Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Could It Be Three in a Row?!!!

Before I begin, please take the time to read the following & sign the petition.......

Crisis faced by American Adoptive Families......... Friends of ours, Erik & Adrienne, are waiting for their little girl in China. They have been logged in China for about two years now & hope to receive their referral in the coming months. Recently they learned that some of the rules & regulations with international adoption have changed. While the new law (The new Hague I800A) that Congress passed was intended for all families who have been in the international adoption process before April 1, 2008, to be grandfathered in, the Department of State & the US Department of Homeland Security's CIS (the enforcing agencies) are ignoring the new law & are forcing all families to abide by the new regulations. Not only does this contradict the way the law was written, but it also creates undue hardship for the thousands of US families affected, and will likely cause the disruption of the adoption. Under the new rules these families will have to pay additional dollars, in some cases running into the thousands in fees to US adoption and homestudy agencies. Having already spent in excess of $10,000, many cannot afford these additional fees. Besides the extra fees, some families may find themselves having to find a different adoption agency which means China will require that they resubmit their dossier, and move to the end of a line that includes adopters from many countries and is in excess of 25,000 families long. I cannot imagine being in this situation. When we went through our adoption of Zoe, the wait time was 8 months. Some families have already waited 2 or 3 years. And now there's a possibility that they will basically have to start all over? NUTS!!! So, what can you do? Sign this petition - Adoption for All: The Fairness for Families Petition. It is aimed at Congress to require the enforcing agencies to grandfather those families in just as the law was written. These families should not have to suffer because the enforcing agencies are not doing what was expected of them.

Okay, what about three in a row?..........Growing up my parents, brother, & I ate together as a family every night. It's just one of those traditions we had. Once Zoe joined our family, I always longed for those times knowing it would be impossible every night to do. With my husband Paul being a funeral director there are many nights that he is not home, let alone for dinner, because of visitations, funerals, removals, etc. The past two weeks have been crazy around our house. Paul has had to work quite a bit, & Zoe & I have been busy with activities as well as meetings. So, you can imagine how exciting it has been having everyone home the last two nights. Not only did we enjoy dinner as a family, but we actually got to spend some quality time together. Zoe has loved having her daddy home; laughing, joking, & playing with him. She has really been Daddy's girl these last couple of nights. Before going to bed tonight, she informed her daddy what plans she has in stake for the two of them tomorrow night. I sure hope we're able to make it three in a row with everyone home, or Zoe is going to be one disappointed little girl.

1 comment:

Lianna Knight said...

That is so sweet. I too had dinner with my family every single night. I look forward to the time when we have children of our own and our family eats together as well :)