More Details on Liberian adoption and the Child Act Bill

We received more information this morning. The Child Act Bill would specify a four month long stay for adoptive parents in Liberia. It would also specify that the orphanage would have to prove that both of the child's parents are dead.
This has grave implications to the children of Liberia. Please pray for this country as they seek to make decisions that would have a life long effect on their children.
The Bill has not passed yet...
As far as how this bill would effect us? We are not so much concerned with "our agenda" I think that died months ago when God showed us the BIGGER PICTURE.
We are striving to rest in Him, the one who gave us Lydia and Leo to pray for, the One who put a whole nation at our feet and said Pray for them.
So here we kneel before a holy God crying out for a nation thousands of miles away with heavy hearts and yet joyful expectation. For He is able to do even more than we could imagine or hope for.
Below you will find links to Unicef and Children Concerned and their agenda. It is not a good one. They think foreign adoption is child trafficking and it all must stop. For you information junkies out their I have posted the links borrowed from a friend's blog.
Here is what UNICEF says their stance is on international adoptions:
http://www.unicef.org/media/media_41118.html

Here is a Newsweek article from 2/08 on UNICEF's efforts to discourage
international adoptions: http://www.newsweek .com/id/105531

Here is some info on UNICEF's influence on Guatemalan adoptions which
are now closed:
http://www.familieswithoutborders.com/FWBstudyGuatemala.pdf

You can also go to http://www.familieswithoutborders.com/ for more
info on what Families without Borders tried to do to stop UNICEF from
shutting down adoptions in Guatemala.

In this article you can see UNICEF using the same technique of
equating adoption with child trafficking in Guatemala:
http://www.unicef.org/protection/index_exploitation.html

Here is a blog entry about UNICEF working against adoptions in the
media in regards to Switzerland:
http://international.adoptionblogs.com/weblogs/anti-trafficking-day-unicef-and-not-abou


Here is some recent info on Save the Children UK:

Save the Children's stance on international adoptions in light of
Madonna's adoption:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7969416.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7974232.stm

Tears and Joy

This week has had it moments. One moment I am full of faith and ready to take on the devil himself and the next I am melting in tears and overwhelmed at the task before us. Many of you know that The House of Representatives in Liberia has passed the Child Act and it is on its way to senate for final approval. Much prayer is needed as Unicef has had a great deal of influence over this bill. Unicef and Save the Children have a lot of influence in Liberia where the children are concerned. This is good and bad. It is good because they are providing lots of medical care, clean water, sanitation facilities, training, etc. It is bad because they would rather have children stay in an underfunded orphanage living in poverty, rather than have children be adopted by foreigners into loving, permanent homes. Both of these groups are trying their best to discourage international adoption. They believe children should not be taken from their country of birth.
This opens up a can of worms so to speak. On the one hand it is good to try and keep those children in their country of origin if at all possible with their own family members. But, there are children over there that need medical treatment they cannot get access to, and very often, children are given up for adoption because their familes cannot afford to feed themselves or their other children. In a war-torn country with an 80-90% unemployment rate, it is ridiculous to assume that the children will be well cared for in their own country. There are families waiting here to give these precious children a permanent home and a future. "If" this bill succeeds in shutting down adoptions in Liberia this will have a grave impact on these children.
Please join us in praying. Let me know you have been here by sending me a comment or an email. Today I need to know that my brothers and sisters are praying along with me.
"...Once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows that we know, and holds us responsible to act" (proverbs 24:12)