Archive for February, 2009

• Order Flagyl Online   

  Order flagyl online, Once a month, some local adoptive dads and I get together for burgers, chili fries, and fried jalapenos. The food we eat is terrible for us, but the company we keep is good for the soul. Lorazepam online, We talk about everything from politics and power tools to faith and football. Occasionally we talk about adoption. Sharing our feelings and giving each other advice is not the point (though sometimes that happens). Mostly, it's just about hanging out with guys who get adoption - who understand that 5% of our lives that most of our friends can't identify with, order flagyl online. It's refreshing, order alprazolam. I recommend starting a similar outing in your area ... just make sure you're stocked up on Tums. Acomplia cheap, P.S. If you're an adoptive dad (or want to be) and are in the DFW area, say hello and let us know you'd like to join us next time. We'll be sure to invite ya.

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• Zithromax Prices   

  A recent article published on ForeignPolicy.com Zithromax prices, has been circulating more widely and bringing up major questions for the adoption community. How should we respond to it. Here are my initial thoughts. I would love to hear your comments as well.

  In the article titled, The Lie We Love, E.J. Graff writes that:
  

  “Westerners have been sold the myth of a world orphan crisis, zithromax prices. We are told that millions of children are waiting for their “forever families” to rescue them from lives of abandonment and abuse. But many of the infants and toddlers being adopted by Western parents today are not orphans at all. Yes, hundreds of thousands of children around the world do need loving homes. But more often than not, the neediest children are sick, disabled, traumatized, or older than 5. Zithromax prices, They are not the healthy babies that, quite understandably, most Westerners hope to adopt. There are simply not enough healthy, adoptable infants to meet Western demand—and there’s too much Western money in search of children. As a result, many international adoption agencies work not to find homes for needy children but to find children for Western homes.”

  
  Graff goes on to reason with statistics and historical data that there has been widespread corruption when it comes to international adoption. In particular, she argues that international adoption is an industry largely driven by money and states that if the finances were to be removed from the process “the number of healthy babies needing Western homes would all but disappear.” Another major factor is that international adoption is less regulated, opening it up to corruption and human trafficking.

  Graff also looks at the false claim that there are “millions of orphaned babies around the world desperately” needing homes. She says, “UNICEF itself is partly responsible for this erroneous assumption” as their statistics are largley quoted as the authority and justification for international adoption, zithromax prices.

  I wrote awhile back on this very thing and appreciate Graff's point here. The total number of orphans that UNICEF reports is 132 million (2008), but the definition of orphan they use includes children that have lost just one parent. Those who have lost both parents are just 10 percent of that total - 13 million. It is also crucial for us to note that most of these 13 million are living with extended family and 95 percent are older than 5 years old. Zithromax prices, That makes roughly 650,000 orphans under the age of 5. A much different picture than “143 million orphans.” I don’t think everyone who has used the 143 million number really believes that they are all adoptable and that we can adopt them all but it is important for us to get our statistics as correct as possible as this has massive implications on our approach to live out James 1:27 and care for the “orphans” of the world, discount zoloft. For one, it sheds light on the sheer fact that over 95 percent of these children probably need to be provided in-country care and support for their extended family and community that is caring for them more than adoption. And, when it comes to adoption, these figures shed light on the great need to adopt older orphans.

  Graff goes on to highlight cases of corruption in international adoption from Guatamala and admits that the example of Guatamala is extreme. But she notes, “the same troubling trends have emerged, on smaller scales, in more than a dozen other countries,” where the “supply of adoptable babies rises to meet foreign demand - and disappears when Western cash is no longer available.”

  In describing the corruption, she writes, “To smooth the adoption process, officials in the children’s home countries may be bribed to create false identity documents, zithromax prices. Consular officials for the adopting countries generally accept whatever documents they receive. But if a local U.S. Embassy has seen a series of worrisome referrals—say, a sudden spike in healthy infants coming from the same few orphanages, or a single province sending an unusually high number of babies with suspiciously similar paperwork—officials may investigate. But generally, they do not want to obstruct adoptions of genuinely needy children or get in the way of people longing for a child.”

  In the end, no matter how uncomfortable it makes us, I think this is an important article that sheds light on a great evil that we cannot ignore. Zithromax prices, But I believe we must have discernment. I fear that many who read this article will dismiss it as more “anti-adoption” literature. Others will take it to heart and dismiss international adoption altogether. Either response, is going to too far, and throws the baby out with the bathwater.

  What I think this article should do is lead us to even greater action when it comes to caring for the orphans of the world. No one would deny that there is corruption in the adoption world, the challenge is when it is subtle and hidden as I believe so much of this is, zithromax prices. Is it really a bad thing for a father of a child in Ethiopia to relinquish his rights to his baby so that she can have a better life. Is it a bad thing even if he were to receive financial assistance so that he can take care of his other children that remain. Those are hard questions. We want to trust the agencies that are working on the behalf of adoptive families and the children. Zithromax prices, We want to believe that they would not coerce anyone and that adoption really is the best solution for this child. It is more complex than I would like it to be but again this should not discourage us but lead us to more vigorous work towards pursuing the best solution possible for the orphans of the world.

  Where there is blatant corruption, those who are passionate for adoption ought to be just as passionate for the abolishment of modern-day slavery. Generic soma, The Hague Adoption Convention is also designed to protect against this very thing; and yet, as the article points out correctly, no international treaty is perfect and the Hague is not going eliminate every shady practice when it comes to adoption. Therefore, I agree with Graff that what is needed is increased accountability/partnership and improved regulations that limit the amount of money that changes hands in adoption.

  This is where we can step up and be wise stewards of our resources, our time, and talents for the sake of the children, zithromax prices. For one, we can hold the adoption agencies to account and partner with them in their mission to care for the children.

  A few suggestions for doing this are:

  1) Find a reputable, Hague-accredited agency that is not only placing children for adoption but also working to care for the older orphans in country. One place to start is to makes sure the agency is a good standing member of the Joint Council on International Children’s Services. Read through the Hague site, especially: Information for Parents; U.S. Accredited Adoption Service Providers; Adoption Service Providers Denied Hague Convention Accreditation/Approval Zithromax prices, 2.) Ask questions. Ask the hard questions. Ask for information on the background of the children. Ask why their one living parent cannot care for them and why they are relinquishing their rights. Ask to see the financial statements and 990’s of the adoption agency and breakdown of where fees are going in country. We can and must report shady practices to the authorities, zithromax prices. We can do our homework on the agencies and share information with one another. We can warn one another when flags are raised. All that said, I understand that is difficult to do when you are in the process of adopting and you have fallen in love with a particular child that has been referred to you. Emotions are deep and strong. Zithromax prices, We want so badly to meet their needs. Maybe, the onus is on those of us who have already adopted and are not as emotionally invested in particular situations to do the needed research.

  3.) Educated yourselves on the adoption law of the country from which you are adopting. Ethica, a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of ethical adoption, encourages adoptive parents to make a commitment to educate themselves on the adoption law of the state or country from which they are adopting.

  4.) Partner with your agency (and other organizations) to help them care for the needs in country that lead to abandonment and the existence of orphans (HIV Aids, poverty, disease, cheap viagra without prescription, lack of food and clean water, malaria). We must also work towards ways to encourage and equip the local church in these nations to care for the children of their nation.

  My hope is that this article and others like it that shed light on the evil that exists in the adoption world would serve to lead us to greater awareness of areas in need of justice; and that it would lead us to greater and wiser compassion for the orphans (both old and young) that need our care, our adoption, our financial support, and our prayers. There is great opportunity for the church to respond here with great acts of justice and great acts of mercy.

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• Cheap Cialis   

  Cheap cialis, More than two years ago, my wife and I made the decision to pursue international adoption. The process was emotional, demanding, and long. One of the smartest things I did (and I don’t do many) when we started this process was set up a blog through which my wife and I could chronicle our adoption and share updates with our friends and family. Looking back on our 21-month process, I’m so glad we started the blog and committed to updating it at least a few times a month.

  For us, there were several benefits.

  First, we got to articulate where we were in our adoption process in terms of both the paperwork/to-do items and the emotions of it all, cheap cialis. Sometimes you don’t know what you’re feeling until you try to put it into words, which we did. Now, we have a record of the process as we experienced it. Also, we were able to be more open and honest in our blog posts than we might’ve felt comfortable being in face to face interactions.

  Second, our friends and family didn’t have to call, email, text, send Facebook messages, or ask us in person for updates. Cheap cialis, When new information was available, we put it on our blog, and they knew that. They also knew that it was tough for us to explain, either in person or via technology, that we had no new news to share. Acomplia prescription, (And in the adoption process, there are a lot of extended periods in which you have no new news. Frankly, it’s frustrating and depressing.) Instead of asking if we had any updates, our friends and family could check our blog. If there was nothing new, they knew that they could pray for us because we were likely stressed out and discouraged. This saved us from many (but not all) difficult conversations, and helped our family and friends know how to best approach us at a given time just by checking the blog first, cheap cialis. If there was something new, they could get in touch with us to congratulate us or ask more questions about our latest update.

  Finally, after dozens and dozens of updates—some excited and some filled with sadness—over the better part of two years, we found that our friends and family had completely bought into our adoption journey to a degree that we’d only dreamed of. When we finally got matched to our daughter, our supporters were overjoyed. And why wouldn’t they be. Cheap cialis, They followed us through this entire odyssey, through all its highs and lows, so that when my wife and I had something to celebrate, an entire community celebrated with us. There’s no doubt in my mind that this community wouldn’t have been as large or as passionate if we hadn’t been sharing our story all along the way, and thus I became convinced of the awesome power of story.

  In November 2008, my wife and I launched a little fundraiser to help defray some of the cost of our upcoming trip to Vietnam. (Apparently, extended international travel is expensive. Who knew?) We designed a custom T-shirt featuring a family of three stick figure birds (see the image above) and offered them to our friends and family in exchange for $20 donations toward our trip. We were overwhelmed by the response but, in retrospect, maybe we shouldn’t have been, cheap cialis. After all, these people know us and love us and had been with us every step of the way—weeping when we wept, laughing when we laughed, propecia prices, and rejoicing when we rejoiced. They were excited when we offered them a tangible way to participate in our adoption story by helping us fly halfway around the world to meet our daughter for the first time. We knew that when we returned home, we’d be returning to a community of support who had been there for us and would continue to be there. They’ll be there for us because they know our story and because, as Pee Wee Herman would say, they lived it. Cheap cialis, When people know who you are, what you’re doing, and why you’re doing it, they can buy in—at least to the degree that they find you and your mission compelling. Below the stick figure bird family on our T-shirt is the word “family” in both Vietnamese in English. In a sense, a family is exactly what we created by sharing our story through our blog and inviting others into our journey (Seth Godin might call it a tribe).

  Wherever you are in the foster or adoptive process (pre-, mid-, or post-), be sure to tell a story. By telling the right story well—with authenticity, humility, and credibility—you foster a connection with your audience. The strength of that connection depends on a number of factors, and you might even doubt its existence at first, cheap cialis. But as people follow and even participate in the story you’re telling, the connection is inevitable. Some day, your audience will have the opportunity to demonstrate the strength of the connection you’ve built—for us it came in the form of prayers, encouragement, and donations both solicited and unsolicited. Order tramadol online cheap, For you, it might come in a different form but the principle remains the same:

  Invest in your friends and family, tell them your story, and invite them to connect. You won’t regret it.

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