clipped from linkglobal.orgLegalize Adoption Campaign
The Issue
Orphaned North Koreans: For well over a decade, hundreds of thousands have fled North Korea seeking basic necessities such as food and medicine or even freedom. Often left behind or lost along the way are children whose parents cannot return home or have separated or abandoned them. These children end up in China homeless, vulnerable and desperate to seek a way to survive.
Stateless Children: Of the North Korean refugees who are hiding or have come through China, the majority are women and over 80 percent are trafficked or voluntarily marry Chinese men. Some of these women, however, leave their families for fear of being caught and sent back to North Korea or to escape abuse. Once the mothers leave, the fathers often find themselves struggling or unable to provide for their children, leaving them to be cared for by relatives or altogether abandoned.
Both orphaned North Korean and stateless (half Chinese) children in the underground in China lack documentation that prove their citizenship and allow them to receive education, work legally or have basic rights, also leaving them at risk of high risk of exploitation or abuse. For North Korean children, seeking asylum in South Korea or the US is an option. However, without appropriate documentation, they cannot be eligible for adoption in the US – only foster care. US law requires documentation that their parents have in fact abandoned them or have passed away. Providing such evidence is impossible for these children. They cannot simply request official documents from the nearest North Korean consulate or contact family in North Korea for assistance. For stateless (half Chinese, half North Korean) children who have no citizenship, no rights and no future - they are forgotten in China.
Two Ways You Can Help:
1) Support the Children
Working closely with our partners on the ground, we support dozens of children with food, shelter, access to education, transportation to school, scholarships, funds for extracurricular activities, and documentation. We also protect and shelter some of these children who have been abandoned, abused or are at risk of being sold or exploited.
With your help we can assist many more children in need.
2) Speak for the Children
New legislation was recently introduced in both the Senate and the House seeking to develop a strategy for assisting stateless and orphaned North Korean children by facilitating the adoption of eligible children by wanting families in the United States.
Read The House Bill
Read The Senate Bill
- Write a letter to your Representative, asking for their vote on HR 4986, "The North Korean Refugee Adoption Act of 2010."
- Write to your Senators, asking for their vote on S. 3156, "A bill to develop a strategy for assisting stateless children from North Korea, and for other purposes."
- Ask your friends, family and neighbors to also write a letter to their Representatives and Senators.
Download the Legalize Adoption Letterhead here and instructions here for what to write in your letter.
Once you write your letter, send it to OUR office so that we can deliver all of the letters together in one package.
LiNK
c/o Legalize Adoption
1751 Torrance Blvd, STE L
Torrance, CA 90501
Find Your Senators. Find Your Congressmen.
Get Clipmarks - The easiest way to email text, images and videos you find on the web.
