Note: A few minor wording changes were incorporated into these letters on Oct. 20, reflecting an evolution of the document. These do not affect the message of the letters.
Many people have asked about a sample letter to send to the sponsors of UNICEF in order to express our displeasure with the UNICEF policies on intercountry adoption - especially as they apply to Guatemala. I have had the privilege of working with a dedicated group of adoptive parents on assembling an educational package for the US sponsors of UNICEF. Part of this package is an explanatory letter, which we felt would be appropriate for people to use as a template in their letters to UNICEF sponsors.
By sending this letter, or a modification thereof, you would also be helping us to prepare the sponsors for the arrival of the educational package (a nearly 50 page document), which we hope to have finalized by next weekend.
A list of sponsors can be found on the United States Fund for UNICEF web page. The trick-or-treat for UNICEF sponsors are found at: http://www.unicefusa.org/trickortreat/for_partners.html
The corporate partners are listed at: http://www.unicefusa.org/partnerships/partners.html
This letter has been carefully constructed, reviewed, and edited by individuals who work in corporate philanthropy, business, adoption, and education. All that is required is that you add the name/address of the sponsors, and your contact information.
If you modify the letter provided, or choose to write your own, we strongly suggest that you maintain a respectful tone towards the audience (corporate sponsor) and seek to educate them about the UNICEF position on intercountry adoption rather than admonish them for their support. It is probably safe to assume that most of the sponsors do not know this part of the UNICEF agenda, or assume that their donation is being used towards education, immunization, maintaining safe water supplies, etc. We need to educate the sponsors about the intercountry adoption policies and ask them to hold UNICEF responsible for how their donated dollars are spent.
Here is the letter. There are two versions - one for a single signature (uses "I") and one for multiple signatures on the same letter (uses "We"). They are provided in MS word and html versions.
UNICEF Sponsor Letter - multiple signatures, MS Word
UNICEF Sponsor Letter - multiple signatures, html
UNICEF Sponsor Letter - single signature, MS word
UNICEF Sponsor Letter - single signature, html
Please remember to add the recipient's information (company, name, etc) to the top of the letter and your personal contact information to the bottom. This is critical because letters without contact information are often ignored by the addressee.
These letters were researched, written, edited, and submitted by Families Without Borders. We are an informal coalition of adoptive parents and prospective adoptive parents who support intercountry adoptions from Guatemala and elsewhere, and oppose UNICEF's philosophy towards, and efforts to curtail, intercountry adoption. FWOB is not directly affiliated with guatadopt.com. We wish to thank Kelly and this site for hosting this information while the FWOB web site is under construction.
Posted by at October 13, 2003 12:23 AMTHANK YOU, Maura & Families without Borders!
This letter is simply excellent. I will be sending it to the corporate sponsors of Unicef.
Can you provide information about requirements for membership in Families without Borders?
Posted by: Elizabeth Stroot at October 13, 2003 05:39 PMThanks for the excellent letter and explanation.I wonder if there is a way to get a tv program such as 20/20 or 48 hours to do a special on the Guatemala situation.
Posted by: JW at October 13, 2003 08:59 PMI've contacted 48 Hours to no avail and spoke with a producer. "They" are interested in doing a show on international adoption, but "not at this time." I've also contacted all of the NBC News Shows (Today Show, Dateline, NBC Nightly News etc) as well as ABC, Oprah and Geraldo. I'm waiting for responses back. Again, my husband works in the broadcast media industry in Philadelphia and we're calling in all our favors to try to get some media attention for this situation. I'm going to be contacting Jack Ford (former NBC news correspondent) tomorrow to see if he can help in anyway. I'm going be be a huge pain in the butt until someone pays attention to me!!! (I promise!!) It makes me crazy that producers are more interested in J. Lo and Ben's romance than the 1000+ stranded orphans in Guatemala!!! I'm committed to get someone's attention. Stay tuned!!
Posted by: Denise Fein at October 13, 2003 11:09 PMI saw Kimberly-Clark (Huggies) is a corporate
partner of UNICEF. I wonder if they realize that
UNICEF is trying to keep all these babies from coming home!
They are going to be the first ones I send my letters to.
Has anyone tried writing a letter to the "Doctor Laura" radio show? She reads letters at the top of each hour of her show, usually stories relating to childrens rights. She is also and advocate for adoption. If we can't get on her radio show maybe we can get our story onto her website. She has a HUGE fan base.
Posted by: Cheryl at October 14, 2003 10:51 AMIf you can't get national media to tell your story, individual families whose children are among those stranded in Guatemala should try to get local media attention. If enough local stations play stories on this nightmare, national TV will likely pick it up.
I believe this is what happened with Cambodia and it involved fewer children.
Posted by: Nancy at October 15, 2003 01:03 PMI think someone like Michael Moore author of the best seller "Stupid white Men", would be interested in this issue. He seems to concentrate on corporates who misbehave and whose actions impact on the lives of ordinary people. This may be right up his street. Does anyone have any idea how one would contact him? or, does anyone know anyone who would have access to him?
Posted by: Adriana Rabinovich at October 16, 2003 04:43 AMDo you happen to have a list of sponsor addresses?
Posted by: Energized! at October 20, 2003 10:28 PMIn watching the ABC television show "The View" today, Joy Bahar mentioned that she supported UNICEF. I believe fully that her intentions are good in that she thinks that by giving money, she is helping. I have sent the letter on adoptions in Guatemala to let her know that at this point, my God Daughter, the daughter of my best friend Carmela & Mark Roberts is not able to come home to her family. Please help in educating these ladies on the real situation with UNICEF.
Thank you, Jan Statham
Posted by: Jan Statham at October 24, 2003 11:53 AM