Monday, February 11, 2008

Help

Tonight is Monday. I am back from "Meet the Parent" night at school. I have spent exactly 55 minutes with Scotty since 7:00 this morning, and he is asleep now. When I am away from him this much, I feel like I missed an important moment. This day of his life is now lost to me. Thus, I am sad for missing these hours with Scotty.
How can I not fall into despair over missing these days, months with Daniel. I want to be pragmatic; I know there is nothing I can really do. Still, I yearn to hold him. I want to give him every minute of every day.
We have not waited the compulsary 60 days post CIS "Acknowledgement", but only ONE family from my agency has received an approval since the I600 changes have been in place, and I am desperate to have my child home with me. If you read this, please write your senator or representative. Here is the e-mail we sent to our friends and family:
Hi Friends and Family,
We are experiencing some problems with the last part of our adoption. The US government has instituted some changes that have caused a bottleneck effect that is keeping us from traveling to bring Daniel home from his orphanage in Viet Nam. There are solutions to this problem if we can get Washington to pay attention. If you feel comfortable doing so, please use the attached letter as an example of a letter you could send to your representatives.

Thank You,
PS Here are links to find your representatives. Many have websites where you can make comments online.
http://www.house.gov/
http://www.senate.gov/

Dear
We are concerned about the families waiting for permission from the United States government to bring their children home. from Viet Nam. Since the changes made by our government in November, over 200 families have received permission from the Vietnamese government to adopt their children according to international adoption guidelines. Many of those families are still waiting for Visa approval (I600) from CIS and the State Department of our own nation to bring their children home. We are glad that our government is taking time to ensure that ethical practices are in place for the adoption procedure; the parents involved would never acquiesce to an adoption where a birth family relinquished or abandoned a child without consent or through coercion. However, we are dismayed by the following problems with the recent changes in American side of the Vietnamese adoption process:
1) CIS and The Department of State are not communicating with adoption agencies. Who is monitoring the quality of service being provided by these government organizations? How should adoptive parents advocate for themselves and their children if they have no voice through their agencies?
2) CIS and DofS are not adhering to the projected 60 day time period for investigations which means children, most likely orphans, are spending months longer than they might have in orphanages. The longer children stay in orphanages, the more likely attachment disorders and developmental problems will occur. They need to be home with their families as soon as possible. 3) When CIS and DofS exceed the 60 period, they are not contacting parents to let them know why. Some families have waited over 80 days with no word from CIS.
4) Now, because of many unnecessary delays, CIS has a backlog of applications that will likely cause the wait for adoptive parents and their orphaned children to become exponentially longer.
Please use your influence to see that the problems are addressed immediately. These problems have severe and lasting implications for a large number of American families.

Sincerely,

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

that's a great letter. hope you don't mind if I use it along with another I'm writing? Hang in there.