More of the Same

First, I need to give credit to my good friend and fellow PAP (prospective adoptive parent) And Mama Pajamma Party buddy Suzanne for the framework and organization of this post. Suzanne you may recognize a few familiar words and sentences. Thanks! It is hard to organize all this and make it comprehensible when I am feeling so tired of it all.
We did not get many answers from our conference on Wed. the 15th. Mainly because there aren't any yet. The US State Department and the US Embassy in Kyrgyzstan continue to work toward getting the 65 children and their waiting families united. They are currently working at educating the Kyrgyz officials and citizens about who we are and why it is we want to adopt these children. Adoption is not a common practice within Kyrgyzstan and therefor is not understood. What is understood is child slavery. The US Embassy is working through the Kyrgyz media, via interviews and televised debates and seem to be making some progress in getting across the reality that these children are going to warm loving families.
Meanwhile, investigations of 9 adoption cases continues. We have been assured that the corruption being alleged does not have to do with any children being wrongfully removed from their families. Instead the allegations involve incomplete documentation and a claim that some Kyrgyz citizens have been denied the opportunity to adopt. Those responsible are at the orphanage, MOE or judicial levels - not at the adoption agency level.
It appears that Parliament is recommending that Kyrgyzstan sign the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption. In which case international adoption will most likely remain closed on Kyrgyzstan for quite a while. We have seen in other countries including our own that it takes a VERY long time and lots of resources to actually implement the Hague. However, the US Embassy continues to lobby for our cases to be grandfathered in under the laws that existed at the time we accepted our referrals. JCICS has initiated a second letter writing campaign to help sway Kyrgyz officials in that direction. The first campaign consisted of letters written by families who have completed adoptions of Kyrgyz children. This second campaign will consist of letters written by the 65 waiting families, on behalf of the children who are waiting for us. This was a letter in which we had to write our "story" in 150 words or less. Needless to say it took me half the day.
So, to sum it up the US Embassy and JCICS are working on it and slowly progress is being made toward a better view of international adoption. This hopefully will lead to some sort of decision to let the 65 children go to the families waiting for them. In the meantime Dimitri is getting older quickly. He will be 2 years old in two weeks and to think he was 9 months when we got his information. What a long and bumpy road!