Kathy Sreedhar, a champion of social justice in India for five decades, is retiring from the Unitarian Universalist Holdeen India Program (UUHIP) at the end of June. For the last 28 years she has built the program into a major force for grassroots social change in India.

She has identified transformational leaders and organizations who are now at the forefront of India’s struggles to build a more just and equitable society. She has also raised wide awareness in the United States about poverty and social justice in India.

Her achievements are a testament to the strength of UUHIP’s vision for international grant-making—a vision she was central in creating. Before serving with UUHIP, Sreedhar was renowned in the adoption community.

She facilitated the placement of 1,000 children in the United States from Mother Teresa’s orphanages in India, all the while working as a volunteer. She herself adopted two children from these orphanages and raised them as a single mother.

Prior to this she worked as an administrator with the Peace Corps in India and Afghanistan, as well as serving at non-profit organizations in Washington, D.C. She has long been known in Washington as the go-to person for all things Indian.

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Struggle to adopt girl suddenly eases

BY WAYNE GREENE - Tulsa World

TULSA — In Christian theology, Grace is the unearned assistance of God — the divine reaching into the human world to set things right.

In Nancy Baney’s house, Grace is the skinny little brown-eyed toddler — fast approaching her third birthday, eating cereal with her big plastic spoon and drinking milk from a sippy cup.

International case of missing orphan has local ties

Sierra Leonean Parents Fight Non-Consensual Adoptions       

Sierra Leonean mothers hold their children (File)

Children in institutions

Bulgaria’s abandoned children- still waiting for the deinstitutionalisation

by Maria Sharkova

I spent almost a year in the children’s home in Mogilino as an interpreter and assistant of Kate Blewett during the filming of “Bulgaria’s abandoned children”, which was aired on the BBC in 2007. The time spent in that and other children’s homes in Bulgaria made me feel very strongly that:

- all institutions must be closed

As a result of the following demonstration of illegal activity on the part of Reece's Rainbow, the government of Bulgaria has installed a block on adoptions associated with Reece's Rainbow.

In addition, the entities in Bulgaria, working with Reece's Rainbow, are no longer allowed to process adoptions.

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** IMPORTANT ADOPTION ANNOUNCEMENT **

The following agencies are now banned from doing adoptions in Russia:

Hand in Hand, Christian World Adoption, Homestudies and Placement Services, Creative Adoptions and Small World Adoption Foundation.

All have been tied into the illegal posting of photographs and medical charts of orphans.

Here is a letter from the director of Hand in Hand:

From: "handinh...@hihiadopt.org" <handinh...@hihiadopt.org>
Date: June 6, 2012 1:20:00 AM CDT
Subject: Reeces Rainbow and St. Petersburg
Reply-To: "handinh...@hihiadopt.org" <handinh...@hihiadopt.org>
Dear Hand in Hand Families:
We are all indebted to Reece's Rainbow for providing an avenue in bringing the needs of these special children to our attention, there are not enough words to express our gratitude.  However, RR should not be mentioned in your documents, home study, on the Internet or to anyone while in Russia, because your child's medical condition and availability is extremely private and can be only legally displayed on the Russian data bank website.
Any information provided by Elena, Alyona or a volunteer about your adoptive child is absolutely unofficial, only after you've been registered is it permissible for Elena or Alyona to obtain information on the child's health status and location.  If "The Committee" in St. Petersburg or the "Moscow Department of Education" were to get wind of what they are doing they would not only shut them down but worst case scenario face criminal charges. I don't mean to scare you, but you need to be aware of the situation and I would be remiss in my duties if I didn't mention this to you from time to time. Remember that we need to uphold and respect Russia's customs and laws while undergoing the adoption process and while we are visitors in their country. These are their precious children that they are allowing us to take halfway around the world never be seen again, and when considering the "alleged" scandals and atrocities perpetrated against Russian adoptees that have occurred here in
this country, they are justified in their skepticism and in the demands that they place upon us no matter how nonsensical they may seem to us as Americans.
By know you've all heard about the problems that we are dealing with in St. Petersburg.
I've been dealing with this for two days now and it's been very difficult.  Somehow the Russian's found out about Reeces Rainbow through a Russian chat group (the details are very convoluted) and knew that a family was coming to visit their adoptive child due to the FSB button on their sponsorship page which I understand takes you directly to the child's RR listing. This is against everything that I've been telling our families, the rule of thumb is that if you can locate a child on the Russian data bank through information that is listed on your blog, then according to the Russian government you are breaking the law and will not be allowed to adopt.
Elena has a meeting at the end of the week with the City Social Worker with whom until now Elena has worked very hard to foster a good relationship.  So depending upon the SW's attitude during the meeting Elena has no idea if she will be allowed to assist us with adoptions in St. Petersburg, her advise is to lay low and wait until after the treaty is ratified, and to please make your yahoo chat groups and blogs private. RR has already obliged us and removed many children from their website.
I will be going for a short vacation this coming Thursday through Sunday, I will bring my computer with me and will let you know if I hear anything further.
Please keep Elena in your prayers.
Susan

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Susan Johnson
Director of Russia Program Families
Hand in Hand International Adoptions
handinh...@hihiadopt.org
Ph: (520) 745-1322
Fax: (520) 745-1343
visit our website at: www.hihiadopt.org

So far the director of Reece's Rainbow, Andrea Roberts has tried to remove all traces of Russia and Bulgaria from their web site.

It seems their illegal practices are now causing them to be excluded from Bulgarian adoptions as well.

New reports from Russia suggest that the US must enact specific legislation concerning such practices or Russia may institute yet another moratorium on adoptions by Americans.

"What I see here is criminal activity, just like murder" said newly reinstated Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, to a group of journalists.

Lavrov worked with the US to draft the adoption agreement. Lavrov indicated that it was the Foreign Ministry's position that the agreement will not pass in its present form.

"Due to continued shows of bad faith in America, that document is now worthless" concluded Lavrov.