Ethica positions on pending international adoption legislation

Legislative updates from Ethica. Read the legislation (I need to do the same), and voice your opinions, which may or may not echo Ethica's. If you're on Facebook, a Facebook group has been formed in opposition to the FACE Act.

International Adoption — Ethica’s Positions on Pending Legislation
July 8, 2009

Ethica urges you to read these bills in their entirety. Do you share Ethica’s concerns about these bills? It’s important that Committee members hear YOUR voice. Contact info for each of the bills is below.

To reach your Representative or Senator, go to the House or Senate websites and locate your member by zip code or state. To find your zip+4 zip code, go to the US Postal Service website.


Senate Bill 1376

Sponsored by Sen Amy Klobuchar (MN), Senator Durbin (IL), Senator Feingold (WI), Sen Inhofe (OK), and Sen Landrieu (LA)

A bill to restore immunization and sibling age exemptions for children adopted by United States citizens under the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption to allow their admission to the United States.

Ethica supports the passage of this bill.

• Ethica believes the immunization waiver was intended in original legislation but was left out by oversight.
• Ethica believes that the health risks a child faces by the current immunization requirements are greater than the public health risk that such a requirement serves to protect.
• The previous guidelines requiring parents to vaccinate upon return to the US provided a safe, medically supportive protocol without public health implications for the 12 years it was enacted. This is still the protocol used for non-Hague adoptions.
• This immigrant class is the only class that does not contain a vaccine exemption option.
• Ethica supports the sibling age exemption increase to age 18 for children who are part of qualified sibling groups adopted within the same family as is the case for non-Hague adoptions. We believe this, too, was an unintended oversight in amending Immigration and Nationality Act. Ethica believes that siblings should remain together whenever possible.

This bill will be considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee. To contact them to voice your opinion on this bill, call 202-224-7703 (Democrats) or 202-224-5225 (Republicans). To find members of the committee who would be happy to hear your opinion: http://judiciary.senate.gov/about/members.cfm


House Bill 3070 Families for Orphans Act

Sponsored by Congresswoman Diane Watson (D-CA) and Congressman John Boozman (R-AR)

A bill to encourage the development and implementation of a comprehensive, global strategy for the preservation and reunification of families and the provision of permanent parental care for orphans, and for other purposes.

Ethica opposes passage of the Families for Orphans Act.

• The Families for Orphans Act, if passed, would give the United States unilateral power to develop global child welfare strategies by providing financial incentives for other countries (including through debt and trade relief) to send their children abroad for international adoption.
• Instead, the United States should be participating diplomatically with other nations in developing global child welfare strategies, for example, by finally ratifying the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child.
• The bill legalizes an overly broad definition of “orphan”, capturing countless numbers of children who already have loving families, potentially including, for example, children who reside in boarding schools away from their primary caregivers.
• This bill augments existing financial incentives for countries to favor international adoption by offering additional financial incentives, including technical assistance, grants, trade, and debt relief from the United States, which may sacrifice established child welfare principles by favoring international adoption over local solutions.
• Reunification efforts are “time-limited” which may cause original families to be unnecessarily separated from their children.
• Conflicts exist with various definitions in the bill. For example, long-term kinship and guardianship arrangements which are considered “permanent” care under the bill may simultaneously be considered long-term foster care arrangements, which are considered to be temporary care under the bill.
• The bill requires “cultural norms” to be taken into account, but only to the extent consistent with the purposes of the bill. The bill permits the United States then to essentially disregard a country’s cultural norms.

Ethica supports the strengthening of global child welfare systems. However, we believe that this would best be accomplished by working through existing frameworks of technical assistance and aid, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to demonstrate the commitment of the United States as a global partner in securing and upholding children’s basic rights, limiting the definition of orphans to those children truly in need of permanent caregivers with placement decisions made without the influence of money.

The House Committee on Foreign Affairs will first debate this bill. They can be reached at the following location for your feedback:
Phone: (202) 225-5021
Email: http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/contact.asp

Members on the Committee who are also available to hear your opinions: http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/members.asp


Foreign Adopted Children Equality Act (FACE Act)

Introduced in the Senate as S. 1359 (Senators Landrieu and Inhofe) and in the House as H.R. 3110 (Rep. Watson and Boozman)

A bill to provide United States citizenship for children adopted from outside the United States, and for other purposes.

Ethica opposes passage of the FACE Act. Ethica believes the FACE Act, if passed, would harm adopted persons and their birth- and adoptive families in a number of ways, including:

• The bill is intended to eliminate the U.S. immigrant visa process, which means it eliminates the safeguards put in place to help ensure that children placed for adoption are legally in need of homes abroad
• By conferring citizenship retroactive to birth, Ethica believes the bill creates a legal fiction and diminishes adoptees’ birth history
• While eliminating the visa process may save adopting families a small amount of money toward the large costs of adopting, there is no guarantee that the Department of State will not charge similar or even higher fees for services it will provide under this bill.
• The bill may create additional hurdles and costs for adopted persons in the future as they attempt to claim benefits and privileges they are otherwise entitled to in their countries of birth
• Eligibility for adoption of a particular child is generally determined by the “competent authority” of the child’s country of origin. The bill does not address eligibility for adoption in countries that have not designated a competent authority
• The suitability of the adopting parent is based on the person’s ability to support the child and appropriate criminal background checks. The bill does not address existing federal requirements for homestudies of prospective adopting parents.
• Enacting this bill may stall adoptions in process: It is unclear how this bill will affect provisions of the Intercountry Adoption Act (which implemented the Hague Convention). Instead of speeding up processing by bypassing the visa system, confusion in interpretation and the development of new processing procedures, particularly for Hague countries, will likely create delays for adopting families and children.
• Ethica believes that adoptees and other immigrants should be able to become President, but pursuing the right to presidency should be done in a way that does not erase personal histories.
• Ethica also wholeheartedly agrees that citizenship procedures should be improved for adoptees, and believes that adoptees not covered under the Child Citizenship Act (including adopted persons who have been deported) should be conferred U.S. citizenship. However, this bill goes far beyond these measures and has the potential to hurt more than help.

This bill is being considered in two committees in the House of Representatives and one committee in the U.S. Senate:

In the House:

House Committee on Foreign Affairs
Phone: (202) 225-5021
Email: http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/contact.asp
Members on the Committee who are also available to hear your opinions: http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/members.asp

House Judiciary Committee:
Phone: 202-225-3951
Find members of the committee who would be happy to hear your opinions: http://judiciary.house.gov/about/members.html

In the Senate:

Senate Judiciary Committee
Phone: 202-224-7703 (Democrats) or 202-224-5225 (Republicans)
To find members of the committee who would be happy to hear your opinion: http://judiciary.senate.gov/about/members.cfm

Adoptive Parents for Open Records II

Take a look: Adoptive Parents for Open Records
It occurred to me that it might not be a bad idea to set up a blog where the non-forum-inclined could get involved, too. But this is something that needs more AP involvement, so if anyone out there would be interested in helping manage a site like this, let me know via comment or email. What's in my mind in something like VVAI - information, posts from multiple contributors, guest posts, etc. It could grow into a group, too, over time.

So - anyone game?

Adoptive Parents for Open Records

I found a new toy last week: Adoption Voices. It's a Ning site, kind of like Facebook, but all adoption, all the time. Very, very dangerous.

The first thing I did when I signed in was look for Korean, international, and transracial adoption groups, which I found. The second thing I did was look for an open records forum, but there was none. So I started one: Adoptive Parents for Open Records. I chose that name on purpose, to send a message to the adoptee community that there are adoptive parents out here who support the cause. But the group is open to everyone.

If you've discovered Adoption Voices, please look for and join in. My hope is that adoptive parents will start communicating among themselves about this issue, will share what's happening (or not happening) in their states, and will ultimately get involved. Starting this group has prompted me to get a whole lot smarter about open records initiatives in my very closed state of Virginia - really, I know very little about what's going on here, and that's terrible.

So off I go to get smarter about it. And I hope you'll head over to Adoptive Parents for Open Records and jump in.

KAAN Early Registration Extended to July 15th

Please spread the word - and come to the conference!!

Don't miss what promises to be a great experience this summer! It's the annual KAAN Conference for adult Korean adoptees, adoptive families, and Korean Americans.

Sheraton Denver Hotel
Denver, Colorado
July 31 - August 2, 2009

This 11th Annual KAAN Conference uniquely brings together all the member groups around Korean adoption. This year's conference will be held at the Sheraton Denver Hotel in Denver, Colorado from July 31st through August 2nd. It promises the best sessions ever.

For example, Carissa Woodwyk, an adult Korean adoptee who is a licensed marriage and family therapist and has authored the book Before You Were Mine will talk in a keynote address about the impact of relinquishment on adoptees' psyches; an adult adoptee and a relative by family association will discuss Family Labels and Language and talk about what it means to have to explain one's family on a regular basis; and, in an adult-adoptees-only session, adult adoptees will discuss the face and body image issues that many experience in the session Why I Don't Like My Face. In Meeting a Korean Birthmother and Birthfather, attendees will hear the story of a Korean mother and father who placed their child, have been reunited, and now live in the U.S. Adult adoptees will also be able to come together on the evening of Friday July 31st for an adult-adoptees-and-their-guests-only dinner. Special tracks for kids and teens round out the schedule.

KAAN understands that the economy poses a special challenge this year to individuals and families who would like to attend. The good news is that early-bird registration has been extended through July 15. At only $199 for a Friday evening through Sunday mid-day event, the conference remains an extremely reasonably priced event for anyone with experience around Korean adoption. Partial registration is also possible, and reasonable airfares are available.

For more information and to register, go to the KAAN Conference website at:
http://www.kaanconference.com/

See you in Denver!

I hate reading things like this

This makes me heartsick. I hate this disease, I really do. I hate thinking of the people it has taken. And I hate thinking that it will take many more before a cure is found.

In the meantime, the best hope for many leukemia sufferers is bone marrow transplant. For the best possible outcome, you need a match, a really close match. The best chance of that comes from biological family members, but of course for an adopted person this may not be possible.

For this reason, we need lots and lots of people of all ethnicities and races need to step up to the plate and register to be bone marrow donors. Registering is easy - a swab, some paperwork, and you're done. Actually donating marrow is harder, but the possibility of saving a life outweighs the risk and discomfort. Ask anyone who has been a match, and I'm sure they'll agree.

So please, please register. You can learn more here:

Asian American Donor Program
Asians for Miracle Matches
National Marrow Donor Program
The Caitlin Raymond International Registry
The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society

If you've already registered, you can do more: Sponsor a marrow registration drive at your workplace or an event. Give dollars. And stand up for adoptee rights. Opening records gives adopted people at least a fighting chance of finding a relative whose marrow might save their life, should that need arise.

There are no guarantees with this disease. Even with a match, it may win. But to deny an individual the opportunity of even trying to fight it with a family member's marrow?

That's just wrong.

First-hand joy, second-hand pain

I added a comment on the subject of the following post to the incredible discussion over here, but I think it warrants its own post, too, because it's a little complicated. But before I go there, I have to say that that discussion did my soul a lot - I mean, A LOT - of good. Amazing. Thank you.

If you haven't read the post and comments, you'll need to for context. One commenter asked a really good question about my analogy and the logic I used to get there:

But I do wonder, from the side of a first/natural parent - when a aparents do understand and grasp the "other" feelings of adoption that exist for adoptees and first/natrual moms, can they ever truly really turn off that light with no reminder of the other truths that exist.

The commenter is absolutely right that I can never really escape the reality of adoption pain. The fact that I'm still here talking about adoption after all the ups and downs I've experienced in adoption-blogland kind of proves it. But for me, anyway, there is a switch, so let me explain in a little more detail how it works in my life.

I live adoption two ways. I live it through my own adoption journey: the story of how my husband and I decided to adopt, how we chose to adopt from Korea, our homestudy, the legal process we followed, the waiting, the arrivals, and parenting. That journey is one that is marked by sadness and joy, sometimes for reasons that really have nothing to do with adoption itself, like infertility. But given the outcome - my two incredible kids - adoption has been and is a joyful experience for me, one that has completed me, rather than causing division and separation.

As a parent always feels what their children feel, I also live adoption through my children's experiences. When adoption brings them pain, there's no question that I feel it. I try to understand the pain adoption has brought my children's parents, too. But in both cases, I feel this pain second-hand, maybe even third-hand in the case of my children's parents, because I have no access to them and can't even hear them tell their own stories. No matter the degree, the point is that I can talk about what I think they are feeling, write about it, and even experience it - but never the same way they do, never in the context of a personal experience.

For example, I can go to the doctor and fill out a medical form without a thought. If I don't know the answer to a specific question, it's only because someone in the family doesn't know, not because law and practice have blocked it from me. I can therefore choose whether or not to acknowledge my children's pain at having to write Unknown down the page, or I can tell myself it's really no big deal. I can make a conscious decision to flip that switch one way or another.

Same thing about my children's parents' experiences. When someone asks me how many kids I have, the question doesn't cause me pain and I don't think twice to answer. I can choose to remember how hard it must be for someone to have to weigh that answer, or I can downplay that pain. Again, I can choose whether to flip the switch or not.

Like I said before, I can escape. Which is why I shouldn't.

Hope this clarifies rather than making it all murkier. It is, after all, Monday morning and I'm only on my first cup of coffee.

Breakfast with Skito

I just enjoyed one of the nicest mornings I've had in a long time. I had breakfast with Susan Ito and her husband John!

I've respected Susan for a long time for her work in the adoption community. She devotes a considerable amount of time to PACT Camp, is co-editor of A Ghost at Heart's Edge: Stories and Poems of Adoption, and is a strong voice for ethical adoption. But Susan is a really neat person on many other fronts, too - you may also know her from her column Life in the Sandwich at Literary Mama and her other writing.

I got to know Susan from her blog and from my (really pathetic) participation in one of her online writing classes, which I enjoyed immensely in spite of the fact that I was a terrible student. Susan was extremely patient with my feeble attempts, as well as encouraging. She's a wonderful teacher.

Being now able to say I've met her in real life, I can also say she's just plain fun, as is John. Over coffee and egg sandwiches at a little Alexandria cafe, we talked about family and life, and shared our thoughts on society today. I like the way Susan and John think, probably because we clearly shared the same opinions on pretty much everything we talked about.

Susan, John, thanks for touching base and taking time out of your weekend to get together. I enjoyed it immensely and can't wait for the next time! Safe travels home!!