Illinois Megafamily Denied License to Adopt from Uganda UPDATED

Illinois, Alabama, Colorado, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina impose limits to the number of children in the home even when adopting abroad according to Family hopes state enables more international adoptions [Chicago Tribune 11/24/11 by Manya Brachear].

This family has 14 children (several with special needs) and the husband makes only $64,000 per year. The children are homeschooled. The family feels that adding more kids is “part of their religious mission.”

“To cover the cost adoptions and to make room for the brood, they took out a second mortgage on their 3,160-square-foot home and added extra bedrooms. Donors also pitched in to help.”

“The Twietmeyers successfully helped push to ease the restrictions on HIV immigrations, which often could take up to 10 months to complete.”

“While the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has to approve a home study for every international adoption, the state also must issue a foster care license to parents adopting from certain countries such as Uganda and the Philippines where adoptions can’t be finalized outside the U.S.

Families who apply can be licensed for up to eight children, more with a waiver. Children with special needs count twice, reducing the total number of children that families can have in their home.

The Twietmeyers exceed the limit — and then some.”

“As the Twietmeyers’ children took turns one recent afternoon cradling their youngest sibling — Sofia, who has Down syndrome and who came to the family through a domestic adoption — they showered her with kisses. The couple pointed out that a large family is ideal for a child with special needs because there is no shortage of affection and helping hands.

But child welfare experts often see a fine line between a large family and a group home and worry that parents can rely too much on older siblings to serve as housekeepers, cooks and caregivers.

Breems has never received a formal denial from DCFS, but licensing representatives have cautioned her that large families need not apply. She can’t in good conscience conduct and charge a family for a home study if she has been forewarned it will be for naught, Breems said.

Marlowe defends the state’s screening process for adoptions.

In 2011 alone, at least 10 Illinois families voluntarily relinquished their parental rights to children they had adopted from abroad. Three more were placed in DCFS custody because of substantiated allegations of abuse or neglect. One child died under suspicious circumstances in the parents’ home, he said. It’s unclear if those cases involved large families.”

As we pointed out last week, the DOS report on 5 international disruptions is bizarre and completely inaccurate. Illinois alone had 10 that they know of and we feel that is a lowball guess.

They formed their own church!

“Early on, church members cautioned Carolyn Twietmeyer that she was not Jesus and did not have to take on the challenge of saving people. The pastor thought the couple had lost their minds, she said.

When they brought their first three adopted children from Ethiopia to the U.S., they were cautioned by church leaders not to reveal who was HIV-positive.

“The most common heartbreak to families is they’re not receiving any help or consideration from our churches,” Carolyn Twietmeyer said. “It’s totally contradictory to the Word.”

That lack of support led the Twietmeyers and an elder from their former church to start a congregation of their own. Grace Covenant Christian Center in Mokena has since become a place where other families who share the same frustration have come to pursue the same calling.”

The usual money-making suspect applauds them

“Thanks to advocates like the Twietmeyers, evangelical churches have started to come around, said Jodi Jackson Tucker, director of Orphan Sunday for the Washington-based Christian Alliance for Orphans.”

Update: Carolyn Twietmeyer took her cause to the White House. Yes, the White House. There was a briefing on National Adoption Month (which is supposed to be about placing US foster children, not approving megafamilies for IA).

“Twietmeyer serves as executive director of Project Hopeful, a non-profit dedicated to supporting and adopting HIV orphans. Pointing out that the name is an acronym for Helping Orphans and Parents Eliminate Further Unnecessary Loss of Time, Dignity and Life, she bemoaned the stigma of HIV that persists three decades after the first AIDS diagnosis surfaced in the U.S.”

The “time, dignity and life” parts have nothing to do with adoption. NOTHING. There are many organizations that support AIDS. Besides UNAIDS efforts to reach 15 million people with AIDS by 2015 (of 34 million worldwide with AIDS), many other groups address this issue, including the world’s pharmaceutical industry that provides donations for 87% of the AIDS population.

Of course not everyone is reached yet (mostly due to logistics and not drug donations) especially in Uganda, but since the annual drug cost is down to about $100 per year there, I am sure that the $30,000 that she would have spent for international adoption would be happily accepted as a donation  to cover one year of drug costs for 300 Ugandan children with AIDS. Adopt one or treat 300 for a year or about 16 children until adulthood. Her cause is adoption, not treating AIDS. It actually is cheaper to treat AIDS in Uganda due to the donations, allowed generic drugs and subsidies than in the US, in which the actual cost is about $20,000 per year.

At White House, Joliet mom calls for state to let more big families adopt children with HIV
[Chicago Tribune 11/28/11 by Manya Brachear]

Update 2: White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships press release mentions the Twietmeyers Forging Ahead with International Adoption

“Of all the children in need of adoption, kids with HIV/AIDS can have an especially tough time finding families. Carolyn Twietmeyer is a Chicago-area mother of fourteen, including seven adopted children, two of whom have HIV/AIDS. As she discussed on our panel, Carolyn founded Project HOPEFUL to encourage others to adopt children with the disease and to correct misconceptions which may deter potential adoptive parents.

When it comes to providing families for children, many faith-based organizations are leading the way. At Patch Our Planet, Steve Gillis connects faith leaders with the resources they need to get involved in international adoption. Steve spoke about the ways his organization works with busy church staff to design a strategic adoption/foster care plan unique to their congregation.

We were proud to host such an exciting sample of those working hard on an issue that is so personal for so many Americans. Stay tuned for more details from our National Adoption Month event later this week.”

Reformatina says: So basically, “We care about children, we let these people say what they wanted to say, now we have other things to do….”

Update 3: More nauseating spin. Still trying to make an end-run around regulations to satisfy their desire. “The conflict pits the families’ desire to live out their religious mission of caring for orphans against the state’s mission to protect children.”

So, is the take-home message here that the adoptive parent desires should trump child safety? Apparently, this continues to be the argument.

““This is no easy process. We shouldn’t have to go through what we need to go through to be a family. To climb the mountain of DCFS on top of church barriers and financial barriers is really unacceptable.”

What is the church barrier? YOU decided to make your own church. DCFS has NOTHING to do with that. You sound delusional. Are you seriously arguing to remove all financial standards of the adoptive parent from the process? At least DCFS requires some training with that foster care license, more than what the Hague requires.

The REAL STORY here is that no agency is willing to take them on as a homestudy client, which is WELL WITHIN their rights. It is not discrimination, religious or otherwise. DCFS has never denied them anything.

Government steps in to halt big family’s international adoptions
[The Macon Telegraph 12/31/11 by Manya Brachear]

Update 4: Typical. They have moved on from Uganda ( perhaps) and are now adopting a child from Reece’s Rainbow. See here for the begging for homestudy dollars that began 7/16/12.

REFORM Puzzle Piece