Joint Council Call to Action: Vietnam

Happy New Year to Children's Hope families! Our staff is praying for all of our families for a great year of much joy in 2009. We are especially praying for our Vietnam families, currently waiting through the Vietnam moratorium with strength and resolution.

Joint Council is seeking to bring a fresh awareness and show of support to the Child's Rights Campaign. Yesterday, the Council released the following Congressional details and information on how you can personally make a difference:

Joint Council's Congressional Update, January 5, 2009

Senators Landrieu and Coleman, along with other Members of Congress, are continuing to show their support of ensuring every child’s right to a permanent, safe, and loving family. As part of their commitment, they will be forwarding a letter to Nguyen Tan Dung, the Prime Minister of Vietnam. This letter will encourage Vietnam’s continued participation in negotiations related to the new bilateral agreement on intercountry adoption. The letter will express Congressional support for the continuation of intercountry adoption and will emphasize the importance of the transition to a Hague-compliant system and a new bilateral treaty.

How You Can Make an Impact

Between Monday, January 5th and Wednesday, January 7th, individuals can support this important initiative through the following methods:

Contact your Congressional Representatives and Senators and ask them to sign the letter to the Prime Minister of Vietnam regarding the future of intercountry adoptions from Vietnam. Also, note that if they are interested in signing, they should contact Sarada Peri from Senator Landrieu’s office (Sarada_Peri@landrieu.senate.gov) by Wednesday, January 7th. For a list of Senators and Congressman that have signed the letter as of the time of this writing, please see below.

You can find your Senators’ phone numbers and email address at www.senate.gov.

You can find your Representatives’ phone numbers and email address at www.house.gov.

Send a notice of support (and ensure that you receive updates on this initiative) via the Joint Council website. To do so, you will need to follow the steps below:

1) Click here to go to Joint Council’s Webpage.
Please note: this is a donation and sign-up page. However, this initiative is not an appeal for a donation.
2) Once on this page, please click, “Sign me up for Joint Council news.”
Under the communications preferences, select the drop down menu for “Newsflashes and Updates"
3) Click “Sign me up.”
4) Fill in your information
5) Under the comment section type “Letter to Vietnam Prime Minister.” Joint Council will also be forwarding the names of individuals who contact us to Senators Landrieu and Coleman.

The letter to the Prime Minister can only be successful with your help! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Joint Council staff via advocate@jcics.org.

Please note the following Senators have already signed the letter to the Prime Minister of Vietnam:
Senator Landrieu
Senator Coleman
Senator Oberstar
Senator Lincoln
Senator Lautenberg
Senator Menendez
Senator Kerry
Senator Johnson
Senator Bill Nelson
Senator Akaka
Senator Roberts
Senator Murkowski
Senator Durbin
Senator Klobuchar

Please note the following Representatives have already signed the letter to the Prime Minister of Vietnam:
Rep. Jim Oberstar
Rep. Scott Garrett
Rep. Jerry Costello
Rep. Joe Pitts