About That Pre-Selection of Children Thing in Ukraine…UPDATED

As we pointed out with official references from both the US and Ukraine last year in this post, pre-selection of children is NOT allowed. Hosting programs, which we have stated that we are against, also should not be guaranteeing placements, especially in Ukraine because …once again… PRE-SELECTION is not allowed.

Now the whistleblowing blog, The Adoption Spotlight, has posted a 2013 letter from the US Embassy about pre-selection. Please read it here.

I am sure I will have whiny commenters coming on here saying that I am wrong, anti-adoption and the rest of the BS that they like to throw at me and their fabulous hosting and ministries are correct and are totally justified and legal to pre-select children. Just how many OFFICIAL references from governments does it take for entitled, entrenched PAPs to understand? I really don’t know the answer to that.

 

In a related matter, last month there was an article about the Ukraine hosting program of  Bridgestone  in Alabama. Their botched medical visa Haiti airlift effort was captured  in Kathryn’ Joyce’s book The Child Catchers.  Adopting Ukrainian children full of pain, love [USA Today 4/9/13 by Kym Klass]  says ” They just knew that after years of prayer, that adopting a child was within their reach. The child’s photo was posted online during a visit from Ukraine to BridgeStone Prayer and Retreat Center, where, in December 2011, a group of orphans visited for a month. They said of all the children, Tanya stood out.

“The minute I saw her face … there were two pictures,” Rachel Lawry said. “The first picture she was smiling; the second, she had her hand over her mouth like she was trying to not laugh. We knew we had to meet her, and sure enough, we fell in love with her that day.”

When Tanya returned to Ukraine in January this year, the Lawry’s learned she had a brother, Viktor. And the couple, who already had four children, knew they had to adopt them both.”

“Four months after Tanya returned to Ukraine, the Lawry’s found themselves in her country, finalizing adoption paperwork. The money needed for the process — more than $30,000 — was raised in just two months. Strangers left gifts at their door. Friends held yard sales. Donations just poured in.

“Unbelievable,” Rachel Lawry said. “God just started pouring it in. It was just so obvious that this was supposed to happen.”

Scott, who is the pastor at Grace @ Bell Road Church, said there were no plans to adopt when the children visited the  camp where the orphans were brought in through the Bridges of Faith ministry.”

“The Lawry’s youngest was 5 months old. And he was close to turning 1 year old when Tanya and Viktor arrived at their new home on July 4, 2012.”

“Tanya is being home-schooled. Her brother, Viktor, moved out and is renting a bedroom in Montgomery while working full-time. The Lawrys continue to set an example for him on what a family is.

“In the orphanage, when you turn 18, you are free,” Rachel Lawry said. “We told him he didn’t have to move out. Our dream was to show him how to be independent over time. But he wanted to work. School wasn’t his thing. He is renting a room … he has mentors in his life. Has a job. It’s not what we hoped for, but it might be what’s best for him.”” [Wow! Less than 1 year in the home and he already moved out! What an “adoption” that was, eh? ]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update: ““They’ve watched and seen,” Cat Hunt said Thursday of their daughters watching the news unfold in Ukraine. “They have brothers over there, ages 17 and 22. The 17-year-old had chosen to not come with us … he’s in college. And the older brother has kept (the girls) informed. He was previously in the Army, and there was fear he would be called to the reserves.

“As far as we know, he has not.”

Tom Benz is founder of the Millbrook-based Bridges of Faith ministry, which oversees BridgeStone Prayer and Retreat Center in Billingsley. Ukrainian orphans are brought to BridgeStone every year. It is where the Hunts met their two daughters.

By phone from Ukraine on Wednesday, Benz said nothing will stop the ministry from bringing another group of orphans to Billingsley in May.

“Of course, governments and systems can change, but, at this point … we see no obstacles to fulfilling our ministry plans with orphans in Ukraine,” he said. “While we have brought actually two groups from Crimea, we have no Crimean orphans scheduled at this time. All kids are coming from uncontested areas of Ukraine. Full steam ahead.”

Russia’s lower house of parliament overwhelmingly approved a treaty Thursday to annex the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea from Ukraine, prompting tougher sanctions from the United States.

“While the present distress demands that we rethink how we minister to Ukrainian orphans, nothing within us shakes our fierce loyalty to what we believe and know to be the call of God … to these children,” Benz said. “We are not closing our BOF office in Ukraine; we are relocating.”

Cat Hunt said her daughters are grateful they are home in America, although watching the news does not take them far from their roots.

“We’d be watching the news, and they’d say, ‘I know that person,’ ” Hunt said. “They would see familiar faces and pictures; especially in pictures. They do really well to focus on being here and not letting that just take over.””

BridgeStone ministry to continue adoption work in Ukraine[Montgomery Advisor 3/23/14 by Kym Klass]