WE NEED YOUR HELP!

The adoption community in PEI is asking for your support and for your help! A group of us, representing the adoption community, met with Premier Ghiz to discuss some of our concerns in regards to international adoption through PEI. The general feeling among families adopting internationally is that the Province is not supporting our decision to adopt from other countries. There are decisions being made by the Province that directly affect our Island families and their adoption processes. We are asking you to support us by reading the letter below and sending it off to the people we have listed! This is urgent as families are waiting to be united with their children! Thank you! Even if you are not an adoptive parent or in the process of adopting, you can show your support by mailing/emailing the letter.

Please feel free to add a personal message to your letter!!!

You can FAX your letter, MAIL IT via snailmail or EMAIL it.

Also, I have done an interview with CBC Radio and it will be aired Thursday morning. I'll post the exact time when I know. It will also be on their website. The interview talks about the adoption issues on PEI and what we are asking from the Province.
_______________________________________


Premier Robert Ghiz
95 Rochford Street
P.O. Box 2000
Charlottetown, PE
C1A 7N8
rwjghiz@gov.pe.ca



Dear Premier Ghiz:


I am writing to express support for the adoptive parents of PrinceEdward Island – the very province known for the story of a famousorphan – who have raised concerns with the provincial governmentregarding the international adoption programs in the province.


Island families have requested a reversal of the policy decisionregarding the Waiting Child program – a decision that has eliminatedany waiting child referrals where matching is done by the agencies.These processes are currently accepted by every other province in thecountry and the waiting child program is virtual inaccessible outsideof this system. I encourage you to follow the processes set out byChina, whereby the agencies are delegated the authority to do thematching (respecting of course the Province's final role in approvingevery match). Families with open waiting child applications are beingaffected by this decision at this very moment.


Island families have also requested concrete regulations and policieswith regards to all aspects of international adoption, ranging fromcountry programs available to Island families, to age of child, tosibling groups, to single adoption, to family eligibility guidelines,to concurrent adoptions, and to transparency & appeals.


Families in your community have also raised concerns regardingaccountability from the provincial government. By allowing each andevery family to review their referrals when they arrive in PEI,families would be able to supply additional information or makerequests for homestudy amendments should there be discrepanciesbetween the referral details and the child request. It would beregrettable to have families lose their only chance at adoption simplybecause the Province has decided not to share information until andonly if the referral sent in their name is approved.


I urge you to commit to an active support of the internationalprograms and to clearly embrace and formalize options for Islandfamilies. I encourage you to investigate the underlying reasons forthe Province's decision to effectively stop the international adoptionof children with medical needs, and, also, to respond to the PEIAdoption Coalition's requests for an overall review of PEI'sinternational adoption procedures to ensure accountability andtransparency.


I suggest to you that there needs to be a very quick and seriousreconsideration of this action, or the face that PEI presents to thecountry and, indeed, the world, will look not only ill-informed, butalso intolerant. I believe you will discover that the agencies arewell-equipped to undertake the matching as assigned by China, thatinternational adoption will yield benefits for the children, thefamilies, and PEI as a whole, and that these children are deserving ofthe loving families who wish to adopt them, no matter what provincethe families live in.


Sincerely yours,







CC: Hon. Doug W. Currie – Minister of Social Services and Seniors,PEI
dwcurrie@gov.pe.ca

PEI Adoption Coalition – peiadoptioncoalition@gmail.com

Nancy Russell (CBC) -- nancy_russell@cbc.ca (nancy "underscore"Russell)



In PEI, please write your letters to Premier Ghiz and CC them to Minister Currie, MPs Shawn Murphy, Wayne Easter, Lawrence MacAulay,Joe McGuire, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Opposition Leader, Stephane Dion, the PEI adoption coalition group, and Nancy Russell of CBC.



Outside of PEI, please write your letters to the Premier of PEI, Robert Ghiz, and CC it to the Premier of your province, Prime Minister, Stephen Harper and Opposition Leader, Stephane Dion, and the PEI Adoption coalition group.

Addresses you will need:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0A2
Fax: 613-941-6900
Harper.S@parl.gc.capm@pm.gc.ca

Shawn Murphy
75 Fitzroy Street, Suite 201
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
C1A 1R6
murphs1c@parl.gc.ca
Murphy.S@parl.gc.ca

Wayne Easter
P.O. Box 70
Hunter River, Prince Edward Island
C0A 1N0
Telephone: (902) 964-2428
Fax: (902) 964-3242
E-Mail: eastew1@parl.gc.caE-Mail: Easter.W@parl.gc.ca

Lawrence MacAulay
P.O. Box 1150,
551 Main Street, Suite 202
Montague, Prince Edward Island
C0A 1R0
Telephone: (902) 838-4139
Fax: (902) 838-3790
E-Mail: macaul1@parl.gc.ca

Joe McGuire
94 Central Street
Summerside, Prince Edward Island
C1N 3L3
Telephone: (902) 436-7333
Fax: (902) 436-0175
E-Mail: McGuire.J@parl.gc.ca

Stephane Dion
750 Marcel Laurin Boulevard,
Suite 440
Saint-Laurent, Quebec
H4M 2M4
Telephone: (514) 335-6655
Fax: (514) 335-2712
E-Mail: dions1@parl.gc.caE-Mail: Dion.S@parl.gc.ca