"Outreach Day" Advocacy Opportunity

We have a unique opportunity to join hundreds of volunteers across Illinois to hang posters and distribute brochures detailing information on how to help victims of trafficking and advertising the National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline. Join us for "Outreach Day" sponsored by "Illinois Rescue & Restore" (www.dhs.state.il.us/rescueandrestore), on Saturday, April 24th (time & location TBA).

We are hoping to form one or more teams to hang posters at local businesses. The number of responses from all of you will determine the number of communities we can cover. If you are interested in being a part of this hands-on advocacy opportunity, or to get more information, please contact Lynn Herzog at douglynnh@sbcglobal.net. Lynn will be organizing this event for our team .

If you are outside the Chicagoland area and would like to form a team in your community, please contact Rachael Burke at dhs.ilrescueandrestore@illinois.gov or 312-793-7342 to sign up and for more information.

Durbin and Alvarez Speak Out Against Child Prostitution and Sex Trafficking

CAASE commends U.S. Senator Dick Durbin and Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez for their strong statements in support

of child victims of prostitution and sex trafficking.




The Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation urges the passage of "The Trafficking Deterrence and Victims Support Act of 2009."

On February 24, 2010, Senator Durbin hosted a hearing in the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law titled, "In Our Own Backyard: Child Prostitution and Sex Trafficking in the United State." Senator Durbin stated in his opening remarks, "We have created a legal dichotomy in America in which the federal government views prostituted children as victims, yet most states treat them as criminals. If state laws treated child prostitution more like human trafficking, then state social service agencies would play a more important role in helping this vulnerable population."

In her testimony, Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez stated, "When it comes to prosecuting child prostitution, my office, in practice, does not charge juveniles who are arrested on prostitution-related chargers. We understand this child is not a criminal but rather a victim who needs support, services and a safe future."

We also appreciate the State's Attorney's work towards creating a system where traffickers of children can be held accountable and focusing on demand. "Equally as important, my human trafficking team is building direct coalitions with social service providers and other NGO's, thus enabling such groups to assist police during HT takedowns and share their investigative leads with law enforcement... this networking plan has cast a wide net, including simple things, such as attending breakfast meetings, to participation in more formal events, such as the launch of the End Demand Campaign of the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation.," said State Attorney Alvarez.

We commend Senator Durbin and State's Attorney Alvarez for these poignant words and look forward to working with them to ensure that child victims of sex trafficking receive the support that they need.



· Please TAKE ACTION to support federal legislation that will increase resources for child victims of sex trafficking. Go to:

http://actioncenter.polarisproject.org/component/content/article/35-action/827-wyden-bill.



· To hear the hearing in its entirety and to download copies of their statements, please click here http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/hearing.cfm?id=4389

6 Haitian orphans who had been detained land in US

By CHRISTINE ARMARIO and KELLI KENNEDY, Associated Press WritersWednesday, February 24, 2010

Six Haitian orphans arrived in the United States on Wednesday, four days after Haitian police seized them out of fear they were being kidnapped. The children arrived on a charter flight to Miami International Airport. They will be taken to a shelter and their new parents can take the children home Thursday, according to Jan Bonnema, the Minnesota-based founder of the Children of The Promise orphanage.

On Saturday, a group of 20 men blocked four women accompanying the orphans to the airport, shouting: "You can't take our children!" Police briefly detained the women and the orphans — ages 1-5 — spent three nights sleeping on the ground in a tent city. The U.S. Embassy official carrying the documents needed to take them through immigration had been running late.

Sara Vanzee and her husband, Tim, had been waiting for their new 13-month-old son Albert to arrive. They understand the suspicions in Haiti given recent cases, but said their ordeal has been stressful. "Our hope is that they're OK with it, that they can see that we absolutely love these children and that we want to provide for them," said Vanzee, who is from the U.S. Midwest.

Such fears of child trafficking have made it harder than ever for impoverished Haitian children to leave the Western Hemisphere's poorest land. The concerns were fueled by the arrest last month of 10 U.S. missionaries trying to take a busload of 33 children to the Dominican Republic without proper documentation. It turned out none of the children were orphans, and the Americans were arrested; two — Laura Silsby and Charisa Coulter — remain in jail in Port-au-Prince.

Bernard Saint-Vil, the judge hearing their case, said Wednesday that he expects to decide their fate this week. He is waiting to hear from a judge in northern Haiti about a visit to orphanages the women made last year, and has asked judicial police to investigate whether Pastor Jean Sainvil — who helped them recruit some of the children — indeed has orphanages in Haiti, as he has claimed.

Thousands of desperate Haitian parents, unable to care for their own children, have eagerly given the youngsters away in hopes of giving them a better life. At the same time, they are terrified they will be tricked by predators who will enslave or sexually abuse the children. Haiti's government immediately halted new adoptions in the chaos that followed the Jan. 12 quake, allowing only those already approved to move forward.

That chill hardened into a freeze after Saturday's incident. A U.S. State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the matter's sensitivity, said the latest drama held up the departure of 50 orphans approved for U.S. adoption. It took the U.S. ambassador and Haiti's prime minister to iron out on Tuesday what turned out to be an ugly misunderstanding, and the children were handed over to the Embassy.

"They just kept singing and playing," said Maria O'Donovan, field director of the orphanage in northern Haiti where they had been living before the weekend. "They were so happy."

Two of the awaiting parents, Josh and Katy Manges, have been in the process of adopting 2-year-old Malachi since he was a few months old. Born with a deformity in his thigh bone, the boy was abandoned at a Haitian hospital when he was just a few weeks old. They get videos and letter updates from his caretakers. When the Manges flew to South Florida on Friday, they envisioned a happy airport reunion with their son before flying home to Chambersburg, Pa., southwest of Harrisburg. When they heard Malachi and other orphans had been detained by the government, they were stunned. They saw pictures of the little boy in a tent being cared for by young girls. "He was sleeping on a dirt floor, no diapers, no wipes, no formula," said 29-year-old Katy Manges.

The couple hopes their adoption experience sheds light on changes that need to be made by the Haitian government. "We have been in process for adopting him for two-and-a-half years and that's not right," he said. They plan to take Malachi home to their two biological children and daughter they adopted from Africa. Back home, 7-year-old Noah has already made Malachi's bed and put his clothes in the dresser.

In a Feb. 19, 2010 photo provided by Sarah Thacker of Fergus Fallls, Minn., Thacker is shown with a two-year-old boy named Reese whom she is adopting in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Thacker was among four women detained in Haiti as they were about to depart the country. Haiti's prime minister met with the U.S. ambassador on Tuesday to try to resolve the case of six orphans seized by Haitian police as they were about to board a plane for the United States. Photo: AP

Associated Press writers Jonathan M. Katz, Frank Bajak and Niko Price in Haiti and Amy Forliti in Minneapolis contributed to this report.being kidnapped.ay, February 24, 2010.

Adoption Songs

While visiting the Bethany Christian Services (http://www.bethany.org/) web site, I came across this list of adoption songs. I've added some of them to the PlayList on our blog. If you scroll to the bottom of the blog you'll see the player. Just click on the song you want to hear.




Adoption Songs


Below are a selection of songs that are specifically related to adoption, infant and child loss, or that offer encouragement in the adoption experience. If you know of an adoption song that is not listed here, please email info@bethany.org and they will review it for consideration.

Adoption, The Songs You love - compilation CD on music.adoption.com
All I Really Want - Steven Curtis Chapman; song written from the perspective of a foster child
Angel's Among Us - Alabama; general children's song
Children of the World - Amy Grant
Cinderella - Steven Curtis Chapman
Cry Out to Jesus - Third Day; song about the needs of orphans
Dancing with Orphans - Danny Oertli
Daughters of China - CD by Tim Chauvin; cdbaby.com/cd/chauvin
Every Single One - Geoff Moore
Everything To Me - Mark Schultz; birthmother song
From God's Arms, to My Arms, to Yours - Michael McLean; birthmother song
God Help the Outcasts - Bette Midler
Godspeed - Dixie Chicks; general children's song
Happy Adoption Day - John McCutcheon
He Would be Sixteen - Michelle Wright; birthmother song
Held - Natalie Grant
I Give You to His Heart - Alison Krauss; birthmother song
I Knew I Loved You - Jenae Wright Price
I Know Your Name - Michael W. Smith
I Saw What I Saw - Sara Groves
I Wanna be Just Like You - Phillips, Craig and Dean
If I Saw You in Heaven - Eric Clapton; child loss
In My Daughter's Eyes - Martina McBride
In Your Eyes - Nichole Nordeman
Life Means So Much - Chris Rice
Lullaby in Blue - Bette Midler
My Forever Family - CD; Lisa Silver
My Other Mother - Tamar and Katrina Pederson (www.tamarandkatrina.com)
Orphans of God - Avalon
Same/Same: Songs for Adoptive Families - album by Chuck Kent (www.samesamecd.com)
Secret - Reba McEntire; birthmother song
Streets of Heaven - Sherrie Austin; infant or child loss
The Gift We Could Not Give Each Other - Michael McLean; from an adoptive mother to a birthmother
The One Who Knows - Dar Williams; birthmother song; darwilliams.com
The Promise - Jenae Wright Price
There Was A Heartbeat - Cindy Hughlett (www.therewasaheartbeat.com)
Welcome Home - Brian Littrell
Welcome to the Family - CFC Singles for Christ's Glory Song Book
When Loves Takes You In - Steven Curtis Chapman; adoptive parent song
Who Hears the Cry - J. Brian Hill
You and Me - Rosie Thomas
Your Song - Jenae Wright Price


For a listing of adoption friendly songs we recommend that you visit music.adoption.com.

James 1:27

Religion

that

God our Father

accepts

as pure and faultless

is this:

to look after orphans and widows

in their distress

and

to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Ignoring The Call

The following post is taken from a family blog (http://bethhaut.blogspot.org). It think it deserves some consideration.

Somebody said something to me yesterday, and it has troubled me ever since. Last week I emailed our church congregation about a need for people to help watch children so that foster parents could acquire the required training hours to maintain their foster care licenses. I asked for a few people to volunteer just 2 hours a month (and not every month). One response. I got just one response from a congregation of 200 families.

Now, I realize that people are busy. I am busy. I realize people may not have read the email... often times I don't read email from the church. But what bothered me was the comment. I was told, "Well, that means people aren't called to do that kind of work."

I wanted to debate the comment, but the topic got changed and I didn't feel it was worth disputing at that point. But here I sit, still steaming. (Not at the person who made the comment, but by the state of the Christian church). I know most of you are thinking, "Oh, no, here she goes again." And if you want to put your head in the sand and stop reading, that is totally fine.

The simple fact is CHRISTIANS ARE CALLED to care for THE FATHERLESS and WIDOWS.

James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress.

It bothers me that godly people can so easily say, "I'm not called to that." It is essentially a quick fix to get out of something and sound holy at the same time. I am not saying everyone I ask should volunteer to help with some minimal childcare so that orphans in our community can be cared for... but I am saying that the statement of "I'm not called" doesn't give you some sort of doctor's note to present to God when he asks what you did for the orphans in His name.

How many people say, "I'm not called," without actually asking God if they are called? It is so often a knee jerk reaction to get out of something that is hard, or not even hard so much as an inconvenience. It's not that challenging to help watch children for two hours, but it may throw a wrench in ones TV watching that evening, or it may mean they have to spend a little extra time driving across town and back.

If people are not called to help, does that mean God is leaving the orphans in our community to fend for themselves? The one who calls Himself "The Father of the Fatherless?" Yes, maybe God forgot to call His church to help... or, not.

Isaiah 1:17 Learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, plead for the widow.

Haiti Orphan Relief Team

The Haiti Orphan Relief Team (HORT) is an amazing collaboration of disaster response experts and U.S. based orphan care and advocacy organizations. The goal of HORT is to identify, train and resource Haitian churches to be the direct rescue and care mechanism for Haiti's hundreds of thousands of orphans. This is truly the most effective and scalable response to a need of such great complexity and magnitude. The primary goal is to better enable Haitian churches to reunite or keep children within extended family structures. For children that have no other options, HORT will help Haitian churches to provide direct care in home environments, not institutional orphanages. U.S. churches are also part of the solution and are being recruited by HORT to come alongside these Haitian churches in church-to-church partnerships to initiate, strengthen and grow their outreach to orphans in their immediate communities. These partnerships will also work towards the self-sustainability of the orphan rescue and care efforts in Haiti.

For more information how you and your church can become involved, visit http://haitiorphanreliefteam.blogspot.com.

Partnering Organizations:
Christian Alliance for Orphans
Together For Adoption
Hope for Orphans, a ministry of FamilyLife
World Orphans
University of North Carolina School of Public Health
Sweet Sleep
Orphan Lifeline
Loving Shepherd Ministries
Love Haiti
Global Aid Network (GAiN), a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ
Lifesong for Orphans

Call to Action: Families for Orphans Act

On January 12 in the course of only 30 seconds, thousands of children joined the hundreds of thousands Haitian children already living without a permanent and safe family. These children became part of a global crisis – an estimated 30 million children growing up without parents - vulnerable to slavery, prostitution, gangs, exploitation, and trafficking. Yet our government has no focus on finding families for orphaned children worldwide. We should have acted yesterday…we must act now.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee have before them The Families for Orphans Act; a bi-partisan bill that would create a State Department office and more importantly a “Champion for Orphans”. This Champion and the Office would build capacity in countries to enable families to raise their children at home or be adopted by loving parents first in their own country or else in another. Growing up in a family is a basic human right. The United States has a rich and successful history of protecting such rights all over the world. When we have stepped forward to provide leadership in an area of great social need, the difference has been measurable. The orphans of the world need this type of leadership and they need it now.

Four Things You Can Do:

1. Let Your Voice Be Heard: Call or e-mail to your Members of Congress asking them to become Co-Sponsors of the Families for Orphans Act. You can find your Representative at http://tracking.etapestry.com/t/11633911/426412394/53557487/0/ and your Senators at http://tracking.etapestry.com/t/11633911/426412394/53558528/0/. Feel free to use the following text as a guideline:“As one of your constituents I am requesting that you support the “Families for Orphans Act” by becoming a Co-Sponsor of the legislation now. We would be better prepared to respond to the needs of orphans in Haiti if the leadership it calls for was already in place. We ask that you stand up for the millions of children around the world growing up in orphanages without the love and support of a permanent family. For information on becoming a Co-Sponsor, please contact Senators Landrieu or Inhofe or Representatives Watson or Boozman.”

2. Demand Action: Call or email the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Ask them to pass the Families for Orphans Act. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Phone: (202) 224-4651 Chairperson’s Email: click here House Foreign Affairs Committee Phone: (202) 224-4651 Chairperson’s Email: click here

3. Speak with One Voice: Sign the Families for Orphans Act petition. To sign click here.

4. Get The Word Out: Have a blog? A Facebook page? Do you Tweet? How about an email account? Send this Call To Action to those who care about children.

On behalf of children living without a permanent and safe family


Rebecca Harris
Government Relations and Communications Manager

The Families For Orphans Coalition
Buckner International
EACH International
Joint Council on International Children's Services
Institute for Orphan Advocacy
Institute for Human Services
Kidsave International
National Council for Adoption
Worldwide Orphan Foundation

Families for Orphans Act

The Need

UNICEF estimates that there are 132 million orphans in the world today. Millions of these orphans are growing up on the streets or in institutions where they don't receive the love, attention, education or medical care they need to develop into healthy, productive adults. The evidence shows that placing an orphaned child into a permanent and loving family is perhaps the best way to ensure that they have the love, attention, and care needed not only to survive, but to thrive. While the United States Government has several programs that offer support for the urgent physical needs of orphans, very little of the focus and funding is going toward finding permanent families for children in need of parental care. At the same time, developing countries lack the resources and expertise necessary to develop sound systems to provide for the care of the rising number of orphaned children.

A review of current federal programs suggests that there are at least three barriers standing in the way of the United States being a leader in providing a family for every child. First, current U.S. funded orphans programs are disorganized and disconnected, neglect the needs of millions of children, and impose a wide variety of different policies and priorities, creating in some cases mutually exclusive strategies. Secondly, officers working to address the needs of orphans lack the authority, visibility and resources needed to make a real difference in this area. Finally, fully addressing the needs of orphans requires the U.S. advise and support other countries in the development of child welfare systems that offer permanency for orphaned children and the fact is the current infrastructure is not set up to engage in this level of diplomacy.




The Solution

The Families for Orphans Act (HR 3070; S 1458) proposes to overcome these barriers by establishing the Office of Orphan Policy, Diplomacy and Development, a specialized office within the U.S. Department of State. Headed by a specially appointed Coordinator, this new Office would be responsible for developing and implementing a comprehensive, evidence-based strategy to support the preservation of families and the provision of permanent families for orphans.

In addition, the Families for Orphans Act would:

* Create a Policy Coordinating Committee to help better coordinate interagency efforts on behalf of orphaned children.


* Grant support for non-governmental organizations that are providing technical assistance to and support for foreign governments' family preservation and permanent parental care programs.

* Provide funding for countries to use to develop and meet minimum standards in family preservation, reunification and the provision of permanent parental care for orphans.


* Launch the "Global Best Practices Pilot Program" to discover and replicate best practices.


(Source: http://www.kidsave.org/)

Community Expo

On January 31, AV4HC had the opportunity to attend Bartlett's 3rd annual Community Expo. Thanks to those of you who stopped by! The expo provided an excellent opportunity to raise awareness about adoption, foster care, Safe Families and orphan care, and to connect with the community. I want to say a special thanks to Holly Koehler for creating the display board for this event, and for future events as well.

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy. Proverbs 31:8