FacePalm Friday

Welcome to this week’s edition of FacePalm Friday.

This is where your hosts will list their top picks for this week’s FacePalm moment—something they learned or read about this week that caused the FacePalm to happen (you know, the expression of embarrassment, frustration, disbelief, shock, disgust or mixed humor as depicted in our Rally FacePalm smiley).

We invite you to add your FacePalm of the week to our comments. Go ahead and add a link, tell a personal story, or share something that triggered the FacePalm on the subject of child welfare or adoption.

Your Host’s Selections:

(1)People in their Early 60s Adopt from Colombia

From here, they previously (26 years ago) adopted three from Russia. And now, they adopted 3 children from Colombia. The agency they used was… All God’s Children International.[AGCI]

Yes, they are still in business!

You might remember them from the  2011 Fruits of Ethiopia post, part 2 here. They worked with Bethzatha(multiple spellings like Bethzata, Bete Said, Betesaida, Bethzatha Children’s Home Association. Bethzatha closed in July 2011.

The article says, “”Older people adopting older kids – that was kind of our main theme,” Loren said.”

That’s what I want to do to them!

(2)”Kill Your Foster Parents”, says Alexa

“Millions of users of Amazon’s Echo speakers have grown accustomed to the soothing strains of Alexa, the human-sounding virtual assistant that can tell them the weather, order takeout and handle other basic tasks in response to a voice command.

So a customer was shocked last year when Alexa blurted out: “Kill your foster parents.”

The episodes, previously unreported, arise from Amazon.com Inc’s strategy to make Alexa a better communicator.”

Pardon?

(3)Canadian Parents have a problem getting their child out of Ghana

From here,”Kimberlee Moran and her husband Clark have been working to bring the boy to B.C. for more than three years — a process that has stalled in recent months.

On Friday, they got a letter from the Canadian government dashing their hopes once again.”

“She told Global News the government has given the couple 60 days to provide supporting documents for the adoption process, but that “the reasons that they give why they are not granting citizenship right now seem kind of crazy and a little bit irrational.”

A government official with knowledge of the case told Global News that Canada can not proceed with authorizing the adoption until it satisfies several concerns that have been raised.

The official said no evidence has been provided to Canadian immigration officials to show that any effort was made to find the child’s biological parents, and that no police report describing Ayo’s abandonment was filed with Immigration Canada.”

“They said Ayo was also moved quickly away from the area he was found, a common tactic with human traffickers.”

“Finally, immigration officials are looking into an unverified third-party allegation that the child was taken from a home, not an orphanage.”

(4)US Couple trying to their children out of Nigeria…since 2012!

From here,””This is not just standard adoption difficulties that we’ve been facing with this process,” Bryce said. “It’s above and beyond even some of the extreme hardships you can run into with an adoption case.”

“They say their elected representatives have responded, but that they as a family have hit a wall, left without answers as to when they can bring their kids home.”

“We have nothing else to do as far as the Nigerian side, and so we truly just need their visas approved, and we’ll be flying back to get them as soon as we hear that they’re approved.””

Clearly something is not right here. Sure you can adopt them, but you ALSO need to file a Form I-600, Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative, on behalf of the child. Orphan means “the death or disappearance of, abandonment or desertion by, or separation or loss from, both parents. The child of an unwed mother or surviving parent may be considered an orphan if that parent is unable to care for the child properly and has, in writing, irrevocably released the child for emigration and adoption.” Do you have a Form I-604 ? (determination has been completed, finding that your child meets the legal definition of an orphan for immigration purposes.) I am guessing not.