Rally for Intercountry Adoption - ROMANIA - EU

March 25, 2004

Rally for Intercountry Adoption

{posted with the permission of Hannah Wallace}

There is a very important rally being held in Washington, D.C. on Monday and Tuesday, March 29 and 30, on behalf of the children of Romania, whose opportunity to be adopted may be permanently denied. While Romania and Guatemala are worlds apart, the insidious influences of the E.U. anti intercountry adoption proponents, along with the misguided principles of UNICEF, is affecting every country of world, and is condemning many children from Third World Countries to death, or lives without hope.

I urge everyone who cares about preservation of adoption opportunities for children to TRY to attend these two rallies. Details and contact information is below,

Hannah Wallace

President, Focus On Adoption: An Intercountry Adoption Advocacy Organization

Dear Child Advocates,

The Romanian government has been forced by the EU to alter its adoption law to prohibit all international adoption, thereby condemning 97,000 children to group homes and foster care. The EU does not want to approve any country that is "exporting" its children. All countries seeking EU membership now and in the future, will be affected and will prohibit international adoption if the EU does not change its stance. Bulgaria will be next and other countries will follow. We urge all adoptive families to join us in protest of the EU's position regarding orphaned children.

Everything is looking good for the peaceful demonstration that we will be doing on the 29th and the 30th. It appears that we will have a good number of media there to cover the events and may have 60 minutes interested in doing a piece. In order to make this successful, we still need people! The people do not have to have children adopted from Romania, or be in the process of adopting, they just have to care about children needing a permanent family. Get neighbors, religious organizations, friends and anyone who is sincerely interested in children!

The schedule is as follows:

Monday, March 29 3:00pm Demonstration at the British Embassy

British Embassy

3100 Massachusetts Avenue

Washington DC, 20008

Tuesday, March 30 10:00am Demonstration at the EU Consulate and the Ambassador to the European Union Delegation of the European Commission to

the United States

2300 M Street, NW

Washington, DC 20037

Please submit the following information:

Name:

Address:

Phone Number:

Phone Number in Washington DC:

Address in Washington DC

Can we publish your name and address on a contact list for the

embassies? How many people will be attending the demonstration at:

EU: _______

British Embassy: _________

Are you a parent waiting to adopt an identified Romanian child? Are

you a parent wishing to adopt from Romania? Are you an individual

who is concerned about the welfare of Romanian children and the

trend to curtail all Eastern European Adoptions?

The information is needed as soon as possible as the authorities need to be told the number that we are planning on having attend.

An application for a permit to demonstrate at the above identified addresses has been filed.

NOTE: This is a Peaceful Demonstration! The following rules will apply:

All participants are encouraged to bring posters with appropriate slogans (NO Derogatory language will be permitted). Organizers of the demonstration reserve the right to request a participant not to display a poster that is deemed inappropriate. No violence in ANY way will be tolerated. This includes everything from throwing objects, to spitting! No voicing profanities will be allowed.

We encourage you to submit facts that will be compilated to a fact sheet to provide to all three entities. If you are bringing letters and pictures of your adopted children, or children you had hoped to adopt, please have two copies, one for the Romanian government and one for submission to the EU.

Remember, we are trying to influence key decision makers to allow US citizens the right to offer permanency to their children. PLEASE don't give them the ammunition to prove that they are right!

Thank you so much for your help and assistance!

Lynn L. Wetterberg

Executive Director

Uniting Families Foundation

95 W. Grand Ave.

Suite 206

Lake Villa, IL 60046

847-356-1452

Debra L. Murphy-Scheumann

Executive Director

Special Additions, Inc.

19055 Metcalf P) Box 10

Stilwell, KS 66085

913-681-9604

specialadd@aol.com

Posted by Kevin at March 25, 2004 07:36 PM