I understand people wanting to help these children because they may be alone now...But, has anyone took in the fact that if you were to take in a children lets say 5-years or old from this crisises. The amount of therapy and trauma this child and your family will have to deal with, let alone the mounting medical bills to go with it. I think the groverment is right in saying people need to wait and see if someone claims these children first. Beside think, how you would feel in you finally got a child after years of trying to get one and then to find out, after you spent all the money to adopt one of the poor souls and their parent's were found, and you had to return them. Think of the heart-break for everyone. So yes I think it will take at least 6-months or more, before any child from the Tsunami crisis should be allowed to be adopted.
State Dept. Blocks Adoption of Tsunami Victims;"In response to many inquiries from concerned Americans, the U.S. Department of State has stated that it will not be possible for U.S. citizens to adopt children who have been orphaned by the tsunami that struck parts of South Asia.According to the State Department, the international standard in a crisis is to keep children as close to their family members as possible. It can be extremely difficult to determine whether children whose parents are missing are truly orphans. In the current situation, many children have become separated from one or both of their parents. Even when children are indeed orphaned, they are often taken in by other relatives. Staying with relatives in extended family units is generally a better solution than uprooting the child completely. The State Department believes that it will take many months before the situation in those countries affected by the tsunami stabilizes to the point where the countries will be able to identify the children who are legitimate orphans. It is only if and when these countries decide to make these orphans available for international adoption that American citizens will be able to begin adoption proceedings for these children."
