In May, our "Summer trip extravagaanza" began. For those who don't know, the Mr. and I appeared on a game show earlier this year and ended up winning ... the big prize at the end! Four trips!
So ... here's a little taste of where we went. Do these pics of the Mr. and me give the first trip away?
And here's another trip that started off the month - complete with yours truly participating in the "American Idol Experience" at Disneyworld in Florida. (I think it's been "our year!")
On the adoption front, the news we got in May wasn't as encouraging. On Wednesday, May 27th, I posted the following on our private family blog.
Today has been a discouraging day. I posted a status update on Facebook about this, but I have gotten messages from a couple of you saying that you'll be checking our blog for more in depth information. So I'm just going to go ahead and include the letter that we received today (with names blanked out for privacy's sake).
Thanks to all of you for your love and prayer and concerns. We love you.
Here's the email we got today:
Dear Ms __________
I really do not know what to do.
When I spoke with you, it was agreed that there was a process that needed to be followed. You then suggested I speak to Ms _______, which I did.
Ms ______ confirmed that the first step would be to find out whether both children were adoptable. It seems that there was a rumour that the child/children could have extended family living in a neighbouring community.
Two options were discussed, one finding the family by physically going in to the community, the other, by advertising to see if anyone would come forward with information.
Ms _____ advised that the advertising costs were very high – each advertisement would cost over R1000 and this was a major problem for your organisation. I offered to seek assistance to pay those costs. I asked Ms _______ to find out exactly what the advertising amount would be.
I took care to explain that this did not mean that there were conditions attached to such payment – the advertising would purely be to find the children’s families, if they exist, with a view to helping the children reunify with their families if the families were able to suitably care for them, alternatively, if no family came forward, to approach the courts to see whether the children could be declared adoptable. The possibility of the family/families consenting to the possible adoptions of the children was also discussed.
My strong sense after the discussion I had with you and with Ms ______ was that we were all working together for finality for these children.
However, when our Ms ______ attmpted to follow-up and find out exactly what amount would be required so that we could pay for the newspaper advertisements, we were told not to interfere with the process and reference was made to our “forcing the issue”.
There are two options for these children: either no-one does anything to finalise their future and they stay right where they are for the remainder of their childhood, alternatively, we work together to give them the stability and security that they deserve. This may well be with their birth families, but until a proper investigation is done, it is impossible to tell.
We have decades of experience in working with children, heading up teams of social workers, paediatricians and counsellors through courts ranging from the local Children’s Courts to the Supreme Court of Appeal and to the Constitutional Court. We remain committed to ensuring that children’s best interests are served.
We have seen children thrive and flourish when placed within the nurture and care of a family environment, and steadfastly believe that every child deserves a family.
It is not fair to the two families, who have already spent years being screened from their side by their country’s authorities and who have been highly recommended as adoptive parents to continue pouring their hopes and dreams into a lifetime with these children.
It is even more unfair to the children themselves, as every week that goes by is time that needs to be made up.
If you have no intention of allowing these two children to find that security within a family and you insist on misconstruing everything that we are trying to do to find out what would be in these children’s best interests,please be gracious enough to let me know.
At that point, the families will have a decision to make – to either accept that you do not intend assisting these children in finding family care, alternatively, to instruct us to approach the highest authorities in our country to request that an investigation be conducted to find out what would be best for these two little people.
My offer to pay directly to the newspaper/s the costs involved in advertising for the families of these two children to come forward remains in place.
However, this whole saga cannot drag on indefinitely. You told us to wait until the beginning of May; it is now almost the end of May and we seem to have regressed rather than making any progress at all.
Yours sincerely
Thanks to all of you for your love and prayer and concerns. We love you.
Here's the email we got today:
Dear families, received an email from the Attorney. Things there have been moving slowly on the safety home and social worker side. We unfortunately have given them a deadline as to the movement of this adoption of June 1st. They still seem a bit suspicious about the whole thing there is a possibility of relatives around, but the social worker is dragging feet about the advertisement so this is why we have been a bit more forceful to get them to make a decision. It may be a possibility we will have to bring in a social worker from elsewhere. We will do all that we can. If for some reason this cannot happen with these children would you consider a referral? This is just in case. I have attached the letter wrote to the SH by the Attorney.
Dear Ms __________
I really do not know what to do.
When I spoke with you, it was agreed that there was a process that needed to be followed. You then suggested I speak to Ms _______, which I did.
Ms ______ confirmed that the first step would be to find out whether both children were adoptable. It seems that there was a rumour that the child/children could have extended family living in a neighbouring community.
Two options were discussed, one finding the family by physically going in to the community, the other, by advertising to see if anyone would come forward with information.
Ms _____ advised that the advertising costs were very high – each advertisement would cost over R1000 and this was a major problem for your organisation. I offered to seek assistance to pay those costs. I asked Ms _______ to find out exactly what the advertising amount would be.
I took care to explain that this did not mean that there were conditions attached to such payment – the advertising would purely be to find the children’s families, if they exist, with a view to helping the children reunify with their families if the families were able to suitably care for them, alternatively, if no family came forward, to approach the courts to see whether the children could be declared adoptable. The possibility of the family/families consenting to the possible adoptions of the children was also discussed.
My strong sense after the discussion I had with you and with Ms ______ was that we were all working together for finality for these children.
However, when our Ms ______ attmpted to follow-up and find out exactly what amount would be required so that we could pay for the newspaper advertisements, we were told not to interfere with the process and reference was made to our “forcing the issue”.
There are two options for these children: either no-one does anything to finalise their future and they stay right where they are for the remainder of their childhood, alternatively, we work together to give them the stability and security that they deserve. This may well be with their birth families, but until a proper investigation is done, it is impossible to tell.
We have decades of experience in working with children, heading up teams of social workers, paediatricians and counsellors through courts ranging from the local Children’s Courts to the Supreme Court of Appeal and to the Constitutional Court. We remain committed to ensuring that children’s best interests are served.
We have seen children thrive and flourish when placed within the nurture and care of a family environment, and steadfastly believe that every child deserves a family.
It is not fair to the two families, who have already spent years being screened from their side by their country’s authorities and who have been highly recommended as adoptive parents to continue pouring their hopes and dreams into a lifetime with these children.
It is even more unfair to the children themselves, as every week that goes by is time that needs to be made up.
If you have no intention of allowing these two children to find that security within a family and you insist on misconstruing everything that we are trying to do to find out what would be in these children’s best interests,please be gracious enough to let me know.
At that point, the families will have a decision to make – to either accept that you do not intend assisting these children in finding family care, alternatively, to instruct us to approach the highest authorities in our country to request that an investigation be conducted to find out what would be best for these two little people.
My offer to pay directly to the newspaper/s the costs involved in advertising for the families of these two children to come forward remains in place.
However, this whole saga cannot drag on indefinitely. You told us to wait until the beginning of May; it is now almost the end of May and we seem to have regressed rather than making any progress at all.
Please would you let us know by close of business on Monday 1 June 2009 whether or not you would like us to assist with the advertising costs and if so, the names of the newspapers and the costs involved.
My heartfelt prayer is that we, as professionals, can work together tosecure futures for these children that are bright with hope and promise.
Yours sincerely
MS __________________
PRESIDENT & FOUNDER
