Adoption Blog

CEO Update

In the Gospel of John, Chapter 19, verses 26 & 27, we read: 
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!”
Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.
Many commentators have talked about this as an adoption.  While not exactly an adoption in the legal sense we have in our own times – this is certainly a very beautiful picture of Jesus (while on the cross!) forming family relationships and showing that his understanding of family is not about “flesh and blood” but upon the Spirit.

This coming week we have Palm Sunday, Good Friday and we celebrate our Lord’s resurrection on Easter.  As follower’s of Christ we have the opportunity to reflect upon Christ’s triumphal entry to Jerusalem, his fulfillment of prophecy, the Last Supper, praying in Gethsemane, his Passion, his death, burial and his resurrection – all in a short span of time.  Our agency office is closed on Good Friday to give our staff an opportunity to use that time for reflection upon Christ’s sacrifice for us. 

This coming week I’m going to London with my wife to attend an event on behalf of Legatum Institute.  Legatum has partnered on projects that America World’s Orphan’s Ticket Home Campaign has helped support.  The event is promoting the need for projects to focus on permanent families for orphans.  I am glad that the event is highlighting the needs in Rwanda, El Salvador & Honduras (among other countries).  For those of you who’ve helped support OTH’s projects in Rwanda and El Salvador, we’re glad to report that this work is getting more publicity and will be promoted through short videos and among a philanthropic network of potential donors.

CEO Update

Spring is finally here in Virginia!  We are excited that more families in our China Program were matched with referrals recently – congratulations!  Congratulations, also, to the family that passed court in Kazakhstan!

I have been praying for the families in our Ethiopia Program that learned of a new process working with the Ethiopian Court.  I know many families are not happy about this change.  Changes like this can be very frustrating – especially when they happen at a time that disrupts families’ plans or adds unexpected burdens.  Our agency has been in prayer for you and we believe the Lord will use this change to bring about great things which we cannot foresee. 

Don’t forget to sign up for the Christian Alliance For Orphans Summit – I’m looking forward to seeing many of you there!

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.”  -Hebrews 10:24

-- Brian Luwis, CEO

Note from Brian

I returned back from San Salvador late last week – prior to that I was in Honduras visiting with our partners and continuing to work on some of the issues affecting the child welfare system.  While in El Salvador I did the same thing, as well as learn more about some pending legislation regarding orphans and continue to advocate on behalf of America World’s families.   While in El Salvador I learned more about some of the problems with the previous administration and the less than equitable referral process that has clearly affected our families.  The good news is, the new Director of OPA and others in the new administration are working to make the process more equitable and transparent for all families.  I was impressed that they are organized and had a clearly structured account of families’ situations.  I learned there will be new procedures for processing all dossiers that will not favor one family over another.  I am still impressed with Jaime, our representative in El Salvador; he is very professional in his representation of families.

I hope many of you have already signed up for the Christian Alliance For Orphans Summit in Minneapolis; if you haven’t signed up, it’s not too late.  This is a great way to connect your church and yourself with the wider Church in orphan care and adoption ministry.  There is a great line-up of speakers, presenters and breakout sessions.  One of the new things at this CAFO Summit is that adoption training is being offered for parents that are in the adoption process – the training offered is consistent with requirements for Hague Adoption Training and will be led by some of our country’s experts in the field, including Dr. Karyn Purvis.

Additionally, I want to mention that I am still part of a working group that is hopeful to see change in the situation regarding orphans in Haiti.  There have been numerous media stories about the child registration process, ‘orphans’ with parents, and other stories which show the difficulty and complexity of aid organizations responding in a way that helps orphans find families.  This complexity should not be a reason to simply keep kids in camps and orphanages, though.  Every child’s situation should be properly investigated/assessed to determine what family options are available to the child – and every child who cannot be reunited with his/her birthfamily should have the opportunity for a family through domestic or inter-country adoption. 

I know there have been some big changes in our agency’s Ethiopia Program this week.  We’re in prayer for all the families that have been affected by either a longer wait and/or an unexpected change in their travel plans.  There are advantages and disadvantages to the Ethiopian Court requiring prospective adoptive parents appear in court – and we hope that families will understand and respect the right of the Ethiopian Court to make this decision.  Our agency is going to work to the best of our ability to help families navigate these changes.

There is an interesting article in Newsweek this past week about intercountry adoption written by an adult adoptee.  The author rightly points out that there has been a dramatic decline in the number of intercountry adoptions over the last years.

Your prayers for our agency’s work are greatly appreciated. 

“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” -1 John 5:14-15 NKJV

- Brian Luwis, CEO

CEO Update

While our office is catching up from the huge snowstorm last week, I want to make a special mention of the China Waiting Children Program that was able to process over 20 referrals during the time our office was officially closed.  Thanks to Melissa, Aimee and the whole team who went above-and-beyond once again.  This team has helped complete over 50 referrals since the first of the year!

In many of the states where we’re licensed, we are seeking to add adoptive families to the Board of Directors.  If you live in CA, FL, KS, MN, NC, NY, OH, PA, or WA and would be interested in joining the state office’s Board of Directors, please contact Julia.Norris@awaa.org.  This only requires a few hours of commitment a month.

As of late last week, we have another family home from El Salvador – I spoke with the family and offered my congratulations on their new son.  Other families are still waiting to be matched and we’re working with the government to make this a reality.  I will be traveling to El Salvador and Honduras again at the end of this month to continue to follow-up on the initiatives we have in both countries.

“But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” -Galatians 4:4-6

-- Brian Luwis, CEO

Snow, Haiti and Fostering Youth in the US

This has been an unprecedented week for D.C. with well over three feet of snow!   We closed early last Friday and the office will be closed through Thursday, February 11th - we follow the federal government's guidelines regarding inclement weather and office closings.  It looks like we'll be open again on Friday the 12th.  I managed to get one of the few flights out of Dulles on Tuesday to attend a Saddleback Conference in California.  The conference focuses on many different things; I'm participating in the orphan and adoption segment.  One of the things we're doing is meeting and discussing ways in which we can help the children orphaned in Haiti. 

The situation in Haiti remains desperate.  It's sad to know that with all the attention on Haiti's orphans that our government, the government of Haiti and the UN are not taking any tangible steps to help Haiti's orphans find families.  This devastation highlights the importance in changing our government's policy toward orphans.  As a country, we have been leaders in numerous issues:  democracy, fighting HIV/AIDS, stopping sex trafficking, etc.  Why can't we do the same regarding caring for orphans?  Instead of USAID funding tens of millions of dollars towards building orphanages, why can't they spend the same money to work towards permanency for orphans?  As I've blogged about in the past, this highlights the need for Congress to pass the Families For Orphans Act. 

While in California, I've also visited our new office and met with our social worker, Maureen, in California.  We should be getting licensed by the state of California sometime in the next few weeks.  At first our license will only be based in the county surrounding our office, but we're hoping to eventually be licensed across the state. 

I was reminded of a great organization while I was out here, Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA).  CASA is a great program that helps foster youth in the United States.  They help organize people to serve as advocates for foster youth and work with the court system to ensure that the foster youth are given an opportunity to have an adult who can objectively help to make decisions in the foster youth's best interest.  For more information about how you can volunteer, visit www.casaforchildren.org.  I hope some of you will consider this opportunity.

Families for Orphans Coalition News

Families for Orphans Coalition
N E W S

February 3, 2010, Washington, DC – In light of the tragedy in Haiti and to help meet the needs of the 30 million orphans worldwide, the Families for Orphans Coalition wrote to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee today to urge immediate consideration of the Families for Orphans Act (H.R. 3070 and S. 1458).

The chaos resulting from the January 12th earthquake in Haiti has emphasized the vulnerability of children and demonstrated the need for a focused global strategy addressing children living without parental care.  If enacted, the Families for Orphans Act would create the Office of Orphan Policy, Diplomacy and Development within the Department of State responsible for implementing comprehensive strategies to encourage the preservation of biological families and help children without parental care find safe, legal, permanent families – ideally in their country of birth.  It would also fund research to ascertain the number of children living without parental care worldwide -- the importance of which has been further underscored by the wide range of estimates and unknown number of Haiti’s orphaned children.   In addition, the Families for Orphans Act includes interventions such as family preservation, reunification, domestic adoption and intercountry adoption, if it is determined to be in the best interest of the child and a permanent family is not available domestically.”

“When devastating natural disasters such as the earthquake in Haiti occur, we must act immediately to mitigate the impact on children by meeting their most basic need – permanent family care,” the letter to Congress read.  “If the office proposed in the Families for Orphans Act had been in existence prior to Haiti’s earthquake, much of the current chaos surrounding the protection of Haiti's orphans could have been averted.  Had the thousands of children who were known to have no parents or family able to care for them prior to the earthquake been documented, plans could have already been underway to find families for them through domestic or international adoption, instead of being relegated to what may be years in a refugee camp and a lifetime without parents.  This tragedy is compounded because of the growing waiting lists of people with new awareness of the plight of these children who are interested in adopting them.” 

The earthquake in Haiti is the third catastrophic natural event in the past decade, after the Tsunami of 2004 and the devastating earthquake in China in 2008 that has left many thousands of children without a family of their own.  The Families for Orphans Coalition stated that having the love and protection of a permanent family is a basic human right for every child.  “It is time for the United States to take a stronger leadership role on behalf of all those children without parents who, whether through natural crisis, parental death, abuse, or neglect, are forced to face life alone and with little hope for a secure future,” the letter read.  “We cannot, and must not, turn our backs on these orphans.”

There is a preponderance of research consistently proving that a nurturing, permanent family environment is the best predictor of a child’s future prospects.  Families are essential to the healthy development of children, and children who grow up without a family of their own are far more likely to experience homelessness, incomplete education, violence, teen pregnancy,   unemployment, emotional disorders, depression, and suicide.

CEO Update

Haiti’s orphans
As many of you have seen, there have been lots of news stories focusing on orphans in Haiti.  Tonight at 10pm EST, on CNN Anderson Cooper is going to continue focusing on orphans.  Previously this show emphasized the need for adoption and pointed out that even prior to Haiti’s earthquake, the child welfare system was inadequate at finding homes for children.  My hope is that this will continue to show the need for a comprehensive restructuring of Haiti’s child welfare system.

America World’s Rwanda Program
We have nine families in Kenya processing visas for their Rwanda adoptions!  This is our largest group yet for Rwanda and we’re very excited for these families.  We will be in prayer for these families that their time in Kenya goes smoothly and that their travel home is safe. 

Christian Alliance For Orphans Summit
I’ve been a big proponent of adoptive families participating with the CAFO in the past – and this summit in Minnesota is gearing up to be the best yet.  I am writing to you with lots of advance notice so that you can sign up and attend this event.  I have loved meeting AW families at previous CAFO summits.  Speakers at this event include John Piper, Steven Curtis & Mary Beth Chapman and many more.  You can find more information about the summit at this link.  I will be there and hope to see you there.

Orphan’s Ticket Home Campaign
Thank you!  In 2009 we raised over $170,000 in funds towards our Orphan’s Ticket Home campaign.  This money was used in a variety of ways to help ensure that fewer orphans are languishing in orphanages without anyone seeking to find families for them.  We couldn’t have done this without your help and support.  When we stared this campaign in 2008, our goal was to raise $1 million in five years; we can still do this with your help.  In 2010 we hope to raise over $250,000 so that by 2012 we meet or exceed our goal.

-- Brian Luwis, CEO

Haiti Adoptions Latest Update

There was a White House conference call this afternoon about Haiti adoption in which members of the Administration from the Department of State, US Agency for International Development, Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives and the Public Engagement Office of the White House participated.  Unfortunately, there is a large amount of government bureaucracy that is opposed to adoption as an appropriate response to the orphan crisis in Haiti.  While we fervently believe all efforts should be made to keep families intact – with a crisis of this magnitude we know there are thousands upon thousands of children in need of permanent families.   I would encourage you to write to public@who.eop.gov and let them know what you think.  I’ve already drafted a short email and plan to send the following: 

“I don’t think the US government is doing enough to help orphans in Haiti.  The efforts to work with orphans who’ve already had their adoptions completed is commendable – but this is less than one percent of the orphans in Haiti.  Adoption should be an option for children languishing in orphanages and if our government is going to be spending tens of millions of dollars to help rebuild Haiti, it should start with the premise that the most vulnerable – Haiti’s children – are given an opportunity to be raised in a family.  If a family isn’t available in Haiti we shouldn’t allow borders to be barriers to these children growing up with a mom and dad.”  

On a positive note, as a response to this crisis, many member of Congress, including Senator Landrieu, are further promoting the Families For Orphans Act of 2009, a bill which will establish an office in the Department of State to engage in policy formation and diplomacy to promote orphans’ need for permanent and safe families.  This is legislation that our agency supports.

I’ll continue to update you regarding news pertaining to adoption from Haiti and the ability for families to adopt from that country.  We have been encouraged that there have been a number of families who’ve contacted us about their interest in adoption after learning about Haiti.  More information about our program can be found on our programs page.

Haiti Adoption Update

We have had such a positive response to our posting about Haiti adoption.  We’ve heard from many families that are interested in more information once it becomes available.  If you’d like to add your name and e-mail address to this list, please email info@awaa.org with “Haiti Adoption Interest” in the subject line.

I spoke with someone today whose family is strongly considering adopting after he and his wife learned of the plight of orphans in Haiti.  After they learned a few days ago that adoption from Haiti isn’t readily available for new adoption cases, he and his wife are now considering adopting a child from another country.  We believe that God is using the tragic events in Haiti to help a child who is in need of a family – even though that child isn’t in Haiti. 

I know that God works in mysterious and unpredictable ways – and I wonder if this tragedy in Haiti isn’t God’s way of showing us that there are orphans all over the world in need of families.  Instead of an earthquake, tens of thousands of children have been left as orphans in Ethiopia because of HIV/AIDS, poverty and famine; your family can get more information about Ethiopia adoption by going to our website or emailing ethiopia@awaa.org.  In Rwanda, the aftermath of the genocide, HIV/AIDS and extreme poverty have left many children as orphans; this is one of our newest programs and we’ve been encouraged to see the results; families can email a Rwanda Family Coordinator at rwanda@awaa.org.  Our China Waiting Children Program has children available age six months to fourteen years including young children with minor and medically correctible special needs; please email waitingchildren@awaa.org for more information about this. 

I encourage you to pray and seek the Lord’s will for your family.  And please continue praying for those in need in Haiti – a crisis of this magnitude will require years and years of help – and I pray that by the mercy and grace of God this will not be a time when orphans are left by the wayside, but that permanent families will be sought for them.

-- Brian Luwis, CEO

Haitian Adoption

I am writing to update those who are interested in Haitian adoption.  I participated in a conference today involving USCIS, US Dept. of State and the Dept. of Health and Human Services.  At this time, the only children being processed for visas are those children who either had their adoption finalized within Haiti prior to the January 12th earthquake or those children who’ve already been accepted as a referral by families working with an adoption service provider.  New adoption cases aren’t currently being processed. 

There is consideration of a policy to allow children in desperate circumstances to enter to the United States on a special humanitarian visa – but there are not yet details regarding which children might qualify and what their status would be regarding adoption. 

There is still much chaos and confusion in Haiti and many families are still trying to locate their loved ones.  We were encouraged to know that the US government is very serious about not placing children who could still have a family or would not be appropriate for adoption.  Our hearts and prayers are going out to the people of Haiti – especially the orphans in that country.  When Haiti does have children available for adoption it is our agency’s intention to help find families for those orphans.  If your family is interested in Haitian adoption, please email info@awaa.org with the subject “Haiti adoption interest.”  We’ll compile a list of names and email addresses and inform families when there is more information.

-- Brian Luwis