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| Senator McCaskill meets with real heroine of academy award nominated "Philomena" to discuss ways to unit children stolen from Irish mothers for adoption to US Families
WASHINGTON –
U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill today met with Philomena Lee to discuss Irish
adoption laws and Philomena’s work to reunite American children separated from
their Irish families through forced adoption. The story of Philomena’s
decades-long search for the son who was forcibly adopted and raised by a family
in St. Louis, Mo., is the subject of a recent book and Oscar-nominated film.
“Philomena’s story is heart-wrenching, and she has one
of the most just causes you could possibly have—the simple premise that if a
child is taken from a mother against her will, there should be an easy way to
reconnect with that child,” McCaskill said. “Unfortunately in Ireland, for many
years there was a repugnant practice of children taken from their young
mothers, put in a home, and when the child got a certain age, shipped off to
America to new parents. I have a blended family of seven children. All of my
husband’s children from his first marriage are adopted, and we are fortunate in
that his oldest son has reconnected with his birthmother—we know and socialize
with her, and they have a wonderful relationship. So I know firsthand how
important it is to keep those doors open and to allow the transparency and
availability of adoption records so that children and parents can have the
opportunity to reunite when it is their life’s wish.”
Philomena and her daughter Jane Libberton were
inspired to take action on the issue of forced adoption by the recent
outpouring of support surrounding the true story of Philomena’s decades-long
search her son, who was taken from her while living at the Sean Ross Abbey in
Rosecrea, Ireland. Philomena and her son Anthony were deliberately kept apart
and never reunited, despite the fact each was actively looking for the other.
Sitting alongside McCaskill today, Philomena and her
daughter talked about her family’s story.
“He died thinking I abandoned him,” Philomena said of
her son. “But I know he’s now at peace.”
Philomena and her daughter created the Philomena
Project in association with the Adoption Rights Alliance. The Philomena Project
aims to prevent similar tragedies and reconcile families that were separated
under similar circumstances in honor of Anthony’s memory. It is calling on the
Irish government to make adoption records public and transparent as swiftly as
possible.
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Armenian Adoption Adventure explores the latest in Adoption news from Armenia. Armenian Adoption Adventure has a network of 40 people worldwide that have adopted from Armenia. God Bless you on this difficult journey.
Friday, January 31, 2014
Armenian Adoption Adventure, Senator McCaskill meets with real life heroine of oscar nominated film "Philomena" discuss ways to unite Irish children seperated from their families via Adoptions
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Armenian Adoption Adventure, 4 academy award nominations for "Philomena" true story of children stolen into International Adoption
Falling pregnant as a teenager in Ireland in 1952, Philomena was sent to the convent of Roscrea to be looked after as a “fallen woman”. When her baby was only a toddler, he was taken away by the nuns for adoption in America. Philomena spent the next fifty years searching for him in vain.
Then she met Martin Sixsmith, a world-weary political journalist who happened to be intrigued by her story. Together they set off for America on a journey that would not only reveal the extraordinary story of Philomena’s son, but also create an unexpectedly close bond between them.
The film is a compelling narrative of human love and loss and ultimately celebrates life. It is both funny and sad and concerns two very different people, at different stages of their lives, who help each other and show that there is laughter even in the darkest places.
The book “The Lost Child Of Philomena Lee” was published in 2009. It acted as a catalyst for thousands of adopted Irish children and their ‘shamed’ mothers to come forward to tell their stories. Many are still searching for their lost families.
Sadly, this same true story plays out in today’s world where poor mothers particular those that are single have little option but to relinquish their children for cash. Us Armenians know this story all too well and this behavior continues although it has been curtailed with more procedures and additional layers of checks and balances.
In Ireland the Catholic Church was responsible for much of this, separating the children from their mothers and unlawfully detaining the mothers in work laundry. They church took possession of their children and without the mother’s permission sold the children into Adoption, mostly to Americans.
How is it that a woman with money in the west can abuse the rights of a poor single woman in a country where their rights are not heard? Watch the movie it is great and up for 4 academy awards.
Armenian Adoption Adventure, documentary about Armenian Orphans makes it's way to Lebanon and back to USA
Award winning documentary "Orphans of the Genocide" by my friend film maker Bared Maronian
has just had a successful showing in Lebanon. They travel back for a showing in Los Angeles for the Armenians of Istanbul and up to Northern California where we have 3 showings scheduled. In San Francisco, San Jose and at UC Berkely.
Hope to see you at some of the showings:
has just had a successful showing in Lebanon. They travel back for a showing in Los Angeles for the Armenians of Istanbul and up to Northern California where we have 3 showings scheduled. In San Francisco, San Jose and at UC Berkely.
Hope to see you at some of the showings:
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Armenian Adoption Adventure, list of adoption agencies denied accreditation tougher laws comming July 2014
http://adoption.state.gov/hague_convention/agency_accreditation/deniedagencies.php
US State Department Susan Jacobs talks about how the laws for facilitators in country will change in July 2014. Adoption agencies will no longer not be responsible for their facilitators, they will be watched, audited, acrediated and no longer allowed to bribe orphanage workers or members of the Ministry of Social Services for Women and Children.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/48-hours-tougher-laws-at-hand-for-international-adoption/
The facilitators in country will be registered and scrutinized as the adoption agencies are.
US State Department Susan Jacobs talks about how the laws for facilitators in country will change in July 2014. Adoption agencies will no longer not be responsible for their facilitators, they will be watched, audited, acrediated and no longer allowed to bribe orphanage workers or members of the Ministry of Social Services for Women and Children.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/48-hours-tougher-laws-at-hand-for-international-adoption/
The facilitators in country will be registered and scrutinized as the adoption agencies are.
Friday, January 17, 2014
Armenian Adoption Adventure, 48 hours January 18, 2014 expose on International Adoption (Abduction) fraud
Maureen
Maher and 48 Hours investigate
the sometimes-shady business of international child adoptions and the lengths
families will go to bring children home to the United States in "Perilous
Journey," to be broadcast Saturday, Jan. 18 (10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television
Network.
CLICK
HERE FOR A PREVIEW
The investigation reveals the extraordinary journey of one family to adopt two children from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the questionable practices of the U.S.-based adoption agency they'd chosen, as well as the harrowing story of one woman's attempt to adopt a child from Guatemala - through the same agency - and allegations of child trafficking against Guatemalan nationals that emerged afterward.
"We knew that international adoption is challenging. We were naïve in how much real trouble there is," says adoptive parent Ryan Owen, an Army officer who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Maher follows Owen and his wife, Jeri Lynn, who live at Fort Campbell, Ky., with three sons of their own, as they travel to Kinshasa and discover just what a perilous journey overseas adoption can be. The Owens began working on the adoption through Celebrate Children International (CCI), a small Florida agency, run by Sue Hedberg.
"Children need to be in families, not in institutions," Hedberg tells 48 HOURS. "Many of these children would die if it wasn't for adoption."
But the Owens' relationship with CCI began to deteriorate when their adoption process inexplicably stalled and they started hearing disturbing things about Hedberg's Congolese lawyer. The Owens took matters into their own hands, hiring their own attorney and travelling to the Congo to try to complete the adoption themselves. "I love these kids enough to do whatever it takes to get them home - whatever it takes," Jeri Lynn tells 48 HOURS.
The Owens, who named their daughters Ava and Zoey, are not alone in their struggle to get children from abroad or to raise questions about the process. Nor are they alone in their questions about Sue Hedberg, who sent 48 Hours a written statement through a representative maintaining, "each and every adoption undertaken by CCI was, and is, in strict compliance with the laws of the United States and the laws and regulations of the originating nation at the time of the adoption."
Betsy Emanuel, a Tennessee mother of five adopted children, talks with Maher about her attempt to adopt a child from Guatemala, also through Hedberg's agency CCI. Emanuel fell in love with a girl named Maria Fernanda, after seeing her in a video CCI sent her. Shortly thereafter, CCI offered her Maria Fernanda's newborn sister, Ana Christina. Emanuel couldn't afford to adopt two children, so she kept going with the adoption of Maria Fernanda - until one day, she says, a representative of CCI told her the girls' mother had resurfaced and, accompanied by armed men, demanded the children back.
"I knew something was wrong," Emanuel tells 48 HOURS.
Having already invested heavily with CCI, Emanuel adopted a different child through the agency. Around the same time, she learned Maria Fernanda and her sister were again being offered for adoption, though this time not by CCI. Preoccupied with the girl, she later searched online for Maria Fernanda's name and found a Guatemalan newspaper story about children who had been abducted for adoption. The story included Maria Fernanda and her sister. Emanuel was stunned to read the girls' mother, Mildred Alvarado, had been looking for them for more than a year. Emanuel immediately got involved in exposing problems within the Guatemalan adoption system.
In an emotional interview with Maher in Guatemala, Alvarado recalled how she was coerced to give up her 3-year-old daughter, Maria Fernanda, being told that it was temporary. Then, she says, she was duped into undergoing an early C-section to deliver her daughter, Ana Christina. When she awoke, she was taped to the bed and the newborn was gone. More than a year later, Emanuel would help reunite the family when she found the article and Guatemalan authorities gave Mildred Alvarado her children back.
More than five years later, Maher travels with Emanuel to Guatemala to meet Alvarado, and her two girls, for the first time.
48 HOURS: "Perilous Journey" features interviews with the Owens, Emanuel, CCI supporters Brian and Sarah Grandstaff, Mildred Alvarado, and Susan Jacobs, the State Department's special representative for children's issues. 48 HOURS: "Perilous Journey" is produced by Joshua Yager, Doug Longhini, Jonathan Leach and Ana Real. Kathleen O'Connell is the development producer. Peter Schweitzer is the senior producer. Susan Zirinsky is the senior executive producer.
http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwtv/article/Scoop-48-HOURS-on-CBS-Saturday-January-18-2014-20140116
The investigation reveals the extraordinary journey of one family to adopt two children from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the questionable practices of the U.S.-based adoption agency they'd chosen, as well as the harrowing story of one woman's attempt to adopt a child from Guatemala - through the same agency - and allegations of child trafficking against Guatemalan nationals that emerged afterward.
"We knew that international adoption is challenging. We were naïve in how much real trouble there is," says adoptive parent Ryan Owen, an Army officer who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Maher follows Owen and his wife, Jeri Lynn, who live at Fort Campbell, Ky., with three sons of their own, as they travel to Kinshasa and discover just what a perilous journey overseas adoption can be. The Owens began working on the adoption through Celebrate Children International (CCI), a small Florida agency, run by Sue Hedberg.
"Children need to be in families, not in institutions," Hedberg tells 48 HOURS. "Many of these children would die if it wasn't for adoption."
But the Owens' relationship with CCI began to deteriorate when their adoption process inexplicably stalled and they started hearing disturbing things about Hedberg's Congolese lawyer. The Owens took matters into their own hands, hiring their own attorney and travelling to the Congo to try to complete the adoption themselves. "I love these kids enough to do whatever it takes to get them home - whatever it takes," Jeri Lynn tells 48 HOURS.
The Owens, who named their daughters Ava and Zoey, are not alone in their struggle to get children from abroad or to raise questions about the process. Nor are they alone in their questions about Sue Hedberg, who sent 48 Hours a written statement through a representative maintaining, "each and every adoption undertaken by CCI was, and is, in strict compliance with the laws of the United States and the laws and regulations of the originating nation at the time of the adoption."
Betsy Emanuel, a Tennessee mother of five adopted children, talks with Maher about her attempt to adopt a child from Guatemala, also through Hedberg's agency CCI. Emanuel fell in love with a girl named Maria Fernanda, after seeing her in a video CCI sent her. Shortly thereafter, CCI offered her Maria Fernanda's newborn sister, Ana Christina. Emanuel couldn't afford to adopt two children, so she kept going with the adoption of Maria Fernanda - until one day, she says, a representative of CCI told her the girls' mother had resurfaced and, accompanied by armed men, demanded the children back.
"I knew something was wrong," Emanuel tells 48 HOURS.
Having already invested heavily with CCI, Emanuel adopted a different child through the agency. Around the same time, she learned Maria Fernanda and her sister were again being offered for adoption, though this time not by CCI. Preoccupied with the girl, she later searched online for Maria Fernanda's name and found a Guatemalan newspaper story about children who had been abducted for adoption. The story included Maria Fernanda and her sister. Emanuel was stunned to read the girls' mother, Mildred Alvarado, had been looking for them for more than a year. Emanuel immediately got involved in exposing problems within the Guatemalan adoption system.
In an emotional interview with Maher in Guatemala, Alvarado recalled how she was coerced to give up her 3-year-old daughter, Maria Fernanda, being told that it was temporary. Then, she says, she was duped into undergoing an early C-section to deliver her daughter, Ana Christina. When she awoke, she was taped to the bed and the newborn was gone. More than a year later, Emanuel would help reunite the family when she found the article and Guatemalan authorities gave Mildred Alvarado her children back.
More than five years later, Maher travels with Emanuel to Guatemala to meet Alvarado, and her two girls, for the first time.
48 HOURS: "Perilous Journey" features interviews with the Owens, Emanuel, CCI supporters Brian and Sarah Grandstaff, Mildred Alvarado, and Susan Jacobs, the State Department's special representative for children's issues. 48 HOURS: "Perilous Journey" is produced by Joshua Yager, Doug Longhini, Jonathan Leach and Ana Real. Kathleen O'Connell is the development producer. Peter Schweitzer is the senior producer. Susan Zirinsky is the senior executive producer.
http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwtv/article/Scoop-48-HOURS-on-CBS-Saturday-January-18-2014-20140116
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Armenian Adoption Adventure, US State Department has suspended Adoption Advocates Adoption Agency
Adoption Advocates Inc.'s Hague
Accreditation suspended
January 9, 2014
On January 9, 2014, the Council on Accreditation (COA), the
Department of State’s designated Accrediting Entity for adoption service
providers under the Hague Adoption Convention (Convention) and Intercountry
Adoption Act of 2000, suspended the accreditation of Adoption Advocates Inc. to
provide adoption services in outgoing Convention adoption cases for failing to
maintain substantial compliance with the accreditation standards at 22 Code of
Federal Regulations Part 96 Subpart F.
As a result of this suspension, Adoption Advocates Inc. must
cease to provide all adoption services in connection with cases covered under the
Convention. This adoption service provider has provided services to adoptive
parents in Ireland, Canada, and the Netherlands. Please note that this
suspension will not affect Adoption Advocates Inc.’s ability to work in
non-Convention countries. Persons with an open case with Adoption
Advocates, Inc. may contact the adoption service provider directly to find out
how the suspension may affect their adoption services.
The suspension will begin on January 9, 2014and will last for at
least 60 days. In order for the suspension to be lifted at the end of the 60
days, Adoption Advocates Inc. must complete corrective action required by the
accrediting entity. Updated information will be provided on the
adoption.state.gov website.
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Armenian Adoption Adventure, Armenia through the eyes of a child
Every evening, Melanie, Margaret, Sevana and I sit down and plan what to do with our Advanced English students the next day. We had already talked about family, school and hygiene with them, and were starting to run out of ideas when Sevana suggested we ask the students what they would change and what they would keep the same if they were president of Armenia. We were worried about whether or not we could help them with political terms or if they would even be interested at all, but the responses we got helped us see the changes needed in Armenia through a child’s eyes and the simplicity of most of their suggested changes showed some of the roots of the troubles Armenia faces.
Many of our students had worries that we would have expected to hear from adults. These children are so much more aware of their surroundings than we had expected. They share the household stress with their parents who are struggling to make ends meet. Hasmik Hovasepyan says, “If I were president of Armenia, I would create more jobs because I want to help people. I shall create more buildings because I want people to have homes.”
Hasmik is 12 years old and has worries that I have never seen in an American preteen, who would have been more worried about the latest video game or trendy outfit.
Trash has never been a problem for us in the two weeks we’ve been in Gyumri because there is a dumpster located about two blocks away from our temporary home and we produce very little trash since we don’t cook our own food and don’t clean much, but our students showed us that trash is a huge problem for Gyumri’s smallest citizens. 13 year old Jenya Hovhannisyan says, “I would create a law forbidding trash cans in the streets.”
While Jenya wanted fewer trash cans, 14 year old Gor Hovhanisyan “would eliminate trash.”
We had seen trash on the streets of Gyumri, but began noticing it more after reading our students’ responses. As Unger Gevorg explained to us, there are no laws about trash on the streets, and people do not care to find a trash can, instead choosing to dump whatever trash they have on the streets.
The innocence of the children really showed in some of their responses. 13 year old Angela Apriyan would “build parks for children and… give money and clothes to orphanages… and establish flowers and trees in streets.”
12 year old Alina Mkhoyan wants to “eliminate criminals” and “have world peace.”
11 year old Marian Nahapetyan would “eliminate money because people commit crimes for money and it is not needed.”
14 year old Andranick Khachatryan “would buy wonderful footballers for our country because today football is not good in Armenia.”
But some of the most memorable responses were the most serious ones. 14 year old Gor Hovhanisyan wants “to help for women and and laws that prevent parents from hitting their children.”
Hearing that from Gor, who is usually bouncing off the walls in our classroom was incredible. It just emphasized the fact that we learn something new about our students every day. I personally had always underestimated him and am sorry it took so long to realize his true colors. 11 year old Roza Simonyan wants “Ararat to be ours again,” but she had trouble explaining how she would reach that goal if she were president.
12 year old Arpi Antanyan “would build skyscrapers and change every building [and] keep the same only the natural beauty of Armenia.”
Like Hasmik and Arpi, many of our students wanted better, newer buildings in Gyumri, which brought to light that over two decades after the 1988 earthquake, there are still buildings that need to be rebuilt and the ones that survived the earthquake are deteriorating over time. Arpi also wants to “create a law about not smoking”
because she wants people to be healthy. In a country where smoking is accepted in almost every location, Arpi’s response gave me hope that there are still those who care about the health and wellness of the people. The final sentence of Arpi’s response was most memorable: “I would beautify my country so well that nobody would want to leave.”
As children of Armenian emigrants, we know that the conditions in Armenia are unbearable for many people, but it was beautiful to see that there are still those who believe that Armenians should stay in Armenia.
At the end of it all, Andranick said it best, “my country Armenia is the best in the world.” It is these children with their big ideas and innocent outlooks on life who will grow up to be the changes that Armenia needs in order to live up to its full potential. I’m so proud that we were able to see the beginnings of it.
With much love and hope,
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