their immediate assistance. We have asked the CCA and all Members of Congress to support the recommendations found within A Child’s Right Campaign for Vietnam and to work with the Governments of the United States and Vietnam to ensure that an MOA is in place on September 1, 2008.


The Department of State has expressed intent to negotiate and implement a new MOA with the Government of Vietnam. Joint Council applauds the long-term goals of the Department of State, yet finds the short-term path unacceptable. It is clear that the intent is also to allow the current MOA to expire while seeking a new agreement sometime in the future.
By all estimates, the Department of State’s current path would result in the functional elimination of services, including adoption, for two years or more!

Finding such a scenario intolerable, we ask for your immediate support of this Campaign. The following page details how you can help us avoid this pending crisis. Only with your active participation will the children of Vietnam have a right to join a permanent, safe and loving family through ethical, professional and legal adoption.


On behalf of the orphaned and vulnerable children of Vietnam, those of us who work to serve their needs and the Joint Council on International Children’s Services, we extend our sincere appreciation for your coming efforts.


How You Can Help


1.Today, please read A Child’s Right Campaign for Vietnam at www. jcics. org

2. Send an email in support of A Child’s Right Campaign for Vietnam to advocate@jcics.org.




Send your email no later than May 30th.

Your email will be included in a petition to Congress.


3. On June 2nd, 3rd, or 4th, please contact your Congressional Representatives and Senators and ask them to support A Child’s Right Campaign for Vietnam.


a. Call both of your U.S. Senators and your representative in the U.S. House of Representatives.

· You can find your Senators’ phone numbers and email address at www. senate. gov

· You can find your Representatives’ phone numbers and email address at www. house. gov

b. Include the following in your calls and emails.

· “I/we urge the Senator/Congressperson to join the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Co-Chairs and sign their letter to Secretary Condoleezza Rice in support of the recommendations found in Joint Council’s A Child’s Right Campaign for Vietnam.
”

· If they have not heard about the Campaign, ask them to contact the Congressional Coalition for Adoption Institute at 202-544-8500 or Joint Council on International Children’s Services at 703-535-8045.


Send an email to everyone you called.

· The e-mail is important, but the phone call should be placed first.

Nail in the coffin

If you have been following the VN adoption updates on the DOS site, you know that things are bad. For those of you who don't follow this stuff on a daily basis, the Department of State has released a statement about all of the unethical things they have uncovered in VN adoptions. They go on to say that no dossiers will be accepted after July 1 and all dossiers without referrals will be returned to the agencies on Sept 1. That latter scenario is where we will fall. There is no way we will have a referral, so game over. In light of the accusations that the DOS has made, I feel like there is no way that VN won't close for a long time. The last closing was from 2003-2006. So we are back to the drawing board. Our agency has all our money and won't return it. They also do not have any open programs that they can switch us to. Rock. Hard place.

For those of you who don't know, this journey to try to add to our family has been going on for about 4 years. We did all the infertility stuff. Then we did all the adoption stuff. You come to a point where you question whether you are meant to have a child. That is where I am now. We could try to pursue adoption with Taiwan, but I don't think I can bring myself to invest thousands more in dollars and hours, and be disappointed again.

If we are meant to have a child, I guess it will eventually happen. I've done all I can. Now it is in God's hands.

No news is. . .

not good news in this case. When I don't write anything, it means I have nothing upbeat and positive to share.

We had a conference call with the adoption agency this week. We didn't really get any new information to share. Essentially, there are lots of people working tirelessly to address the issues in Vietnam, and in international adoption in general. There's talk in VN and the US of an interim agreement, of a very short closing of adoptions (about 4 months), and of continuing the process for anyone whose dossier is in VN at the time of closing. Any of those things would be good news for us, but it's all just talk right now.

The head of my adoption agency wrote a very good letter explaining the situation with international adoptions. I'll post that later because she is much more eloquent and knowledgeable than me.

As for the consideration of a concurrent adoption with Taiwan, I think we have decided against it. At this point, I feel like I have done so much to bring a child into our home. I guess I am just out of energy and have decided that what will be will be.

So that's where we are right now. Prayers and positive thoughts are still appreciated.

Here are the latest pics of the cute nieces. Today we saw the Chick Fil A cow and Katie LOVED him. She must have hugged him 20 times. Too cute!

Taiwan Lucy

Here's a video a family made while waiting on their little girl from Taiwan. . . just in case you need a good cry today!

S T R E S S!!!

I am feeling extremely stressed out by recent events.

First, last night I noticed that furry baby, Cammie, had a swollen cheek. Over the course of the night, kitty scratched his face and burst the abscess (as it now has been identified). We had a lovely evening with kitty bleeding all over the place. I got up at 7 am today and spent the entire day finding a vet that could fit kitty in (regular vet couldn't be bothered--don't even get me started on that!), taking him to the vet, giving him meds, cleaning the wound. . . you get the picture. And it looks like the poor baby will have to have surgery next week. This fact has me stressing because Cammie has herpes virus. I won't go into all the details, but it essentially means that he is immunologically compromised, and so whenever we have to deal with shots or surgery, his body does not react well. Right now he is zonked out beside me on the bed. He is probably bleeding on the sheets, but I can't bring myself to bother the poor thing.


In addition to the stresses of cat ownership, I am dealing with adoption stress. Chris and I have found out that we got into a program for Taiwan. It is a really good program and could mean that we could have a referral in 6-12 months. Yippee! So what's the problem, right? Well, the program is a little more expensive and we already have lots of money tied up with Vietnam that we cannot get back. We are toying with the thought of beginning the Taiwan program while staying in the Vietnam program, and then completing whichever program gets us a referral first. It's a lovely idea, but since we are not wealthy, it is going to be financially stressful. If we do this, we will be consciously deciding to lose at least 6k bucks. Of course, we kinda feel like we have already lost that to the Vietnam program since we are not optimistic about completing the adoption. Does all that make sense? I think I am babbling. To sum it all up, we know that God has a plan for our adoption, but right now it seems like his plan is for us to be really poor.

As a mull over this huge decision, I get a phone call from dear hubby. To give you some background, we found out two weeks ago that hubby is essentially being laid off from his job of 11 years. So now he calls me and is telling me that he may have an interview and can I help him type up a resume. I realize this could be very good news, but you know how your body cannot really distinguish between good and bad stress? Yeah, right now my body and mind are on total overload.

Ok, so it was cathartic to get that all out. If you are still reading this, thanks for hanging in there. Two bits of good news: the sun is finally coming out after 10 days of rain, and Cammie didn't get any blood on the bed. :) Oh, BTW. . .our niece, Alisa, is 6 years old today. Happy Birthday B.B.! We love you!!!

Update

This last week has been a long one. My adoption agency had a conference call on Tuesday, and then I spoke with the head of the agency again on Thursday. Of course it is necessary that I stay in touch with the agency and know what is going on, but every contact seems to stress me out. I do so much better when I distract myself with other things, and don't think about the adoption stuff!

As for the update, everything is pretty much the same. Our dossier (adoption paperwork) is in VN, but we still won't get a referral by Sept. 1 which means we will be shut out. The main purpose of this week's conference was to discuss the fact that the fees will have to be increased since adoptions are taking so long.

The only real positives out of the conversation seemed to be that 1) the US and VN have done a few things lately that communicated that they are trying to "play nice" and 2) there has been talk on the US side about an interim agreement. The interim agreement might be the saving grace for us, so I am really hoping that happens.

One thing that I have to say about this whole situation is that I am really glad that my adoption agency is being honest with us. Sometimes they tell us truths that hurt, but I would rather know the truth. I am forever reading adoption blogs online. I know of several blogs where the authors sent their paperwork to VN around the same time as us. They are still under the impression that they are not going to get shut out of VN. I don't know if their agencies don't have the correct information to share with them (my adoption coordinator is in constant contact with the head of adoptions in VN, and has the most up-to-date info), or whether their agencies are hiding the truth from them. I just know that it would be very painful to have thought we were okay for months, and then to be closed out in Sept. I would rather see the train coming!

Well, that's it for now. We could use all of your prayers and positive thoughts!