UPDATE: Families For Orphans Act

According to reports from Gov Tracks, both the House and Senate versions of the Families for Orphans Act have died in committee. PEAR, along with numerous other adoption reform and child welfare organizations opposed the FFOA. A history of our comments and position on the FFOA can be found on our blog: http://pear-now.blogspot.com/search/label/Families%20for%20Orphans%20Act Ethics, Transparency, Support~ What All Adoptions Deserve.http://www.pear-now.org/ …

Legislative Update: Families for Orphans Act

In PEAR’s continued efforts to alert the public and members of Congress about the problems associated with pending Families for Orphans legislation (HR 3070), we participated with numerous concerned organizations and individuals in a mailing to members of the House of Representatives sitting on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs: June 1, 2010 Dear Representative, We, the undersigned organizations, are …

Letter to Senate Foreign Relations Committee Opposing the Families for Orphans Act

Last month, PEAR joined in with Global Action for Children in voicing our opposition to the Families for Orphans Act. The Senate version act is currently sitting in the Committee on Foreign Relations. Below is the letter sent to Senator John Kerry, Chairman of the Committee and Senator Richard Lugar , Ranking Member. February 22, 2010 The Honorable John KerryChairmanU.S. …

Commentary: Fast Tracking FFOA

A message from PEAR’s President on the Fast Tracking of the Families for Orphans Act in Response to the Situation in Haiti: According to recent stories in the press, Senator Mary Landrieu is pushing the Committee on Foreign Relations to release the Families for Orphans Act, S.1458 (also in the house as HR3070) for full vote in response to the …

Why PEAR does not support new adoption cases or airlifts of children from Haiti at this time:

This week, a member of PEAR, Julia Rollings, spoke eloquently of the reasons why international relocation and adoption of Haitian children is not appropriate at this time: http://au.tv.yahoo.com/sunrise/video/play/-/6725923/haitis-orphans/#fop While many US citizens are moved by the sight of children in distress and feel the need to press the US government toward adoption or massive airlifts of children, we must remember …

PEAR releases FFOA statement

Link to FFOA comments updated May 14, 2010 PEAR has released its statement on the Families for Orphan Act legislation. In July 2009, PEAR announced its opposition to HR 3070/S. 1458, the Families for Orphans Act, also known as FOA and FFOA. We outlined our concerns with the Act’s expansive definition of an orphan, its restrictive definition of permanent parental …

Legislative Proposals

The following legislative proposals were introduced to Congress at the end of June. The descriptions of the bills below are provided by GovTracks. Please read the legislation on your own for a true reflection of the legislation and its impact on international adoption. The legislation can be viewed and tracked a http://www.govtrack.us/. Rep. Diane Watson [D-CA33] introduced H.R. 3070: To …