You can watch the video by clicking this link...it's the easiest/quickest way for me to explain the possibilities getting this act passed could bring.
http://vimeo.com/99062464
Below is the letter we received...
Hi Ethiopia families,
I am writing to you today with an urgent appeal. The window for getting the Children in Families First Act (CHIFF) passed this year is quickly closing. Congress will soon be in summer recess and the mid-term elections will ramp up upon their return (or sooner). That leaves us a precious few weeks to make a final push to move CHIFF out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and onto the floor for a vote – and to create a new future for the children and families we serve.
Our government is doing some great work for children but needs to more and do it in a different way. In a way that changes the status quo and says ‘family is important’. Please go to http://childreninfamiliesfirst.org/chiff-faqs/. If passed, this bill would change the current outcomes that institutionalism, abandonment and neglect bring countless orphans worldwide. This bill would utilize existing resources in our foreign aid budget to help create avenues for children to find families. First by strengthening their biological families and then looking at kinship, domestic and international adoption as viable options for children living outside of family care. Unfortunately, large NGO’s that have huge reach are actively working to ensure this bill never leaves the Senate. Their outcome based approach, while good work, fails to deal with the core issue that stems from children living outside of family care.
Due to the elections coming up in the fall, we are in need of a mass grass roots campaign to push this bill through the senate and onto the house floor before the end of August.
The campaign is set to launch next Monday the 23rd through Friday the 27th. The idea behind the campaign is to get all of us moving at the same time in the same direction. You can specifically help by doing the following:
1. Go to the CHIFF website and send campaign documents to your mailing list next Monday morning
2. Remind your constituents throughout the week to get involved
3. Post to multiple social media sites throughout the week
4. Contact personally 5-10 influential friends, family or partners this week and ask them to take part in this effort.
Together, I truly believe we can make the change needed for the children we serve.
God Bless,
Julieann Webb
I am writing to you today with an urgent appeal. The window for getting the Children in Families First Act (CHIFF) passed this year is quickly closing. Congress will soon be in summer recess and the mid-term elections will ramp up upon their return (or sooner). That leaves us a precious few weeks to make a final push to move CHIFF out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and onto the floor for a vote – and to create a new future for the children and families we serve.
Our government is doing some great work for children but needs to more and do it in a different way. In a way that changes the status quo and says ‘family is important’. Please go to http://childreninfamiliesfirst.org/chiff-faqs/. If passed, this bill would change the current outcomes that institutionalism, abandonment and neglect bring countless orphans worldwide. This bill would utilize existing resources in our foreign aid budget to help create avenues for children to find families. First by strengthening their biological families and then looking at kinship, domestic and international adoption as viable options for children living outside of family care. Unfortunately, large NGO’s that have huge reach are actively working to ensure this bill never leaves the Senate. Their outcome based approach, while good work, fails to deal with the core issue that stems from children living outside of family care.
Due to the elections coming up in the fall, we are in need of a mass grass roots campaign to push this bill through the senate and onto the house floor before the end of August.
The campaign is set to launch next Monday the 23rd through Friday the 27th. The idea behind the campaign is to get all of us moving at the same time in the same direction. You can specifically help by doing the following:
1. Go to the CHIFF website and send campaign documents to your mailing list next Monday morning
2. Remind your constituents throughout the week to get involved
3. Post to multiple social media sites throughout the week
4. Contact personally 5-10 influential friends, family or partners this week and ask them to take part in this effort.
Together, I truly believe we can make the change needed for the children we serve.
God Bless,
Julieann Webb
Helpful links:
What is CHIFF?- http://www.awaa.org/downloads/PR/WhatisCHIFF.pdf
How can you help? HERE IS WHERE YOU CAN HELP! http://www.awaa.org/downloads/PR/CHIFFActionPlan.pdf
What is CHIFF?- http://www.awaa.org/downloads/PR/WhatisCHIFF.pdf
How can you help? HERE IS WHERE YOU CAN HELP! http://www.awaa.org/downloads/PR/CHIFFActionPlan.pdf
CHIFF website- http://childreninfamiliesfirst.org/
From the bottom of our heart we are so blessed to have you walking through these unknowns with us. Tomorrow will be exactly 9 months since we became a waiting family!
Scott, Christy, Ross, Katie & Kelsi
