Please do not waste any time! Call your senators now!

We wondered last night why JCICS was waiting til next week to stage their "phone-athon." Well it seems the passage of the bill halting intercountry adoptions was a surprise to everyone. Next Tuesday they are supposed to be reading the bill line by line and the opportunity to add ammendments exists. Please call now! You can still use the information in the last post.

Here's what I have sent via email, though I still plan on calling tomorrow.

With a heavy heart I write on behalf of my husband, myself and our son regarding the Guatemala 5000 iniative.

In March my husband and I were matched for adoption with a beautiful boy living in Guatemala. We have worked hard and waited for the day we can bring our precious son home. We believe that our case should be processed by the middle of December and had hoped to be able to travel to Guatemala in mid-January.

Because of current policy decisions we are afraid we will not be able to bring our son home. Guatemalan President Oscar Berger's announcement to halt intercountry adoptions with the United States on January 1, 2008 means our adoption will be affected. President Berger has indicated there will be no "grandfathering" of adoptions already in process. We will miss the window of time to bring home our son by a few short weeks.

If our son is not allowed to be adopted by us, he will languish in institutions or foster care. He deserves the right to a loving, stable, forever home. And while we recognize there are problems with intercountry adoption that must be fixed, we are the only family our son has and every day we are kept from him is devastating.

Please help us!

Please sign the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI) sponsored letter to President Oscar Berger and the Joint Council sponsored letter to UNICEF. These letters ask that all adoptions in-process as of January 1, 2008 be allowed to process to completion under the existing notorial laws.

Thank you -
Jennifer and Brian Barlup