Hi All,
The petition (with thousands of names, yeah!) is going to be delivered to the director of Vietnamese Adoptions (in Vietnam) at 10:30pm our time tonight. Please pray that this is very well received and that the dir. allows adoptions to be continued. There are estimates that over 1000 more Vietnamese orphans would be united with their forever families if all the current families are grandfathered in.
So prayer requests for this week:
1) Pray that the Dir. of Vietnamese Adoptions, Dr. Long, grandfathers in all families in process that had their paperwork in by the July 1, deadline.
2) OR that he'll at least grant an extension until December 31, 2008 for the same in process families.
3) Please continue to pray that we receive an official referral by Sept. 1, 2008. The above 2 prayer requests would benefit all the orphans of Vietnam, but selfishly we'd like our case to not be dependent on these.
A praise:
The family sitting at #1 on the boys list for our agency has received their official referral. Praise the Lord! He's a 10 week old little guy that was abandoned. We're so glad he's going to be united with his forever family.
Thanks for praying,
Shae
Monday, July 7, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
Please Sign Petition to Keep Adoption Open in Vietnam
Dear friends and family members,
Please help us keep adoption open in Vietnam. This petition is to try and get our Dept. of State and Immigration to write a nice letter asking the head of the Dept of Adoptions in Vietnam to allow all families that have their paperwork in by July 1, to receive a referral even after September 1st. This would include us.
Please copy the link into your browser and "sign" the petition. You'll just fill in your name and email and then click on Sign Petition. You can click or not click whether or not you want Ipetitions to contact you with anything else. (They do honor this if you don't want further contact). It takes you to a donations page, but just close the window. You can read the petition here or on the website. As always, please keep praying.
Please pray that this petition and all the letter writing to Congress will have an impact and that the Dept of State will actually write the letter. This is our best chance.
Thanks,
Shae
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Grandfather_All_Dossiers/
The petition
AMERICANS UNITED FOR VIETNAMESE ORPHANS – GRANDFATHERING PETITION
June 2008
Dear CCAI Co-Chairs Landrieu, Coleman, Oberstar, and Brown-Waite:
Thousands of families have been in the process of adopting a child from
Vietnam for as long as 2 years. Please help them complete their
adoptions and give a child an opportunity to be raised in a family
environment. With the recent studies on the effects of
institutionalization on children, there should be no question that a
family environment is an optimal one, which every child should have the
opportunity to experience.
We implore you to use your influence to procure a letter from the Dept
of State and USCIS, addressed to Dr. Long, Director of the Vietnamese
DIA (Dept of International Adoption). On April 25th 2008, he announced
that dossiers of American families received by July 1st, 2008, and
matched with a child by September 1st, 2008, will be allowed to be
processed to completion. All dossiers not matched with a child will be
returned to adoption service providers, dashing hopes of raising a child
for the 1500-3000 American families who are in the process of adopting a
child from Vietnam.
Please ask the Dept of State and the USCIS to request that Dr. Long
allow all dossiers submitted by July 1,2008 to be “grand fathered” by
allowing these families to receive a child referral even after Sept 1.
He has indicated that he is agreeable to this request IF the Dept of
State and USCIS agencies will state that they will honor this change by
continuing to approve qualified I-600 (orphan petition) and I-234 (visa)
applications for families matched after September 1st. Vietnamese law
requires a current bilateral agreement between sending and receiving
countries; the one between Vietnam and the United States will expire on
September 1st, 2008. Dr Long has indicated that Vietnam would waive this
requirement for the remaining dossiers, if asked to do so by the Dept of
State and USCIS.
Thousands of prospective parents applied to USCIS to adopt a child from
Vietnam, believing in good faith that the US and Vietnam would continue
to work together to complete ethical adoptions.
Since November 2007, USCIS has implemented DNA testing and the Orphans
First program. These steps should help improve confidence in the
adoption process, and allow the US and Vietnam to negotiate a new MOU
with the goal of becoming a Hague country. Closing the program at this
point will leave 1500-3000 families and orphans in limbo for as long as
two years, while Vietnam makes necessary steps towards acceptance of the
Hague Convention. As the JCICS Children's Rights Campaign of June 2008
has pointed out, if adoptions stop between the US and Vietnam, so will
the backbone of humanitarian support that has helped tens of thousands
of orphans who will never have the opportunity to be raised in a family
environment.
We urge you to act upon this request without delay, by ensuring that the
Dept of State and USCIS write this letter to Dr Long. This is a very
trying time for the many families who wait month after month with little
word, and we hope that their dreams of raising an orphaned child does
not end in sadness.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned
Sign the petition
Fields marked * are required.
* Name:
* Email:
Please help us keep adoption open in Vietnam. This petition is to try and get our Dept. of State and Immigration to write a nice letter asking the head of the Dept of Adoptions in Vietnam to allow all families that have their paperwork in by July 1, to receive a referral even after September 1st. This would include us.
Please copy the link into your browser and "sign" the petition. You'll just fill in your name and email and then click on Sign Petition. You can click or not click whether or not you want Ipetitions to contact you with anything else. (They do honor this if you don't want further contact). It takes you to a donations page, but just close the window. You can read the petition here or on the website. As always, please keep praying.
Please pray that this petition and all the letter writing to Congress will have an impact and that the Dept of State will actually write the letter. This is our best chance.
Thanks,
Shae
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Grandfather_All_Dossiers/
The petition
AMERICANS UNITED FOR VIETNAMESE ORPHANS – GRANDFATHERING PETITION
June 2008
Dear CCAI Co-Chairs Landrieu, Coleman, Oberstar, and Brown-Waite:
Thousands of families have been in the process of adopting a child from
Vietnam for as long as 2 years. Please help them complete their
adoptions and give a child an opportunity to be raised in a family
environment. With the recent studies on the effects of
institutionalization on children, there should be no question that a
family environment is an optimal one, which every child should have the
opportunity to experience.
We implore you to use your influence to procure a letter from the Dept
of State and USCIS, addressed to Dr. Long, Director of the Vietnamese
DIA (Dept of International Adoption). On April 25th 2008, he announced
that dossiers of American families received by July 1st, 2008, and
matched with a child by September 1st, 2008, will be allowed to be
processed to completion. All dossiers not matched with a child will be
returned to adoption service providers, dashing hopes of raising a child
for the 1500-3000 American families who are in the process of adopting a
child from Vietnam.
Please ask the Dept of State and the USCIS to request that Dr. Long
allow all dossiers submitted by July 1,2008 to be “grand fathered” by
allowing these families to receive a child referral even after Sept 1.
He has indicated that he is agreeable to this request IF the Dept of
State and USCIS agencies will state that they will honor this change by
continuing to approve qualified I-600 (orphan petition) and I-234 (visa)
applications for families matched after September 1st. Vietnamese law
requires a current bilateral agreement between sending and receiving
countries; the one between Vietnam and the United States will expire on
September 1st, 2008. Dr Long has indicated that Vietnam would waive this
requirement for the remaining dossiers, if asked to do so by the Dept of
State and USCIS.
Thousands of prospective parents applied to USCIS to adopt a child from
Vietnam, believing in good faith that the US and Vietnam would continue
to work together to complete ethical adoptions.
Since November 2007, USCIS has implemented DNA testing and the Orphans
First program. These steps should help improve confidence in the
adoption process, and allow the US and Vietnam to negotiate a new MOU
with the goal of becoming a Hague country. Closing the program at this
point will leave 1500-3000 families and orphans in limbo for as long as
two years, while Vietnam makes necessary steps towards acceptance of the
Hague Convention. As the JCICS Children's Rights Campaign of June 2008
has pointed out, if adoptions stop between the US and Vietnam, so will
the backbone of humanitarian support that has helped tens of thousands
of orphans who will never have the opportunity to be raised in a family
environment.
We urge you to act upon this request without delay, by ensuring that the
Dept of State and USCIS write this letter to Dr Long. This is a very
trying time for the many families who wait month after month with little
word, and we hope that their dreams of raising an orphaned child does
not end in sadness.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned
Sign the petition
Fields marked * are required.
* Name:
* Email:
Friday, June 6, 2008
Please Keep Praying
Dear friends and family,
Well, we're not done yet. June 1 has come and gone, I know. However, there might still be a few more weeks in which an eligible orphan would be able to complete the referral process by Sept. 1.
So here's the current prayer requests:
1) Pray that the Sept. 1 deadline would be removed. There's a chance that this could happen. Vietnam is open to the idea but our gov't has to agree. This would allow so many more children to go home to their forever families.
2) Pray that the adoptable orphans are brought to the orphanage within the next few weeks.
3) Pray that any orphans found would have the correct preliminary paperwork that they need (like birth certificates--not an assumed)
4) Pray for the orphans in process, that any paperwork glitches are legitimately fixable and in a timely fashion that they are able to be matched to their forever families.
5) Pray that we would receive our referral before Sept. 1 or the Grace to handle it if we don't.
Of course please pray that the Lord's will be done in all of these.
A note of praise. More families from our agency, the group right in front of us in fact, have received their approval by our immigration. This was the last major hurdle everyone has to overcome. So they will be traveling to bring home their little ones as early as next week. Praise God that more precious children will have lifelong families, and those families are so blessed to have them. This was also relatively quick for what's been happening. It was only 46 days instead of the 90 or so that our immigration has been taking.
Thanks for praying. We appreciate each one of you.
Well, we're not done yet. June 1 has come and gone, I know. However, there might still be a few more weeks in which an eligible orphan would be able to complete the referral process by Sept. 1.
So here's the current prayer requests:
1) Pray that the Sept. 1 deadline would be removed. There's a chance that this could happen. Vietnam is open to the idea but our gov't has to agree. This would allow so many more children to go home to their forever families.
2) Pray that the adoptable orphans are brought to the orphanage within the next few weeks.
3) Pray that any orphans found would have the correct preliminary paperwork that they need (like birth certificates--not an assumed)
4) Pray for the orphans in process, that any paperwork glitches are legitimately fixable and in a timely fashion that they are able to be matched to their forever families.
5) Pray that we would receive our referral before Sept. 1 or the Grace to handle it if we don't.
Of course please pray that the Lord's will be done in all of these.
A note of praise. More families from our agency, the group right in front of us in fact, have received their approval by our immigration. This was the last major hurdle everyone has to overcome. So they will be traveling to bring home their little ones as early as next week. Praise God that more precious children will have lifelong families, and those families are so blessed to have them. This was also relatively quick for what's been happening. It was only 46 days instead of the 90 or so that our immigration has been taking.
Thanks for praying. We appreciate each one of you.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Dossier Found, One More Prayer Request Answered
Per an email from our agency, our dossier was delivered to our in-country employee on April 15th. It's already been translated and notarized. Mr. Le will take it on his next trip to Hanoi and get it logged in with the DIA (Dept. of Intl Adoption...the Vietnamese side of things).
This is just wonderful news. There was some confusion in the process. Mr. Le thought our agency director was asking about a different package. FedEx still doesn't know that it's been delivered. Prayer delivered our dossier....not FedEx.
This is a huge praise. Thanks to all who have been praying for us. It's working.
So today's prayer requests:
1) That we would receive our referral in time (by Sept. 1). This means that an adoptable child has to be in the orphanage by June 1st to be processed in time.
2) That the Lord would match the perfect little one with our family. Due to the current circumstances with Vietnam--age is a lot more unknown than it used to be. We would really like to maintain birth order.
3) For a healthy child. It sounds like the current referrals are coming from an even more rural part of the province and so there was probably even less funds available for the children's care.
4) This is on another topic. A cyclone hit Myanmar (Burma). There are already 4000 known deceased and as many as 3000 missing in just one neighboring town. One of the children we sponsor with World Vision is from Myanmar. Her name is Aye Soe Min. We would appreciate your prayers for her, her family, and her country.
Thanks so much. We so appreciate your prayers.
Blessings,
Shae
This is just wonderful news. There was some confusion in the process. Mr. Le thought our agency director was asking about a different package. FedEx still doesn't know that it's been delivered. Prayer delivered our dossier....not FedEx.
This is a huge praise. Thanks to all who have been praying for us. It's working.
So today's prayer requests:
1) That we would receive our referral in time (by Sept. 1). This means that an adoptable child has to be in the orphanage by June 1st to be processed in time.
2) That the Lord would match the perfect little one with our family. Due to the current circumstances with Vietnam--age is a lot more unknown than it used to be. We would really like to maintain birth order.
3) For a healthy child. It sounds like the current referrals are coming from an even more rural part of the province and so there was probably even less funds available for the children's care.
4) This is on another topic. A cyclone hit Myanmar (Burma). There are already 4000 known deceased and as many as 3000 missing in just one neighboring town. One of the children we sponsor with World Vision is from Myanmar. Her name is Aye Soe Min. We would appreciate your prayers for her, her family, and her country.
Thanks so much. We so appreciate your prayers.
Blessings,
Shae
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Dossier Location Unknown and Need a Referral Soon
Hi all, here's our latest list of prayer requests, but first we have a praise.
The orphanage is now allowing children to be received again. However, there aren't any adoptable children there at the moment.
Prayer Requests:
1) That our dossier is not lost but is just finishing clearing customs. Our dossier was sent 3 weeks ago today. It left Hanoi (the capital) to go to the province 2 weeks ago yesterday. It's not unusual for a dossier to sit in customs for a week or so, but now that we're over 3 weeks we're starting to get apprehensive.
Please pray that our dossier is delivered safe and sound to our facilitator very soon.
2) Please pray that we receive an official referral in time (by Sept. 1). This means that any adoptable children will have to be found and brought to the orphanage by June 1. After that ads have to be run, paperwork completed, and then wait for the official referral to come from DIA (Department of International Adoption--the Vietnam side).
3) Please pray that there aren't any more bumps, road blocks, whatevers in the process. We had another scare today that kept me glued to the computer following leads for hours. A newspaper misprinted the end date for referrals as July 1 and made it sound like it came from the head of DIA. Then several other newspapers all copied the original article but made it look like there was multiple sources all verifying the new date. Arrrgggghhhh!!! Not true, it's been verified that the end date is still Sept. 1. Whewww!
Thanks for praying,
Shae
The orphanage is now allowing children to be received again. However, there aren't any adoptable children there at the moment.
Prayer Requests:
1) That our dossier is not lost but is just finishing clearing customs. Our dossier was sent 3 weeks ago today. It left Hanoi (the capital) to go to the province 2 weeks ago yesterday. It's not unusual for a dossier to sit in customs for a week or so, but now that we're over 3 weeks we're starting to get apprehensive.
Please pray that our dossier is delivered safe and sound to our facilitator very soon.
2) Please pray that we receive an official referral in time (by Sept. 1). This means that any adoptable children will have to be found and brought to the orphanage by June 1. After that ads have to be run, paperwork completed, and then wait for the official referral to come from DIA (Department of International Adoption--the Vietnam side).
3) Please pray that there aren't any more bumps, road blocks, whatevers in the process. We had another scare today that kept me glued to the computer following leads for hours. A newspaper misprinted the end date for referrals as July 1 and made it sound like it came from the head of DIA. Then several other newspapers all copied the original article but made it look like there was multiple sources all verifying the new date. Arrrgggghhhh!!! Not true, it's been verified that the end date is still Sept. 1. Whewww!
Thanks for praying,
Shae
Friday, April 25, 2008
Announced Ending Dates
Our US Embassy in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, has announced that dossiers have to be logged in by July 1, 2008, and only those families that have an official referral by September 1, 2008 will be allowed to continue to process their adoptions.
So here's our list of prayer requests:
1) Our dossier left the US on April 8. It was originally supposed to be delivered by the 18th which then changed to "In Transit" since the 14th. We do not know where our dossier is AGAIN. It could be sitting at customs or still being transported 11 days later.
Please pray that our dossier is delivered to our agency's facilitator (employee that does all in-country stuff) ASAP. He still has to translate it into Vietnamese and take it back to Hanoi to be logged in with DIA (Dept. of International Adoptions).
2) Please pray for the situation in the province. It is not good. I can't go into detail. It has to do with some of the prayer requests below but with more specifics.
3) Please pray that we have an official referral long before Sept. 1. We are still next in line.
4) Please pray that the orphanage director will allow paperwork to be processed on any unmatched orphans that are there. This is very important. Paperwork and ads take several months. If he does not start soon, it will be too, late.
5) Please pray that the director will allow true orphans into the orphanage instead of turning them away.
6) Please pray that other orphanages may even be opened as needed. This is a possibility. It is stuck in the "red tape" process right now. A new orphanage would definitely help the situation.
7) Please pray for the orphans of Vietnam. Pray that true orphans will find forever families. Yes, there has been a few cases of misconduct within the adoption process as there is in any country including ours. Overall the adoptions there are ethical. Pray for discernment for our Immigration investigators that they will find the wrong doing but not punish all the innocent people involved in ethical adoptions as well.
We really need and appreciate your prayers.
Thanks,
Shae
So here's our list of prayer requests:
1) Our dossier left the US on April 8. It was originally supposed to be delivered by the 18th which then changed to "In Transit" since the 14th. We do not know where our dossier is AGAIN. It could be sitting at customs or still being transported 11 days later.
Please pray that our dossier is delivered to our agency's facilitator (employee that does all in-country stuff) ASAP. He still has to translate it into Vietnamese and take it back to Hanoi to be logged in with DIA (Dept. of International Adoptions).
2) Please pray for the situation in the province. It is not good. I can't go into detail. It has to do with some of the prayer requests below but with more specifics.
3) Please pray that we have an official referral long before Sept. 1. We are still next in line.
4) Please pray that the orphanage director will allow paperwork to be processed on any unmatched orphans that are there. This is very important. Paperwork and ads take several months. If he does not start soon, it will be too, late.
5) Please pray that the director will allow true orphans into the orphanage instead of turning them away.
6) Please pray that other orphanages may even be opened as needed. This is a possibility. It is stuck in the "red tape" process right now. A new orphanage would definitely help the situation.
7) Please pray for the orphans of Vietnam. Pray that true orphans will find forever families. Yes, there has been a few cases of misconduct within the adoption process as there is in any country including ours. Overall the adoptions there are ethical. Pray for discernment for our Immigration investigators that they will find the wrong doing but not punish all the innocent people involved in ethical adoptions as well.
We really need and appreciate your prayers.
Thanks,
Shae
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Dossier Sent
Well, it was a busy week last week for us and our dossier.
Tuesday, I received a voice mail from an unidentified man at the Vietnamese Consulate in San Francisco. He stated that he had our dossier but didn't have a return FedEx envelope and wondered what we wanted him to do. He also left a phone number.
Well 2 things here:
1) I watched the return envelope go in the outer package before it was sealed. Also a FedEx supervisor later confirmed that it was there. So obviously someone at the Consulate "misplaced" our envelope.
2) For anyone that's ever tried to contact the Consulate they know that any phone number you have, just doesn't work. It actually hangs up on you which is frustrating to say the least when you've gone through all their menus. Also, their email gets rejected every time. Well the number this man left was no different.
So...we tried faxing the Consulate, but then didn't hold our breath. Immediately we called a courier from the area that specializes in adoption deliveries (she's an adoptive mama herself). The courier was able to get our dossier back and sent it to us overnight. Thanks Jill!
So in the end it just cost us more money (ha!) and the stress of almost losing 10 months of work and thousands of dollars I'm sure was great for our hearts.
Wednesday morning the dossier arrived. I spent the rest of the day and evening making the required collated photo copies and typing up the cover sheets. Over 400 copies...yeah! Who am I kidding, I really didn't care, I was just so glad to get our dossier back.
Thursday I took Ethan to preschool, we went to the bank to get one of the complete copies of the dossier notarized, picked up Ethan, and then off to the Secretary of State Office in the Capital building in Lincoln for State seals.
Friday morning I was able to send the dossier and it's copies to our agency. It is there now. After our agency director reviews it, our dossier will go to Vietnam to be translated and finally logged in with the Department of International Adoption (DIA).
Tuesday, I received a voice mail from an unidentified man at the Vietnamese Consulate in San Francisco. He stated that he had our dossier but didn't have a return FedEx envelope and wondered what we wanted him to do. He also left a phone number.
Well 2 things here:
1) I watched the return envelope go in the outer package before it was sealed. Also a FedEx supervisor later confirmed that it was there. So obviously someone at the Consulate "misplaced" our envelope.
2) For anyone that's ever tried to contact the Consulate they know that any phone number you have, just doesn't work. It actually hangs up on you which is frustrating to say the least when you've gone through all their menus. Also, their email gets rejected every time. Well the number this man left was no different.
So...we tried faxing the Consulate, but then didn't hold our breath. Immediately we called a courier from the area that specializes in adoption deliveries (she's an adoptive mama herself). The courier was able to get our dossier back and sent it to us overnight. Thanks Jill!
So in the end it just cost us more money (ha!) and the stress of almost losing 10 months of work and thousands of dollars I'm sure was great for our hearts.
Wednesday morning the dossier arrived. I spent the rest of the day and evening making the required collated photo copies and typing up the cover sheets. Over 400 copies...yeah! Who am I kidding, I really didn't care, I was just so glad to get our dossier back.
Thursday I took Ethan to preschool, we went to the bank to get one of the complete copies of the dossier notarized, picked up Ethan, and then off to the Secretary of State Office in the Capital building in Lincoln for State seals.
Friday morning I was able to send the dossier and it's copies to our agency. It is there now. After our agency director reviews it, our dossier will go to Vietnam to be translated and finally logged in with the Department of International Adoption (DIA).
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