Monday, October 19, 2009

taking ACTion!

Last Friday I got to do something different then my usual interning routine. I went to a congressional hearing held in the Russell Senate Building held by the Families for Orphans Coalition. They talked about the Families for Orphans Act and the Foreign Adoption Children Equality (FACE) Act. The Families for Orphans Act addresses the dated, ineffective, and inadequate procedures and programs in the U.S. regarding orphaned children. Under this act, the different agencies that work on behalf of orphans would collaborate, the U.S. would become a better leader and resource for adoption to other countries, and establish a U.S. coordinator to represent the U.S. in adoption issues. The FACE act promotes equal rights for children adopted internationally by eliminating the need for an immigrant visa, grant the child citizenship upon the completion of the adoption, and eliminate the need for a medical exam. It was really exciting to learn about the policy making decisions and what is being done legislatively to address some of the issues I have been hearing about. The members of the coalition were so knowledgeable and articulate, and very friendly when another intern and I introduced ourselves after the meeting. I was really glad I had the opportunity to attend this hearing. More later!

Thursday, October 8, 2009

News on international adoption!

Yesterday, I worked with some interesting news articles on International Adoption. The topics ranged from arrests for illegal adoptions, to a story about a family adopting their 6th child, to adoption parctices in countries such as Korea and Somalia.
It is as if there is a complete world of international adoption, with so many issues, subtopics, and people and groups involved. The great number of people who are involved or interested in International adoption is shown by the membership directory I am still working to organize. We are deleting members who are inactive or have more that one account, and STILL have over 30000 members.
Another thing we did today was a nice treat- lunch up the street at Hard Times Cafe with the other interns! I'm really enjoying getting to know them all more. They are all out of college and keep telling me how jealous they are that I am still an undergraduate. It is definitely a great experience.