Wanted: A Bundle of Joy

Orphans are probably the least powereful group of individuals that are at the same time the most deserving. How can anyone play politics with them? I think the only group less powerful are the babies who have been aborted. In time the truth of this will be made known

Adopt American Children First??? We are not talking about cars, food, material goods or anything else... except children. Orphaned children need families no matter where they are from. Obviously you have never been to an orphanage in a foreign country. It is incredibly sad. To say "Adopt American Children First" is one of the most ignorant and unfeeling statements I have ever heard. I have adopted my daughter from Russia and am extremely proud of her. She has overcome rickets, low weight, and understimulation to become one of the best students in her Kindergarten class. For her to stay in Russia probably meant almost certain death. America on the other hand, is very lucky to have her. Her enthusiam of life is an inspiration for us all. Wake up and please think before you compare children to cars, food, and material goods. The amount of available orphans in America is a pittance compared to the orphans in many countries around the world. This is not in anyway to diminish their plight, but just a add a little awareness and understanding.

Adopt American Children First....the problems we face in the country are because we love people from other countries more than we love our own people and products...children, cars, workers, food, material goods. When are we going to wake-up? The United States of America should be considered first, there are children here that need to be adopted, American children.

It's just stupid that adoption is so expensive! Some people just want to give an orphan a loving home and family but can't because they don't have thousands of extra dollars stored away. I mean, honestly...it just goes to show how LITTLE businesses care about real people and real lives.
I visited an orphanage in Jamaica once. I was just 4 years old but I will never forget how sad it was.

This is so true about how the election is already bought and paid for:
http://www.againstobama.com/2008/10/what-is-it-that-barack-obama-knows-that-the-rest-of-us-don%E2%80%99t/#comment-1929

Obama, the excuses are wearing thin. what excuse do you have for this one?:
http://www.againstobama.com/2008/10/obama-praised-searing-and-timely-book-by-ayers/

PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE TO BE HELD SUNDAY AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

The Free and Equal Elections Coalition (FREE) and the Columbia Political Union are pleased to announce that a Presidential debate will be held this coming Sunday, October 19th, 2008, on the campus of Columbia University.

ALL SIX of the Presidential candidates who appear on enough state ballots to acquire the 270 Electoral Votes needed to become President are invited. They are as follows (listed in alphabetical order by affiliation):

Constitution Party Candidate: Chuck Baldwin
Democratic Party Candidate: Barack Obama
Green Party Candidate: Cynthia McKinney
Independent Candidate: Ralph Nader
Libertarian Party Candidate: Bob Barr
Republican Party Can John McCain

The Columbia Political Union will present the debate from 8:00pm to 10:00pm in the Altschul Auditorium, located at 417 International Affairs Building. The debate will be moderated by Pacifica Radio's Amy Goodman, the host of "Democracy Now!". CSPAN will cover the debate, and live radio broadcasts are expected.

"The Columbia Political Union is committed to energizing political discourse on Columbia's campus," said Allon Brann, Columbia Political Union Publisher. "As a non-partisan organization, we work to provide students with opportunities to encounter and engage with political ideas across a wide ideological spectrum, and on a wide range of issues."

"It is with these goals in mind that we have organized this Presidential Debate: to give all candidates-- either within or outside of the political "mainstream"-- the opportunity to speak directly to students about their goals on the issues they deem critical for this country."

"We have invited all eligible candidates, and it is our sincere hope that all will participate, to ensure the substance and rigor of the dialogue which we believe is crucial at this time."

Certified letters officially inviting each candidate have been sent to the respective campaigns.

The Free and Equal Elections Coalition and the Columbia Political Union await the response from the candidates. All candidates' supporters are encouraged to contact the Presidential campaigns and urge them to attend.

The Columbia Political Union seeks to enhance involvement in the political process, domestic and international, and draw every member of the campus community into an ongoing discussion of political ideas.

FREE is a coalition of political parties, independent citizens and civic organizations formed to promote free and equal elections in the United States.

http://www.freeandequal.org/events.php?id=7

FREEDOM ISN'T FREE

In 1966, my husband and I adopted a 17 day old baby girl. The total cost for this adoption was about $1300.00, in 1971 was adopted a 3 day old son. The total cost for that adoption was about $1500.00. Both our babies came from Texas. Today, if you are middle class and want to adopt, it in unreal the price.
masue

Wow I simply cannot believe the ignorance of some people. I have a beautiful 5 year old Chinese daughter. She spent the first 14 months of her life in a dirty overcrowded orphanage. She was malnourished because they fed her broth that they had boiled fish heads in and an occasional watered down formula. She could not crawl, or use her lower body for anything because all she did was lay in a crib and cry. After she cried and cried she would just give up knowing that no one was coming. Her head in back is totally flat from laying constantly. She did not know what a toy was she had obviously never seen one. She was bathed occasionaly in a concrete trough like a pig. Her clothes were moldy and filthy when she came to us. Maybe if some of you had lived like this you would see things differn'tly. It does not matter where a child comes from. They all need food and shelter and love. We had tried to foster to adopt for about 2 years and nothing. Not everyone lives in an area with many children available and most agencies do not send children to far away homes. And, there are terrible cases of domestic adoption. You spend 7 months paying for a pregnant mothers bills and going to appointments with her and loving this baby she has promised you. One day she gives birth and decides she is keeping the baby. Now you are out the baby and the money you borrowed to pay the bills. (This happened to close friends of ours) So how dare you people judge an innocent child that is given a decent chance to live. And, for those of you talking about mis information and illegal adoptions; you need to investigate an agency before choosing one. Ours was wonderful and gave us tons of information.
Bless anyone who adopts a child no matter where they are from. By the way we are going to attempt foster to adopt again. We do not care where are children come from or what they look like. We are all Gods people..

Having adopted two children from Eastern Europe, I encourage all of you to look into Reactive Attachment Disorder. In no way am I endorsing NOT adopting, all I ask is that you go into the adoption with all the knowledge that you possible accumulate. This is not something the adoption agency discloses to you, nor is it something the host countries inform you about. It is heartbreaking not only for the parents of children who suffer from this mental disability but for the children themselves. This is not just an international adoption problem but also a domestic problem. As stretched as the mental health community is, these children are often misdiagnosed and do not get the help they so terribly need in the timely matter they need. PLEASE read about Attachment Disorder BEFORE you adopt.

There have been many comments on why people don't choose to adopt domestically. I would suggest that some of you actually do some research as to the children available to adopt in this country. There are websites for many states that list available children. I think it would be an eye opening experience for those of you who complain about adoptive parents who choose to adopt healthy babies and toddlers internationally.

cani 77..
Are you using any venue as a soapbox to campaign for Obama/Biden? This issue we are speaking of is about people who are willing to open their hearts and souls to love someone unconditionally.As I have a sister who is traveling down this long road..I beg that you don't waste this space talking about something that does not pertain to these people's journey.
May God bless all those on their incredible journey..

In a few weeks we will make a choice that will decide our future.
I follow an economist named Bob Proctor. He has called the top and bottom of every market crash since the 70s correctly.
Also, he perfectly predicted the current real estate market meltdown and the picture he paints about what will happen in the next couple years
is terrifying.He thinks it will be worse then the great depression.
The banks in the U.S. are going under one after the other. Countrywide ,Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch , Fanny and Freddy Mae ,AIG
The government took them over because they are essentially bankrupt. Even with the goverment nationalizing hundreds of billions of dollars in debt the stock market is crashing
the credit markets are frozen and all of us may suffer beyond anything in the last 80 years.
McCain just like Bush " doesn't understand the economy".
That not just my opinion its his own words. Not only does he not understand how to fix it but he does not understand exactly what is broken.
It is no surprise that he doesn't. The people that make up these securities use complex mathematical models very few people understand.
Bush and McCain both can take the credit for this mess since they helped deregulate the laws that were protecting us.
Bush's economic advisor Phil Graham wrote the deregulation bill that allowed banks to take huge risks with all of our future.
Now, Phil Graham is the head of McCain's economic policy.He is also McCain's choice for the next secretary of the treasury.
No one in this country can afford for that to happen. The last time Bush met with his economic advisors was in March. He didnt realize that anything was wrong. Phil Graham had the guts to say that we are in a mental recession after he helped create the worst economy meltdown in our lifetime. Check out this link to the truth http://my.barackobama.com/keatingvideo
It will take the best and brightest minds in the world to get us out of this nightmare. As bad as Bush has done, McCain would be
even more destructive because things are in much worse shape. The next president will not inherit a surplus like Bush did but a crashing economy and a 11,600,000,000,000 (trillion) dollars deficit. Most of it Bush created and it will take decades to pay it back.
If you do what you have always done then you will get what you have always got.
When it comes to policy Bush and McCain are the same 90 percent of the time.
So why are the polls even close then ?
Mccains team just said they no longer want to talk about the economy.Instead they would like to spend time talking about obama
which means running the biggest smear campaign in history.
They think they can just tell you lies and you wont be smart enough to see through it
Let's teach him we are smarter than that .
Elect Obama Biden 2008


Check out this video of sarah palins interview and ask your self if she understands what she is talking about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r36Xc0GG4iQ

In a few weeks we will make a choice that will decide our future.
I follow an economist named Bob Proctor. He has called the top and bottom of every market crash since the 70s correctly.
Also, he perfectly predicted the current real estate market meltdown and the picture he paints about what will happen in the next couple years
is terrifying.He thinks it will be worse then the great depression.
The banks in the U.S. are going under one after the other. Countrywide ,Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch , Fanny and Freddy Mae ,AIG
The government took them over because they are essentially bankrupt. Even with the goverment nationalizing hundreds of billions of dollars in debt the stock market is crashing
the credit markets are frozen and all of us may suffer beyond anything in the last 80 years.
McCain just like Bush " doesn't understand the economy".
That not just my opinion its his own words. Not only does he not understand how to fix it but he does not understand exactly what is broken.
It is no surprise that he doesn't. The people that make up these securities use complex mathematical models very few people understand.
Bush and McCain both can take the credit for this mess since they helped deregulate the laws that were protecting us.
Bush's economic advisor Phil Graham wrote the deregulation bill that allowed banks to take huge risks with all of our future.
Now, Phil Graham is the head of McCain's economic policy.He is also McCain's choice for the next secretary of the treasury.
No one in this country can afford for that to happen. The last time Bush met with his economic advisors was in March. He didnt realize that anything was wrong. Phil Graham had the guts to say that we are in a mental recession after he helped create the worst economy meltdown in our lifetime. Check out this link to the truth http://my.barackobama.com/keatingvideo
It will take the best and brightest minds in the world to get us out of this nightmare. As bad as Bush has done, McCain would be
even more destructive because things are in much worse shape. The next president will not inherit a surplus like Bush did but a crashing economy and a 11,600,000,000,000 (trillion) dollars deficit. Most of it Bush created and it will take decades to pay it back.
If you do what you have always done then you will get what you have always got.
When it comes to policy Bush and McCain are the same 90 percent of the time.
So why are the polls even close then ?
Mccains team just said they no longer want to talk about the economy.Instead they would like to spend time talking about obama
which means running the biggest smear campaign in history.
They think they can just tell you lies and you wont be smart enough to see through it
Let's teach him we are smarter than that .
Elect Obama Biden 2008


Check out this video of sarah palins interview and ask your self if she understands what she is talking about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r36Xc0GG4iQ

This is a subject I am extremely passionate about. God has blessed my husband & I with (2) beautiful boys. Yes, they were adopted through the foster care system.

In reading some of the posts below, I can see there are many misconceptions. No - the biological parents (mother or father) can ever come back & reclaim the child. Once the adoption is finalized a new birth certificate is issued listing the adoptive parents as PARENT. Both the mother and father. There is no difference in this birth certificate than the one that is given to a biological parent. It lists the child's name (the name you give them - yes you have the right to do that / 1st name, middle name, last name can all be changed if you desire). You can also (and I do actually recommend this) change their social security number.

As far as the costs, as posted below, if a child is adopted through the foster care system there are none ! The agency has access to attorney's that specialize in these adoptions. The one we had was fabulous.

I could "ramble" forever about how blessed we are..........Our oldest was born profoundly deaf. He turned 5 in May and considering how he was when we got him at 14 months old - most people don't realize he is even the same child. He now has a cochlear implant on his right side & learning what different sounds are. Remember - he had never heard anything. He doesn't know what a dog barking or a bird singing sounds like. I will tell you this, the 1st time he turned at the sound of our voice - my husband & I both cried like babies.

Our 2nd son was born addicted to cocaine. He is now 3 & very much all boy. The 1st couple of months were hard for him, but the doctors think he is fine. He is doing everything a typical 3 year old boy does - in some areas, they say that he is even well ahead of other children his age.

Yes - you will be fingerprinted. Yes - your background will be checked out. Yes - your friends & family will be interviewed. No - none of these things are done before a biological parent has a child. However, the end result is worth whatever you have to do. I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.

I cannot imagine waking up even one single day without them in my life.

HoustonVol's comment below brings up a very important point - the failure of the US system to properly screen prospective adoptive parents. Yes, many of us went through a thorough and perhaps invasive process, but anyone who wants to get around this can easily do so. As a result, foreign countries are increasingly reluctant to allow their children to come to the US.

I'm sure we can all agree that people who think of orphans as "rejects" should not be blessed with the responsibility of raising a child, regardless of origin. .