The Bay Area is at it again - brings back memories of Hague past. And Guatemala 900 as well.
Sen. Barbara Boxer's office has written a letter and is requesting additional members of congress to sign on. As you can see from clicking on more, it urges Sec. of State Clinton to do more to aid the still hundreds of in-process families.
By clicking on "more" you can find complete instructions and the letter.
TIME FOR ACTION: Senator Boxer has sponsored a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to address our in-process adoptions. The Senator has invited the rest of Congress to sign on – and needs to close signatures by Tuesday August 25.
WE NEED YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TO ADD THEIR SIGNATURES TO THIS LETTER.
-Please contact the WASHINGTON DC offices of your Congressional reps. Contact info is here: http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/index.html
-Ask for the Legislative Director, Chief of Staff or Staffer for Intercountry Adoption.
-Tell them to contact Senator Boxer’s Legislative Aide to sign on to the letter (contact info is below).
-Forward Boxer’s invitation to them via email or fax
The email conventions for Congressional contacts:
Senate: firstname_lastname@lastnamofsenator.senate.gov (with an underscore between first & last name)
House: firstname.lastname@mail.house.gov (with a period between first & last name)
If your reps have questions about the letter or about Guatemala adoption, they can contact Kathleen or Becky at Congressional Coalition on Adoption (202-544-8500).
Please reach out to them THIS WEEK: make the phone call and forward Boxer’s invitation, below.
Guatemala900 is very grateful for Senator Boxer’s leadership and the Congressional Coalition on Adoption’s support for this effort. Now we need to deliver the signatures, and make our voices heard.
_______________________________________________
From the Office of Senator Barbara Boxer:
Dear Colleagues,
Senator Boxer invites you to join her in writing to Secretary Clinton regarding the hundreds of pending adoptions by American families of children from Guatemala .
As many of you may know, when Guatemala passed legislation to implement its obligations under the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, the legislation contained provisions that allowed adoptions cases that were in process prior to December 31, 2007 to be completed under previous adoption laws. Guatemalan authorities registered approximately 3,000 such cases and according to the State Department, approximately three-fourths of these cases have already been processed to conclusion.
In response to allegations of fraud and baby-stealing under the previous adoption laws, Guatemala is closely screening the remaining cases. This has significantly stalled the adoption process for many American families. While we applaud Guatemala ’s efforts to ensure transparency and accountability in the processing of intercountry adoptions, we remain concerned that these delays have imposed significant hardships and emotional strain on birth mothers and adopting parents, and have forced children to remain in institutional settings without the love and care of a family and possibly with long-term emotional and physical consequences.
It is in the best interests of these children to see these cases completed fairly and efficiently. We hope you will join us in signing this letter.
To sign on, or for any questions, please contact Ariana Reks at 4-6177. The deadline for signatures is Tuesday, August 25 at noon.
Thanks!
Ariana Reks
Legislative Aide to Senator Boxer
Ariana_Reks@boxer.senate.gov
Posted by Kevin at August 17, 2009 07:57 PMYou can get the full text of the Letter to Clinton at www.guatemala900.org
Most reps will ask to see the actual letter before taking action.
But it is very specfic, tangible action - that makes it easy for them to say YES. All we have to do is ask!
Posted by: Colleen at August 17, 2009 08:28 PMThis is really easy to call your Members of Congress both in the Sentate and the house. It is extremely important for all those that are in-process especially to make these calls. Your representation in Washington was elected to represent you and be your voice. It is easy, make the calls.
Mary
Please DO call. I used to work in a Senator's office and I can tell you that calls to the office really do make a difference! The folks who answer the phone keep a log of all calls, noting whether callers are for or against something. The views of the constituents really do matter to elected officials, especially on an issue like this, where they are not likely to hear from many people who are against it.
Posted by: sjbj at August 20, 2009 10:36 AMThis is still such a shame. Nobody cares about these children except for the waiting parents and families. I have my son for 1 1/2 years now and I can't even imagine what the waiting families are going through right now. I pray that all those children can come home real soon.
Posted by: Lisa at August 21, 2009 11:09 AMSen. Boxer extended the deadline for signatures until end of day Thursday, so we can make one last push for signatures.
We've made huge progress getting committments from Senators and Congresspeople to sign on to the letter (details at www.guatemala900.org).
But we still need help with several states. Please help make us get the message out to our elected officials. THANK YOU.
Colleen
Posted by: colleen at August 26, 2009 02:38 AMThis is an extremely important letter, designed to get Secý Clinton´s attention in order to get more support from the Department of State for the over 600 grandfathered cases still pending finalization.
These adoptions and the investigation process needs the intervention of the DOS on behalf of the U.S. citizens trying to adopt the children, some over a period of years and none for fewer than 18 months. All of the time these children have been in temporary care, some far from adequate as time goes on. Some have been taken from their familiar surroundings as part of investigations which seem to go nowhere and seem to target the wrong people.
Please contact your Senators and Congressmen to sign this letter and get your friends and family involved in contacting their congressional reps too.
Hannah Wallace, Focus On Adoption
Posted by: hannah wallace at August 26, 2009 02:28 PM