Yes, it’s old news now (six-days old!), but I wanted to pass along this notice from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services about the current status of Guatemala adoptions and adoption law. This press release is available from the USCIS website as a PDF.
USCIS Update
January 25, 2008
USCIS ANNOUNCES NEW GUATEMALAN ADOPTION LEGISLATION
Intercountry Adoptions Under the Hague [...]
I’ve dreamed about Ethiopia every night since my return from that amazing country. One thing I am learning is that you really don’t visit Ethiopia when you cross its borders. It visits you. Ethiopia — its people, its cultures, and especially its orphans — presses itself in upon your heart with great weight. I’m still [...]
Who would have thought that figuring out how to verbally identify our children’s racial identity would be another one of the hard things about adoption? It seemed simple at first, they are African American and we are Caucasian. Then it got tougher, two of our children are also Cherokee Indian and two have unidentified fathers [...]
On November 28, 2007, Dan Cruver interviewed Anthony Mathenia about trans-racial adoption and about Anthony and his wife Amber’s own Ethiopian adoption journey. Three days ago, January 22, Amber’s life was taken in a car accident. Our prayers are with Anthony and his children.
We commend Amber’s life to our readers as a model of “religion [...]
I’m passing this request on from another adoption agency. If you have a friend who has faced this problem, please point them here. Personal adoption stories are an extremely effective force for policy change.
Please help me collect stories of families who have had difficulties changing incorrect birthdates on Certificates of Citizenship.
If your child was assigned [...]
I couldn’t endure this parenting journey for very long if all I had were the Monday realities to look forward to. I thank God that for every Monday of transracial parenting there is an opposite and hope-filled Friday calling to me. Fridays are the promises fulfilled, the dreams unfolding and the needed rest from what [...]
This is the second and concluding portion of my interview with Joshua Louk. The first part can be read here. Joshua and Laurel’s personal ministry blog is http://thegospelinaction.com.
You have a particular interest in ministry to orphans. What motivates that?
The Lord used a CNN documentary called “Easy Prey” to plant a burden in my heart for [...]
[Update, 10/11/2008: Carolina Hope now offers a live online education course to assist families domesticate an intercountry adoption in South Carolina. More details available at the course page.]
The following information is adapted from the post-adoption support files here at Carolina Hope. Note that this information is directly applicable only to SC residents who have adopted [...]
On January 11 the U.S. Department of State issued a warning (dated January 9) about the status of Guatemala adoptions. (As mentioned in a previous post, Carolina Hope has put its Guatemala adoption program on hold pending new standardized procedures for adoptions in Guatemala. Of course, cases registered under the old system are still being [...]
If you’re thinking about starting a website, you’ll need a website host. Let me recommend 1&1 Internet Inc. This is the host Carolina Hope uses, and we have been very satisfied with the price and the services.
Why am I telling you this? Because if you go to 1&1 using one of the links in this [...]
Tomorrow, January 17, Carolina Hope’s Director of International Programs Lisa Prather and Director of Ministry Outreach Dan Cruver will be traveling to Ethiopia along with a professional camera man (on loan from another ministry, which has generously made him available to us). The purpose of the trip is to conduct research for Carolina Hope’s Ethiopia [...]
When adoptions from Romania came to a halt a few years ago, there was a bit of noise from the U.S. adoption community and probably a probably a flurry of articles in the press. But by now, the plight of Romanian orphans has dropped off nearly everyone’s radar. I’ve wanted to blog about Romanian adoption [...]
This is the final part of our interview with Dr. Timothy Trumper. Because of the length and richness of his answers, his interview has been posted in six parts. You can read the full interview here. If you are interested in deepening your understanding of the doctrine of adoption significantly, you will want to [...]
This is my ‘Monday list,’ todays top 10 tough realities of transethnic adoption that affect my daily life and weigh the heaviest on Monday. I know that all of them are manageable through Christ, but sometimes (especially on these long winter Mondays) they are seem a little overwhelming.
I will share my ‘Friday List’ [...]
For some time Carolina Hope has been part of the Amazon Affiliates program. That means that whenever anyone buys from Amazon using the link we provide, a small percentage of the sale is set aside for Carolina Hope. There’s no additional charge to the buyer.
If you’re not already using an affiliate link to shop at [...]
Today the Joint Council on International Children’s Services (JCICS) issued an update regarding its Guatemala 5000 initiative:
Joint Council Update
Program: International Relations Initiative
Date: January 14, 2008
Regarding: Guatemala 5000
Dear Colleagues,
As part of our ongoing Guatemala 5000 Initiative, Joint Council has maintained dialogue with USDOS and USCIS and met with them most recently on January 7 and again [...]
Carolina Hope is pleased to announce a Greenville, SC, benefit concert for Ethiopian orphan care and adoption programs scheduled for Friday, February 29, at 7 pm. The concert is part of the Caedmon’s Call Overdressed Tour, featuring Derek Webb. Tickets cost $12 each, or $15 at the door. All proceeds from ticket sales will support [...]
As part of our blog’s adoption interview series, I’m interviewing several theologians and New Testament scholars about the doctrine of spiritual adoption and its implications for earthly adoption. I believe that the practice of earthly adoption will be significantly enriched as we grow in our understanding of what it means to be adopted by God.
Because [...]
I’m very pleased to announce that Dr. Timothy Trumper is beginning a six-part sermon series entitled “The Good News of Adoption” this Sunday at his church. The first sermon in this series is “The Fundamental Privileges of our Adoption.” I will post links to the audio of each sermon as the series progresses. Below [...]
One of the questions I hear all the time as a transracially adoptive mom is, “But what about their hair – can you do it yourself?” Our 6 adopted children all have variations of kinky, curly, African hair. The color ranges from dark brown to deepest black and the texture ranges from very soft to [...]