Please take a minute...

***Update: Thank you so much for your help! Terri and Paul have been grandfathered in under the previous laws!!!***

...and help my friend, Terri (owner of The Lucky Ladybug Children's Consignment Shop where my blocks are sold), with her adoption process. Here is the letter she sent out and there is a link at the bottom to sign a petition to grandfather in families who have been waiting to adopt:

Dear Friends,
As many of you know Paul and I have been in the long process of adopting our daughter, Grace from China. We have been logged into the China Center for Adoptive Affairs (CCAA) for just over thirty months, yes, I did say 30 months! We have followed to the letter every requirement that our government has asked of us. As well as the Chinese government. We have kept all of our paperwork current, we have completed three sets of federal fingerprints, two home studies, two I-600 forms (the application for processing an orphan child under the US government) and have spent thousands of dollars. Not to mention the heartache of waiting 30+ months, after we were told initially that the process would take 6-9 months. We can not change the Chinese process but we do feel we can impact the change our government is asking of us. We learned several months back that under The Hague Convention there may be changes to the paper work needed to complete our adoption. We feel that families like ours who started the process back in October of 2005 should not be penalized. We are asking that they grandfather us in and allow us to continue with the process we started over three years ago using the I-600.
I had a very long talk with our consultant today at our agency. There is much uncertainty at this time. If we are not grandfathered in we will have to use the new I-800 form, which is much more complex than the original I-600. The agencies are having a very difficult time getting the home studies for this form approved. And the approval process is taking 6 months or more. If we are required to use the new form, China's may review our case and decide to put us under the new guidelines set in place in May of 2007. If this occurs, Paul and I will not be allowed to adopt our daughter, due to our age. We will be done. There is also a chance our government could deny us. My heart aches at the possibility of never holding my daughter in my arms. We are not alone in this situation, the new rules could impact over 10,00 families in the United States waiting to adopt children internationally.
I am asking each of you to please read the attached petition, sign it and feel free to add a comment at the end. It should only take about 10-15 minutes. If at all possible please contact our Congressional Representatives in the House and Senate on October 14th, 15th, or 16th. Ask them to seek a resolution to the I-600 issue and to grandfather in those families who are waiting. There are also two links at the top of the page to send emails to the Congressional Coalition and the Joint Council. This is an urgent matter and we need to take swift action. We need to have at least 20,000 signatures by October 14th and we are currently at 13,000 or so. Please feel free to pass this on to anyone you think maybe interested in signing. Thank you in advance for your prayers, support and for taking the time to hopefully create more forever families.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.
This is the letter that was sent to us by our agency:
The JCICS (Joint Council of International Children's Services) and their member adoption agencies are asking families to read, support and sign the petition that relates to the Joint Council Position Paper on the I600A. This petition is asking that international adoptive families who started the USCIS approval process, using the I600A application, be allowed to continue to use the I600A to renew their I171H approval, until their adoption is complete. Currently, the Department of State and Homeland Security are requiring that these families must now switch to the I800A track, under the Hague Convention, after the one time free extension of the I171H approval expires. We ask for your support to petition these government entities to maintain the original intent of the law by allowing those families in the I600A track to remain so for the duration of their adoption. Please click on the link below to access the JCICS web page entitled Five Ways to Help. There you will find the position paper and the petition, as well as email addresses of both JCICS and a COA representative. With your help and that of other adoptive families, change is possible. Thank you.
http://jcics.org/5WaystoHelp.htm
Our Michigan contacts and phone numbers:
Congressman Pete Hoekstra-202-225-4401
Senator Debbie Stabenow 202-224-4822
Senator Carl Levin 202-224-6221
Terri Sheler The Lucky Ladybug Children's Consignment Shop

If you wouldn't mind taking a few minutes to sign this petition and possibly comment at the end of it, I know Terri and Paul would be eternally grateful! If you have kids, you know how heartbreaking it will be if they are unable to complete their adoption. Thank you--in advance--for your help!!