Another way to make your voice heard - Please Act TODAY!

I just emailed AskCI@state.gov with the following message, requesting action, and particularly requesting Ambassador Susan Jacob's involvement. (I did add a little more personal info than you see here, including mentioning my boys and attaching their picture). I urge you to send a similar message TODAY!! It's an email, and you can copy and paste. It will only take a couple of minutes.

Ambassador Jacobs was appointed earlier this year by Hillary Rodham Clinton to be the U.S. Special Advisor to the Office of Childrens Issues (the office responsible for intercountry adoption and international parental child abduction).

You can also call 1-888-407-4747 requesting that Ambassador Jacobs do everything in her power to urge Ukraine's officials to revisit this and not make a complete halt in adoptions. When you call, press 0, and ask to speak to Emily Ballas.

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I am writing to you today regarding an urgent situation. Many families in the US are currently in the process of adopting children from orphanages in Ukraine. Most of these children are older or disabled. American families adopting these children offer them what may be their only opportunity at a normal and productive life free of crime, prostitution, or institutionalization due to illnesses that are treatable in the United States.

I personally know several of these families.

On November 3, 2010, the Ukrainian parliament voted to proceed with voting on legislation that would halt all international adoptions until inter-country adoption agreements are in place (see the State Dept. announcement at http://adoption.state.gov/news/ukraine.html) . At this point, all that is needed for this to become law is one more vote in Ukrainian parliament and a signature by the Ukrainian president. This could happen any day. If it does, many families and innocent children will be greatly affected.

I personally know several of these families.

I am writing to you to urge you to act quickly on this matter:

1. Encourage and support Ambassador Susan Jacobs to be a strong voice and representative to work with Ukrainian officials to come to some sort of interim agreement
2. Contact any and all Ukrainian officials in your circle of influence and request that they consider a revision to the law, allowing adoptions to proceed while the agreement is being drafted (as was done in Russia) and
3. Work with the senate and congress to begin drafting this agreement so that it is ready to go in the event the law passes.

Thank you for your timely consideration of this urgent matter, 

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