Kay Warren Questions Christianity of Persons who Neglect Orphans

Don't call yourself a believer if you're not caring for orphans, said Kay Warren. "If we are doing little to nothing, how dare we, how dare we claim to be followers of Jesus Christ."

Sat, Apr. 24, 2010 Posted: 11:10 AM EDT

Friday, November 21, 2003

Hawaii hosts Marshallese baby market

Pacific Business News (Honolulu) - by Kristen Sawada Pacific Business News

Hawaii has emerged as a staging ground for Marshallese women who come here to give birth and relinquish their newborns to American adoptive parents.

It has become a free enterprise marketplace for Marshallese babies -- a lucrative industry that has skyrocketed since the late 1990s.

Autoritatile nu detin nici un fel de informatie despre situatia zecilor de mii de copii adoptati de straini in perioada 1990-1997

Misterul copiilor pierduti de Romania: "Nu stim care au fost adoptati"

Andreea Pocotila

Luni, 11 Ianuarie 2010

» Bucurestiul a pierdut urma a zeci de mii copii adoptati de straini intre 1990 si 1997.

Bethany outlines int'l adoption process

Apr 23, 2010 6:35 p.m.

Bethany Christian Services "always talks to parents about the unknowns" involved in the international adoption process, adoption services director Kris Faasse told 24 Hour News 8. "We get a certain amount of information, but there's a lot that we don't know."

The agency spoke about general protocols and procedures Friday, but not the specifics tied to a federal lawsuit claiming Bethany deceived a Virginia couple about the child they were adopting.

Chip and Julie Harshaw said their son has fetal alcohol syndrome and other developmental problems. In the suit, the two claim they saw the potential for medical problems in the child they were adopting and they wanted to be sure the child was healthy. The parents said a Bethany employee told them a doctor associated with the agency had examined their son. But the exam never happened, Harshaw said. Target 8 reported on the suit Thursday.

The unknowns in the process, Faasse said, can differ depending on the region from which a family is adopting.

"Eastern Europe, there may be more alcohol usage during pregnancy," she said. "And so that would affect a baby so we would share that information with a family."

As far as medical testing, Faasse said there are protocols in a number of countries, "but we really can't control the quality of the testing or the amount of the testing and we really have to receive what we're given."

What agencies are given may come from an orphanage or the biological parent -- and Faasse said it's not always accurate.

In countries like Russia, where the Hershaws' child was born, Faasse said the agency has no authority to order medical tests for a child . The agency recommends parents forward any health information they receive about the child prior to adoption to a doctor who specializes in adoptions.

"We're not physicians, we're not medical experts. So we really want them to bring in their pediatrician, an international adoption specialist or another expert," Faasse said.

Even if the information is sent to an expert, will a doctor be able to see a problem such as fetal alcohol syndrome?

Psychologist Tracy Kroeger, who said she sees about 10 families dealing with the issue every year, said FAS "can be very difficult to identify unless you have a child who has severe brain damage."

"The vast majority, however, don't get identified until at least between the ages of 3 to 7 years old," said Kroeger, who works in Jenison for the firm Developmental Enhancement.

The psychologist agreed with Faasse's statement that it can be difficult to get certain information about children up for adoption. Families adopting internationally should be educated about the possible health issues their children could face, Kroeger said.

"Because in terms of the parenting efforts that are involved, it's just phenomenal," she said. "It requires just 10 times the amount of the time, the amount of effort, the amount of energy and over a much longer period in that child's life."

http://wood.m0bl.net/w/main/story/10644562/

By DAVID CRARY (AP) – 6 hours ago

NEW YORK — Amid high-profile furor over adoptions from Haiti and Russia, about 60 American families are persevering with a two-year struggle to complete adoptions from Kyrgyzstan — an already emotionally draining quest further complicated by recent political upheaval.

The families were formally matched with the children — most suffering from serious medical problems — in 2008 and have grown deeply attached to them after visiting their orphanages and bringing back photographs and videos.

"I feel that's my daughter, and she's my responsibility. I can't let go," said Angela Sharp, a 36-year-old cosmetology instructor from Flint, Mich., who visited for a week in April 2008 with the now 2-year-old orphan she hopes to adopt. A room with a crib and children's clothes awaits the girl, already given a new name by Sharp — Mia Angelina.

Minister Ojha in CIAA soup

KANTIPUR REPORT:

KATHMANDU, APR 22 - Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare Sarba Dev Ojha and other officials at the ministry are under scrutiny of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) on charge of misusing money collected for Child Rights Fund.

The CIAA has taken the original documents relating to the newly-established fund and blocked its bank account (001010102) at Nepal Investment Bank Limited (NIBL). The account has Rs 11,343,960.

"Procedures followed while establishing the Child Rights Fund and opening the bank account were illegal," said a CIAA source.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Adoption Extremes Hurt Children

My friend Meghan has been in Uganda for almost 11 weeks. Away from her 2 year old daughter and husband here in Louisiana, she is there trying to adopt 4 year old Moses. When she went to Uganda 11 weeks ago she knew she would be there at least 3 weeks, that is how long it was taking at the time to get the paper work done. She was willing to pay that price of being away from her family that long because she knew there was a little boy named Moses who had been in the orphanage for almost 4 years, and he was meant to be her son. She had met him and spent time with him on a previous trip to Uganda. She fell in-love with him and him with her.

But on week two of her stay in Uganda, something catastrophic happened on the other side of the world, the earthquake hit Haiti and hundreds of thousands of people died. The world mourned with Haiti and focused on this small island that was now so desperate for the worlds attention. A huge humanitarian effort was launched, the media covered every aspect of the tremendous loss and destruction. Thousands of orphans started being spotlighted on the news all around the world..

..and 10 American's decided to "help" 30 Haitian orphans by illegally taking them across the border from Haiti to the Dominican Republic.

Psst! Babies for Sale!

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Five years ago, police in the resort town of Wadduwa, Sri Lanka,
raided a seaside hotel owned by a German and his Sri Lankan wife. The
building was occupied not by tourists but by 20 young Sri Lankan women
and their 22 infants, some just a few weeks old. The hotel was a "baby
farm," where foreigners looking for children to adopt could come to
browse, and for a fee $ of $1,000 to $5,000, have their pick of the
babies. The mothers, all desperately poor, would get about $50 in
exchange for each of their children.

A Long Way From Home

After two years, prospective parents hoping to adopt children trapped behind bureaucracy and chaos in Kyrgyzstan are running out of hope.

By Laurie Rich Salerno | Newsweek Web Exclusive

Apr 21, 2010

When the news broke about Torry Ann Hansen, the Tennessee woman who pinned a note on her adopted son and sent him alone on a plane back to Russia, Pennsylvania pediatric nurse Ann Bates composed a one-word e-mail from her Moscow hotel room. It said: "Seriously?"