Japan Program Update

I believe I blogged about this earlier, since I'm striving to get my bearings in order, I'll just start from the beginning as a nice re-cap.

As we were celebrating New Years with friends, we awoke to an update from our agency that the US Embassy had enacted a rule that birth mothers were to report to the Embassy in Tokyo for an interview as part of the process. They want to make sure the mothers know their rights, that they aren't being coerced to give up their baby, etc., however the whole process is scaring and invasive and not culturally sensitive.

We were continually urged by our agency to write members of congress to bring this to their attention. We have been fighting each month and in May, there seemed to be a break. They now allow our representative in Japan to be present in the meetings, but it's still not enough.

Here's my earlier blog as a refresher as to why it's still not enough: http://thrivingforbaby.blogspot.com/2011_03_01_archive.html

Even though the earthquake and the tsunami have had a small impact on the adoption process, it is this rule that is severely hurting all of the waiting families. Our agency sent out an update for July and it outlined good news and bad news:

Good news
1.) The US Embassy has taken notice of all of our letters and has agreed to a phone call with our agency. They have agreed to perform interviews on a case by case basis versus an all out rule. They have also allowed a support person, of the birth mother's choosing, to be with them.

Bad news
2.) No new waiting families have been selected since May. Most are still uneasy about the US policy and opt to place with a Japanese or a Canadian family.

As for our dossier, we are now in the renew stage. We have our fingerprint appointment to renew in a couple days, we begin the home study renewal next month, and then we ask to renew our I-600A after that.

We ask for continued prayers for our program, for all the waiting families, and that we can soon be united with Baby G.