drew moser: WE NEED YOUR HELP!

journal : : field notes

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

27 September 2007

(warning: This post is a bit long, but please, please, please take the time to read and respond. I don't often beg, but this is one of those times. We really need your help.)

So, things are getting very, very scary for families trying to adopt from Guatemala. It's a complex issue, but here's a sufficient recap:

There's an international law drafted on international adoption called the Hague. The Hague's intent is to raise the ethical standard and bring greater unity among countries regarding international adoption law. Whether or not this is the best way to achieve this is another matter for another day.

Guatemala and the U.S. both have plans to implement and abide by Hague law. Guatemala plans to implement it Jan 1, 2008 (roughly 3 months from now). The U.S. plans to implement it sometime in the spring of 2008.

The U.S. Dept. of State just released a statement on the status of adoption cases in-process (pending). Our case currently falls into this category, and the bottom line of it is this: Unless our adoption is completed before Jan 1 of 2008, it is likely that Guatemala will terminate our adoption, since they are implementing new adoption law.

The injustices here are hard to even count:

The prospect of thousands of orphans suddenly becoming un-adoptable is unjust. These babies deserve loving families.
The prospect of thousands of American families being barred from adopting the orphans they've paid tens of thousands of dollars and waited months and months for is unjust.
The prospect of NOT being grandfathered in under current adoption law is unjust.
The fact that the U.S. DOS is doing nothing right now to help families in limbo is unjust. They are taking no steps presently to ensure that our case will be processed and completed.

So here's how you can help. EVEN IF YOU AREN'T AN ADOPTIVE PARENT, WE NEED YOUR VOICE!

1. Pray-Get on your knees and pray for God to intervene. Tug on the robe of the God of justice, the KING OF KINGS to act JUSTLY for orphans and the loving families who seek to adopt them. Beg our father God, who adopted US as SPIRITUAL ORPHANS to make good on His promise to 'set the lowly in families'.

2. ACT-You can contact the appropriate officials and let your voice be heard. We need as many people as possible to tell our government that they have a responsibility, as our elected officials, to ACT. Here's how [You can find a sample letter to use HERE].

First, tell 'W' what you think. He needs to hear about this from thousands of concerned citizens:

email: (see 'elected officials' site, linked below)
call: 202-456-1111
fax: 202-456-2461
write: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500
please, do all of the above.

Second, call the U.S. Dept. of State's Guatemalan Adoption Desk 202-736-9090. Tell them that it is unacceptable for both governments to allow pending Guatemalan adoptions to NOT be completed
Third, contact your other elected officials. Go HERE, and let them have it. All you have to do is plug in your zip code, and it automatically brings up all of your elected officials to contact, and provides one contact form to let your voice be HEARD.
Fourth, sign the online petition, which is still in the works (stay tuned)

Don't forget to use the sample letter, which can be found HERE.
Also, for those not well-versed in the talking points on Guatemalan adoption, Tricia has a great list here. Read up and get informed.
I'll be posting this on our adoption blog, my own blog, and our family photo blog (it's that important). Sorry for the repeats, but we want to be sure and recruit as many readers as possible.

Thank you for your help. We're hoping that a government 'of the people, by the people, and for the people' will listen to the cries of its citizens and will act.

Labels: adoption, Guatemala, Guatemalan Adoption, Hague Convention