Trevor and Marlene Janzen’s first miracle took nine months. To the Saskatchewan, Canada, couple, that seemed a natural time to wait for a baby. They adopted their first son, Eyob, from Ethiopia in 2005.

Although they had been through the process once before, their second adoption took twice as long. After waiting 18 months, the Janzens welcomed little Sofoniyas home in 2007.

Soon, they were ready to bring a third child into their family.

“We thought it might take two years,” Marlene said. “And we waited and waited.”

In May 2011, they returned to Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, to pick up their second daughter, Biruktawit. The “roller coaster” process took four years.

Long considered one of the easiest nations from which to adopt, Ethiopia is in the midst of dramatic changes that are making the adoption process tougher, longer, and more expensive. Government officials say the shift will ensure the legitimacy of such adoptions. But critics, including many adoptive parents, argue the new policies are punishing young children who need families by slowing down a process that can…

CHARLESTON — A South Carolina adoption case is pitting the couple who nurtured a 2-year-old girl against the child’s biological father, a Cherokee Nation tribal member who took her back to Oklahoma after winning custody of her.

…

They say “unnecessary” delays of more than a year in family court care proceedings are leaving children “in limbo” and without a permanent home.

Jim O’Boyle, Coventry City Council cabinet member for children, said: “That is a very long time in the life of a child. These children have suffered significant harm.”

Children’s charity Barnado’s says delays nationally have often left children “at risk” in “unstable family homes” or emergency foster placements, while a court decides if they will be taken into care.

It says it is particularly “dangerous” for very young children to be left with unsuitable parents.

The Warwickshire and Coventry Local Performance Improvement Group – including the council, Warwickshire County Council and the courts – has set up an action plan, which it says is speeding up court cases.

But it acknowledges courts in Coventry and Warwickshire are experiencing among the worst delays, with the national average case taking 55 weeks.

Government justice ministers are introducing a new six-month time limit, after a national review called for the elimination of “shocking delays”.

Coun O’Boyle…

Not only is Chosen: An Adoption Story a great children’s book filled with eye-catching illustrations, but it is also a must-read for adoptive parents wanting to explain to their children how they came to be adopted. Using poetry, Rebecca D. Turner highlights the adoption process, pointing out that not all families look the same while asserting that adoption stems from love. In addition, Chosen provides the reader with Ms. Turner’s own adoption story plus advice for those seeking out their birth parents, and contact information for agencies that can help in the search. The book was sent to us at Our Families Orphan Communities as a resource in our work toward building sustainable communities for adopted children and their families. You can learn more about the author and Chosen by visiting:

 www.readchosen.com 

http://www.facebook.com/readchosen 

  https://twitter.com/#!/readchosen

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Our After Christmas newsletter to our friends and donors:

I am still “high” from the special gift that a little two year old Ethiopian boy, Jonas, gave me a few days before Christmas.

His gift is keeping me grounded as I sit here full of Christmas leftovers, catching up on emails (some with disturbing pictures I will not show you) from friends around the world who keep asking, “How soon will you be able to do the Sustainable Adoption Communities in our country for our orphans? We want families for our orphans here also.” What do I tell them?

The gift from little Jonas gives me strength as I look at some of the pictures the friends sent of orphans who not only did not get gifts, but don’t have enough food, I feel sad knowing that all I can say to them is, “We are working on it and will not give up.”

The look on the faces of some of the children remind me of those from the orphanage where I adopted my two sons. Their friends, left behind in the orphanage, who…

It’s not all white: The cocktail of up to 20 chemicals in a glass of milk

By David Derbyshire

Last updated at 9:53 AM on 7th July 2011

Healthy drink: Quantities of compounds found in milk were minuscule

A glass of milk can contain a cocktail of up to 20 painkillers, antibiotics and growth hormones, scientists have shown.

Using a highly sensitive test, they found a host of chemicals used to treat illnesses in animals and people in samples of cow, goat and human breast milk.

The doses of drugs were far too small to have an effect on anyone drinking them, but the results highlight how man-made chemicals are now found throughout the food chain.

[NOTE ADDED TO THIS POSTING - THEY DO NOT TALK ABOUT THE CUMULATIVE EFFECT THAT SMALL AMOUNTS OF POISONS/DRUGS CAN HAVE ON THE HUMAN BODY.]

the highest quantities of medicines were found in cow’s milk.

Researchers believe some of the drugs and growth promoters were given to the cattle, or got into milk through cattle feed or contamination on the farm.

The Spanish-Moroccan team analysed 20 samples of cow’s milk bought in Spain and Morocco, along with samples…

www.OrphansDreamTeam.org

Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
November 26, 2011

It’s another example demonstrating that the cops are out of control. A five year old boy is arrested and handcuffed for the crime of disrespecting a cop at a public re-education camp in California.

The incident is a reminder that the state thinks it owns our children. Instead of calling his mother – who should be responsible for the five year old’s behavior – the school called in a cop. Apparently the cop is assigned to patrol the school the same way “correction officers” patrol the corridors of prisons.

Parents of means should immediately take their children out of public school and homeschool them if possible. It’s the only way to tell the state they do not own our children. It’s the only way to make sure they are not trained to be little prisoners owned by the state.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqFU6mRWYr0&feature=player_embedded

Posted by www.OrphansDreamTeam.org