to that and agreed when we both felt we were ready in every way to help some little one find a forever home we would begin the process. In January 2004 we talked and thought it was the right time to begin searching for our daughter. We each visited a website (www.precious.org). On this website you could add the children you were interested in to your own personal page. I had searched for hours when I came across this one picture and I just knew that "she was the one". I added her to my page. I eagerly ran downstairs to tell Vince I had found our daughter. He told me he had searched the website too and he too felt as though he had found the little girl that was meant to be a part of our family. I told him he could go first and share the picture and information with me. When he showed me the picture I just smiled and laughed. Each of us had picked the same child without the other knowing it!! I sent the initial email to the adoption agency that she belonged to on January 17, 2004. We were told that she was available and that she was from Romania. They informed us that Romania's laws were changing so in essence everything was put on hold and in many cases many children would not be able to be adopted, but that the little girl we were interested in was considered a pipeline case. That eventually the pipeline cases would probably go through but it might take awhile. The agency we are dealing with is: Adopt An Angel Located in Georgia Mike and Lisa Collins We completed our homestudy in Rochester NY Hillside Children Center Marge Stevens completed our homestudy This is the information that Adoption An Angel gave us in regards to our daughter: (Although her birth name is Diana-we will be legally changing it to Joelle-which means Jehovah is Lord or The Lord is Willing) Birth Name: Diana DOB: December 5, 2000 Mother's Name: Lacatos Ecaterina Family Name: Lacatos Father's Name: Unknown She was born in Zalau maternity hospital. Mother gave her consent for adoption of Diana. She lived in Zalau and she moved in Satu Mare district and there are no official informations about her new address. From birth until 2/1/01 Diana was in the Maternity Hospital. From 2/1/01 until 3/7/01 she was in Placement Center Cehu Silvaniei. From 3/7/01 until present Diana has been in foster care with a family in Zalau district. We have already been blessed with 2 boys (my stepson Vinny ** 12 years old ** and our son Sammy **6 in November **) now we want our little girl to complete our happy home. My family is so excited about the addition to our family—just not our immediate family but our extended family too, not to mention teachers, neighbors, friends, etc. I didn't realize how much love could be in our hearts for a child we have never met yet, but there's no denying how much we love her already. Sammy talks about his sister all the time. He adds her to all of his school pictures and she's in his prayers every night. We have tried to be so patient and let things just fall in to place, but it's getting frustrating to just sit back and not see any progress. January 19th Adopt An Angel sent us information about our little one February 18, 2004 we got an email from Adopt An Angel that they had spoken with Marvin Lane (from their team in Romania). "He gave us the approval to allow you to proceed with a contract for the little girl if you wish. All of his contacts in Romania all assuring him all is going to be fine." March 2004 our homestudy was completed and approved April 13, 2004-received a letter from Embassy of the United States of America-Bucharest Romania stating that they received that US federal authorities have approved your adoption of one orphan overseas. Many months of us just being patient. November 29, 2004 I sent an email to askci@state.gov per Lisa Collins of Adopt An Angel just letting them know that we were a family that was involved in a pipeline case from Romania and that we were still interested in proceeding with the adoption. December 22, 2004 got a response back from Gloria Laguna regarding my email dated November 29, 2004. Gloria works in the Bureau of Consular Affairs; Overseas Citizens Services; Office of Children's Issues. Gloria stated that “our records from the US Embassy in Bucharest do not indicate that you previously identified a Romanian orphan for adoption." She asked us if we received a dossier number from the Romanian Government. I contacted Adopt An Angel and they said they would try and get me that number. To date, we still have not received any dossier number from anybody. February 22, 2005 I wrote an email to President and Mrs. Bush urging President Bush (who was going to be meeting with the leader of Romania in the beginning of March) to finalize the pipeline cases so each of the 200 and some children who are waiting to be adopted to US families can finally be united with their forever families. I wanted to get a hold of anyone and everyone who would listen to me, but I was advise to "not make waves"-to let the process take it's course. So we waited, and waited and waited . . . and we are still waiting. Now we know that the new President of Romania took office (which was supposed to be a good thing), we know that Romania was or is on it's way to be accepted onto the European Council, and were told after those two things happened the pipeline cases would be taken care of quietly. Now this brings us up to this point. We know the US is trying it's hardest to make Romania keep it's word. We know the last meeting didn't go so well. We as parents feel helpless. If there is anything that we can do to help make this process go quicker, please feel free to contact us at ANY TIME. You can get a hold of us as follows: Vince and Lori Giglio North Chili, NY 14514 We will do whatever it takes to get our daughter home. Please let us know if we can help. God Bless, LORI GIGLIO September 11, 2005 The Honorable SAM BROWNBACK, Chairman Washington, DC 20515 DEAR SIRS: My wife, Maria Margarida, and I have been hoping to adopt two Romanian children since before the moratorium began. Our adoption process began in September 2000, with us quickly becoming "paper-ready" by March 2001. With the moratorium on international adoptions in 2001, we were told to be patient, and that things would soon be back to normal. We hadn't been assigned any children at this point, but we were twice sent videos of children in 2002 who weren't right for us. With the serious lack of progress with adoptions from Romania, our hopes were nearly exhausted, and we turned to Russia for our adoptions, starting the whole adoption process over. Shortly thereafter, we received optimistic news about Romanian adoptions and were persuaded to continue with our original plan. We agreed to do so and were soon rewarded with the videos of two beautiful children, Robert and Gabriela, in January 2003. We immediately set out to Romania to meet these children, determined to be part of their early lives as much as possible. We returned to Bucharest every few months for about a week at a time over the course of a year. We spent many days with them, often having them both together with us as we got to know and bond with each other. One of the greatest joys was to be there right when both Robert and Gabriela began to walk, experiencing those first steps as only proud parents could. It wasn't too long after our fourth visit with our children when we were told that Robert was domestically adopted by his grandparents. A short while later, we were told that Gabriela was also domestically adopted by a Romanian woman. We never received official confirmation of either adoption, leaving us wondering whether these adoptions really took place. We were also highly suspicious that our children had been "cherry-picked" for domestic adoption as a way to silence us because we were actively pursuing these adoptions and were involved with For The Children-SOS. Despite thousands of other Romanian children being available for domestic adoptions, ours were supposedly chosen and domestically placed in minimal time. When the draconian new laws came into effect, it seemed all hope was really lost. However, I felt it was important to continue fighting for all the Romanian children who need loving, forever families, so I redoubled my efforts and continue to work diligently with Linda Robak and the many other members of For The Children-SOS who selflessly devote themselves to this cause. My wife and I still consider ourselves to be waiting parents, even though our children might no longer be available. We've devoted enormous amounts of our love and time to these children, and we'd be ecstatic if we could adopt either or both of them. After being with them so much in their early lives and staying in touch as long as was possible during this time, we've been extremely heartbroken at the turn of so many events. Now, it appears that another opportunity is here to do what is right for a number of Romanian children and their waiting parents and families. I hope with all my heart that the pending cases will finally be completed. It's such an absolute shame that so many Romanian children languish and suffer needlessly, never able to regain these lost, formative years of youth, as politicians and interlopers wrangle about personal, national, and international agendas. Truly, the heart of the matter remains: Permanent, loving homes are in the best interest of each of these children. If domestic homes aren't available, international homes quite obviously are. The shear numbers of abandoned and orphaned Romanian children indicate there are more than enough children to be placed, and time is of the essence. I thank you for your consideration of what I've expressed here. May you have the courage and conviction to move forward in helping to resolve this urgent matter. It's more important than ever that the pending cases be completed as quickly as possible. Sincerely, -waiting parent of THOMAS H. HAAR Cristea Robert Catalin (RAC#3794), born Sept. 5, 2003, in Bucharest, and Gabriela Burghelea (RAC #3799), born Oct. 6, 2003, in Bucharest September 11, 2005 The Honorable SAM BROWNBACK, Chairman The Honorable CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, Co-Chairman Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe 234 Ford House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 DEAR SIRS: It is my understanding that you will be participating in the upcoming Helsinki Commission meeting that is to examine Romania's adoptions policy. I am writing to inform you about how the Romanian ban on inter-country adoption has affected the life of a specific child, my foster son, Florin Nita. Florin is a special child. His mother abandoned him at birth because he has a spinal deformity called spina bifida. Florin lived his entire life in a Romanian orphanage called House of Angels. House of Angels is an "emergency baby shelter" that is supported by philanthropic Romanian and American organizations. Florin's "emergency" stay was prolonged because no Romanian citizen offered to adopt him and because the local Romanian Child Protection Committee could not find a medical foster home for him. In hopes of adopting Florin, my family completed a dossier that was accepted by the Romanian government. We were issued a registration number by the Romanian Adoption Committee to adopt Florin. But his case was caught up in the European Union-driven Romanian inter-country adoption ban and was never allowed to be completed. In February of 2005, Florin came to the United States on a medical visa. The medical visa was obtained through the efforts of the Romanian organization Cara Bella and the U. S. organization Healing the Children. (Both are philanthropic organizations not involved with adoptions.) His medical care has been donated by the Scottish Rite Hospital for Children in Dallas. Until Florin came to Texas in February, he had never received any specialized medical therapy. He had never walked because he had never been provided with physical therapy or assistive devices. He had never had a family. Florin's medical visa has provided all those things and more. It has allowed him to receive medical care in a renowned hospital that specializes in the care of children with spina bifida. It has allowed Florin to flourish in a specialized educational program that is provided by all U. S. public school districts (the Preschool Program for Children with Disabilities). And of course it has allowed my family (and community) to know and love Florin. But unless Romania changes its laws, Florin's stay in the U. S. will be temporary. Eventually his medical visa and any extensions will expire. Florin will have to return to a country where there are no specialized medical or therapy services for him and where there is no family willing to take him in. I respectfully request that you advocate for the proper care and treatment of the orphaned children of Romania. Sincerely, JERRY A. HALL, MD Temple, Texas September 11, 2005 The Honorable SAM BROWNBACK, Chairman The Honorable CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, Co-Chairman Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe 234 Ford House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 DEAR SIRS: We are American citizens living in Romania. We moved here in April of 1999. On October 12, 2001, we accepted a little girl into our home at the age of 10 days since the birth-mother was not able to keep her and the birth-mother didn't want her to go to an orphanage. The birth-mother's step-father also threatened to throw the baby out into the street. We realize that research (as well as raising 4 genetic children of our own) has shown that the earlier a child becomes part of a good permanent family, the better adjusted that child is and will be. As an adoptee myself, I realize the value of |