This year, instead of the silent auction that we have held the last couple of years, the Asian Bridge will be riding across Iowa to raise funds to help families adopt from Asia.
Members of the staff and friends of the Asian Bridge will be participating in RAGBRAI, a 472 mile ride from the western border of Iowa to the eastern border. We will be riding to raise money and awareness for Americans adopting children from Asian countries.
If you would like to help in this effort please email Geoff Shaw at geoffshaw@ameritech.net If you want to ride, if you want to sponsor a rider per mile, or if you would like to simply make a donation, please contact us. You may also make a donation directly by going to our Donations page.
Anything you can do to help will change the life of a little girl or a little boy.
Thank you,
Dave Basener
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
The Long Wait, Rules and China's concern for its children
People who submitted their dossiers to China (really the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA)) two years ago are still waiting. This is tremendously frustrating and can even be frightening. While the reasons for the wait are not at all clear and there is much speculation, some possible reasons can be discerned or guessed at.
This document from the CCAA, dated October 31, 2007, offers a few glimpses into an other wise dark area (see Priority rules in the review of inter-country adoption application dossiers by CCAA). Although the purpose of the document is to lay out new rules restricting the adoptive parents in international adoptions of children from China, it offers a rational not just for why the rules were changes, but also for the slow down of placement of children.
In a nutshell the documents states "[a]t present, the number of adoption application documents that the China Centre of Adoption Affairs (hereafter referred to as CCAA) receives is increasing very fast. However, the limited number of Chinese children available for inter-country adoption is far from being able to meet the demand of families from overseas. The CCAA maintains, in accordance with the principle of protecting the best interests of children in the Convention on Protection of Children and Co-Operation in Respect of Inter-Country Adoption (hereafter referred to as Hague Adoption Convention)" and goes on to state the new requirements (which are, of course at this point in 2009, no longer new).
There is a subtext to this part of the document: that there are not a lot of children, or at least fewer than the world wide demand, available for international adoption. It is important to remember that the Chinese people adopt children 'in country' just like we do here in the US. These internal adoptions take precedence over international adoptions. There are Chinese couples who are unable to have children biologically, just like here.
I have no data on this and I intend to continue researching it, but I make the following speculations:
1) The number of internal Chinese adoptions has gone up recently as urban income has risen.
2) That the so called "one child" rule has produced a secondary effect of making it culturally undesirable in certain segments of Chinese society to have more than one child. By this I mean that people are now having only one child more from cultural pressure or assumptions that from the force of law.
3) If the above is true, it seems reasonable that there is also a segment of Chinese culture in which it is not unheard of to opt for adopting a child instead of having a child biologically.
If the above are true, and going under the assumption that the original document represents the real situation in China, there is no reason to expect the wait times to come down significantly.
As I mentioned above, I intend to continue researching this, so stay tuned.
Dave Basener
basener@asianbridgestaff.org
This document from the CCAA, dated October 31, 2007, offers a few glimpses into an other wise dark area (see Priority rules in the review of inter-country adoption application dossiers by CCAA). Although the purpose of the document is to lay out new rules restricting the adoptive parents in international adoptions of children from China, it offers a rational not just for why the rules were changes, but also for the slow down of placement of children.
In a nutshell the documents states "[a]t present, the number of adoption application documents that the China Centre of Adoption Affairs (hereafter referred to as CCAA) receives is increasing very fast. However, the limited number of Chinese children available for inter-country adoption is far from being able to meet the demand of families from overseas. The CCAA maintains, in accordance with the principle of protecting the best interests of children in the Convention on Protection of Children and Co-Operation in Respect of Inter-Country Adoption (hereafter referred to as Hague Adoption Convention)" and goes on to state the new requirements (which are, of course at this point in 2009, no longer new).
There is a subtext to this part of the document: that there are not a lot of children, or at least fewer than the world wide demand, available for international adoption. It is important to remember that the Chinese people adopt children 'in country' just like we do here in the US. These internal adoptions take precedence over international adoptions. There are Chinese couples who are unable to have children biologically, just like here.
I have no data on this and I intend to continue researching it, but I make the following speculations:
1) The number of internal Chinese adoptions has gone up recently as urban income has risen.
2) That the so called "one child" rule has produced a secondary effect of making it culturally undesirable in certain segments of Chinese society to have more than one child. By this I mean that people are now having only one child more from cultural pressure or assumptions that from the force of law.
3) If the above is true, it seems reasonable that there is also a segment of Chinese culture in which it is not unheard of to opt for adopting a child instead of having a child biologically.
If the above are true, and going under the assumption that the original document represents the real situation in China, there is no reason to expect the wait times to come down significantly.
As I mentioned above, I intend to continue researching this, so stay tuned.
Dave Basener
basener@asianbridgestaff.org
Monday, January 5, 2009
Action needed on vietnam Adoptions
This comes to us from The Joint Council on International Child Services :
Dear Families, Friends and Colleagues,
Senators Landrieu and Coleman, along with other Members of Congress, are continuing to show their support of ensuring every child’s right to a permanent, safe, and loving family. As part of their commitment, they will be forwarding a letter to Nguyen Tan Dung, the Prime Minister of Vietnam. This letter will encourage Vietnam’s continued participation in negotiations related to the new bilateral agreement on intercountry adoption. The letter will express Congressional support for the continuation of intercountry adoption and will emphasize the importance of the transition to a Hague-compliant system and a new bilateral treaty.
Between Monday, January 5th and Wednesday, January 7th, individuals can support this important initiative through the following methods:
- Contact your Congressional Representatives and Senators and ask them to sign the letter to the Prime Minister of Vietnam regarding the future of intercountry adoptions from Vietnam. Also, note that if they are interested in signing, they should contact Sarada Peri from Senator Landrieu’s office (Sarada_Peri@landrieu.senate.
gov ) by Wednesday, January 7th. For a list of Senators and Congressman that have signed the letter as of the time of this writing, please see below.
You can find your Senators’ phone numbers and email address at www.senate.gov
You can find your Representatives’ phone numbers and email address at www.house.gov
- Send a notice of support (and ensure that you receive updates on this initiative) via the Joint Council website. To do so, you will need to follow the steps below:
- Click here to go to Joint Council’s Webpage. Please note that this is a donation and sign-up page. This initiative is not an appeal for a donation.
- Once on this page, please click, “Sign me up for Joint Council news.”
- Under the communications preferences, select the drop down menu for “Newsflashes and Updates"
- Click “Sign me up.”
- Fill in your information
- Under the comment section type “Letter to Vietnam Prime Minister.”
Joint Council will also be forwarding the names of individual who contact us to Senators Landrieu and Coleman.
- Contact your friends and family encouraging them to join the effort. Please feel free to forward this email to all interested parties.
The letter to the Prime Minister can only be successful with your help!
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Joint Council staff via advocate@jcics.org
Please note the following Senators have already signed the letter to the Prime Minister of Vietnam:
Senator Landrieu
Senator Coleman
Senator Oberstar
Senator Lincoln
Senator Lautenberg
Senator Menendez
Senator Kerry
Senator Johnson
Senator Bill Nelson
Senator Akaka
Senator Roberts
Senator Murkowski
Senator Durbin
Senator Klobuchar
Please note the following Representatives have already signed the letter to the Prime Minister of Vietnam:
Rep. Jim Oberstar
Rep. Scott Garrett
Rep. Jerry Costello
Rep. Joe Pitts
New 'blog master'
Hi. I am Dave Basener, Director of the China Adoption area at The Asian Bridge.
I have taken over the Asian Bridge blog from Dina Ackermann. Dina has moved on to other work and I am very grateful for the work she did on the blog. It is much easier to come into something already set up.
Good Luck Dina
I have taken over the Asian Bridge blog from Dina Ackermann. Dina has moved on to other work and I am very grateful for the work she did on the blog. It is much easier to come into something already set up.
Good Luck Dina
Friday, August 15, 2008
Petition for Vietnam Adoptions
I urge everyone to go to the following web site to sign a simple petition, asking the Vietnamese government to continue adoptions with the United States. Many families are anxiously awaiting a referral, and fear that their dossier will be held in limbo indefinitely. Let's all support these families and children by letting our voice be heard.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/continue_vn_adoptions?e
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/continue_vn_adoptions?e
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Please Advocate for Vietnam Adoptions
JOINT COUNCIL URGES CONGRESSIONAL PARTICIPATION IN INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTION BRIEFING
The Congressional Coalition on Adoption has invited the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to conduct a briefing of Congressional Members and Staff on issues related to intercountry adoption in Vietnam, Guatemala along with issues related to intercountry adoption in general. The briefing is scheduled for this Friday, August 1, 2008 in the U.S. Capitol Building, LBJ Room at 10:00 a.m.
Given the pending suspension of intercountry adoption and related services in Vietnam and the continuing issues of concern in Guatemala, Joint Council urges participation by all Congressional Members or Staff. It is critically important that Members of Congress and their Staff participate in the U.S. Government’s role in international children’s services, specifically intercountry adoption. Given the impact of current issues on children and families, Joint Council urges 100% participation by Congressional offices in this very important briefing.
In order to gain the largest possible participation, please choose to contact your Congressional Representatives and Senators and urge them to participate in the briefing by sending a staff member or Member themselves.
Contact information for U.S. Representatives offices can be found at http://www.house.gov/.
If you choose to contact your representatives, please do so today by email or phone call, and request that they send Staff to Friday’s briefing.
This briefing follows the briefing conducted for Congressional Staff last Friday, July 25th by child advocates and experts including Joint Council. These briefings and continuing participation by Members of Congress in the ongoing issues related to international children’s services is critically important to the continuation of intercountry adoption as a viable solution for children in need.
(source: Faith Internation Adoptions Agency)
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
2008 Best Adoption-Friendly Workplaces
The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption has compiled the 2008 Best Adoption-Friendly Workplaces List. They are listed in order of benefits received by adoptive families.
1 Wendy's International, Inc.
2. Citizens Financial Group
3. United Business Media
4. Timberland
5. Barilla America, Inc.
6. Subaru of America, Inc.
7. JPMorgan Chase
8. Avon Products, Inc.
9 Franklin International
10-Tie American Century Investments
10-Tie Fannie Mae
10-Tie SAP
10-Tie South Mountain Company
14 The McGraw-Hill Companies
15 The Phoenix Companies, Inc.
16 Abbott
17 General Mills
18 Leo Burnett & Arc USA
19 MetLife
20 Prudential Financial, Inc.
21 TAP Pharmaceutical Products Inc.
20 Prudential Financial, Inc.
21 TAP Pharmaceutical Products Inc.
22 Eli Lilly and Company
23 Freddie Mac
24 Merrill Lynch & Company, Inc.
25 Bank of America
25 Bank of America
26 Cephalon
27 Johnson Financial Group
28 Kao Brands Company
29 LSI Corporation $
30 Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
29 LSI Corporation $
30 Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
31 The Hershey Company
32 Quality Custom Cabinetry, Inc.
32 Quality Custom Cabinetry, Inc.
33 Duke Realty Corporation
34 Alston & Bird, LLP
35 Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption
35 Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption
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