The children of Liberia are most definitely precious jewels! And I agree that once Liberia is able to care for their children that it would be best for the children to remain in their birth country. But, as long as there are children starving, children without parents, children without any chance for education, there is something wrong and Liberia needs to admit that they need help. Hopefully social programs will develop to make international adoption a thing of the past. However, right now international adoption is the only chance many Liberian children have to simply live to grow up. Liberia cannot take care of her children right now. If these children truly are as precious to you as you say, why not give them the opportunity to be adopted and receive the food, medical care and education they so desperately need?

Until Liberia can take care of her children, her precious jewels, she should seek any available assistance offered whether through social programs, NGO assistance or international adoption.

What a disturbing piece of info this is? Just reading it few minutes ago, makes my flesh creep at how wicked people can be for a few dollars! Have we forgotten so quickly about the slave trade, and, the devasting effects it continues to have on us today? There are still a lot of people that today, are called "congor-people" in Liberia; and, "Aliens" in the United States; as a result of that era. Have we forgotten so early? Some of us can not forget, as, we have been called both of those names in Liberia, and here in the US. I hope these so-called 'orphanages/refuge homes' that are springing up all over the country, are genuinely meant to assist our young ones; and, not exploit them as in the past. Let us pray that those days are gone; and, anyone who wishes to reawaken them, must be dealt with according to the full strength of the Law. Thanks for the space allowed.

Child trafficking is a terrible thing and anyone participating in this crime should be prosecuted. However, we have adopted two of Liberia's precious jewels and we offer them education, shelter and food that was not so readily available in Liberia. Parents who are trying to do the best thing for their children, loving them enough to send them on to another country while Liberia is trying to rebuild a stronger nation, should not be scared by such horrendous articles. Our children came as teenagers to a family that was not "childless" only called by God to help Africa's precious jewels to survive! God help Liberia to be a strong nation that will live in peace!

While it may be nice to think that all the unregulated "adoption agencies" are simply sending these children to bring joy to rich childless couple in the developed world, it seems unlikely that this is the fate for the majority.

Many, I very much fear, are ending up exploited and prostituted.

We are an American family hoping to adopt a child and we are far from rich. We are just trying to follow God in caring for the orphans, the widows, and the strangers. We love children and will treat an adopted child as we do our own. It is hard for me to believe that any American families that go through extensive home-studies and background checks before adopting would be considered child-traffickers. It disturbs me to read an accusatory article of this nature, without all of the facts. Did the agency in question, simply misunderstand something. We may never know, but I also know after living in Zambia for a while to not believe the media. It is usually one-sided and not democratic. We in the US for some reason are always portrayed poorly and I am sick of it. We try to do good things as citizens and help others. Adoptive parents do not care whether a child is from another nationality or another continent. We consider all people of the world equal and created by our Lord. We all come from the same place and we are all brothers and sisters within this world. Although not ideal for a child to be taken out of it's home country, it is sometimes neccessary, so that the child does not have to grow up in an orphanage. We just want to give these children a family to grow up in and love.

I also wanted to add the article I found on Addy's Hope website concerning this news. Somewhat of the other side of the story.

First I would like to say that despite the unethical and illegal treatment we received by the Deputy Minister while in Liberia, we met many more wonderful Liberian people and government officials. Liberia is a wonderful country filled with mainly good, hard working, dedicated individuals. The politicians we worked with including the Honorable Representative Dr. Murray and the Liberian Speaker of the House were extremely compassionate to our plight while in Liberia and worked diligently for the law in the cases to be heard loud and clear. The whole experience was very surreal for me as I never dreamed that I would be making arguments to the man that sits in the same seat in Liberia as Nancy Pelosi sits here in the U.S.

Second, the Liberia law exonerated us of all implications of illegal behavior. You have to understand that there are two avenues in which adoptions can be processed in Liberia. The first is through an accredited adoption agency. The second is through private adoptions. Addy's Hope operates under the second provision. Accredited adoption agencies are licensed and monitored by the Deputy Minister. Private adoptions are not monitored or accredited by the Deputy Minister. So, you can imagine how much the Deputy Minister likes private adoptions. The only role the Deputy Minister plays in private adoptions is the issuance of case histories.

We were all called into the Speaker of the House's office on Wednesday. Those present included the Addy's Hope staff, the Deputy Minister, and representatives from WACSN and Angels Haven. I want to stop here and mention our extreme gratitude to Maria, the director of WACSN. Maria advocated on our behalf through this entire scenario. She is a huge champion for adoption in Liberia. I applaud her in our work in Liberian adoption and consider her a close ally in continued work in Liberia.

The Speaker reviewed all of our documents (court decrees, relinquishments, case histories, etc . . .) one by one. He called the judge that granted each court decree and verified that they were legit court decrees. The judge indicated that they were.

The Speaker then turned on the Deputy Minister and questioned him regarding his involvement in our cases. He specifically asked him 3 times what legal involvement his office had in detaining us at this point. The Deputy Minister made excuses and said he could not answer. On the fourth time, the Speaker ordered him to answer the question. The Deputy Minister hung his head low and said that "no, his office did not have any legal basis in which to detain us".

The Speaker then told the Deputy Minister that he did not wish to force his hand on the issue, but he would rather the Deputy Minister reconsider his actions and withdraw his letters that were detaining us. Later that day, the Deputy Minister sent a letter to the U.S. Embassy and the Ministry of Defense (this is the ministry that would have detained us at the airport should we have tried to leave). The letter said that our children should be allowed to leave the country. I read the letter sent to the U.S. Embassy. It did not have a great deal of detail, just releasing us to leave the country.

I along with Pastor Wesley, Maria from WACSN, and Representative Murray then went to the Embassy to pick up our Visas. While we were there, we were able to have a meeting about our situation with Tom in the Consulars office and the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy (I don't remember her whole name, but I think her first name was Brooks). After our meeting, Tom issued us our visas. I mention all of these details because the Deputy Minister has published an article in the Liberian Newspaper saying that we sneaked the kids out of the country. Rest assured that visas were issued by the U.S. Embassy, we were processed through immigration at the Monrovia airport by the Liberian government, and we each went through Immigration Customs at the Chicago Airport by the U.S. Government. As you know, if we were sneaking kids out, none of these steps would be possible.

We are glad to be home now, but please know the fight is not over. We as an agency are taking legal action against the Deputy Minister. I have authorized Pastor Wesley to hire an attorney to bring suit against the Deputy Minister for his actions. Please know that when I say bring suit against him, you can not think of this with 'American eyes'. We simply want to bring him to court so that a legal proceeding can be documented concerning the Deputy Minister's illegal actions.

As I am sure that this posting will circulate to other boards, and at many levels I hope it does, please know that this man, the Deputy Minister, is no friend of adoption. His motives are less than pure. Through out our many dialogues with this man, it became very clear that he is against adoption and very much in alignment with UNICEF which we all know is bad news for the international adoption community. In fact many of the people that work in his office are employed by UNICEF.

Some of the immediate concerns we have with the Deputy Minister as new guidelines for adoption are being developed by his office include the following: requiring adoptive families to live/cohabitate with biological families for a time period of 3 weeks so that Americans can understand their culture; requiring a 3 week stay with the elimination of ALL escorting; requiring a monitored pre-adoptive visit by the adoptive parents--the way this was described was that adoptive families would have to make an additional trip to meet the child before the adoption decree could be issued. The visit would be monitored to insure that there is a fit between parent/child.

As I read the article that the Deputy Minister had published in Liberia, I think the most disturbing aspect is that he indicated he just wanted to verify that the biological parents were on board with the adoptions. He earlier in the week told us this as well. We asked then if he would meet with the biological parents. He agreed. We then sent for all of the biological parents from all over the country. Some of these people drove over 8 hours, some driving all night to make the appointment. When we got to the appointment, the Deputy Minister dismissed them and escorted them out of his office saying he would not meet with them after making a few brief comments. The biological parents were devastated, many crying, as all they wanted was a better life for their children. Many of the biological parents were still in Monrovia when we received our clearance-they were ecstatic to know we were given our clearance. It was such a humbling thing to see the trust these parents put in us to find loving forever homes for their children. Please understand that the biological families love their children dearly. Pastor Wesley and his staff does a wonderful job of counseling these parents about what adoption is. A document that you don't see is a pre- relinquishment form that Pastor Wesley completes with each biological family. In it, we go over every option with the families before they can relinquish their children. After all, the best thing for any child is to be raised first by their loving biological parents. If that is not possible for whatever reason, adoption is a beautiful next option. Another thing you should know is that I met with each biological parent individually. I asked them each two questions. The first was "were you payed or coerced into relinquishing your child?" The second was "do you want your child back, because if you do, we will grant them back to your custody?" Each parent answered both questions no.

I hope this helps shed light on the experiences we had in Liberia. We were blessed with incredible families traveling with us. Again, I cannot thank Maria with WACSN enough for her advocation on our behalf. I also credit Angels Haven for sending a representative as well.

As we continue to sort out these details, I'm sure we will have much more to share. Until then, know we are so thankful to be home and to the very faithful God that we serve.

John Petree President Addy's Hope Adoption Ministry Created by Addy's Hope. All Rights Reserved *Children pictured may not be available for adoption

I did some research on The Analyst ( the Liberian newspaper that originally printed the accusations of child trafficking, etc ). It seems to me that this paper does not have a reputation of reliable reporting in Liberia and was even shut down by the government for a period of time. If that is true - then why are these other papers so quick to print this story without any independent research of the facts. I believe the innocent people of Liberia have become victims of these lies that are being reported! Is there anyone in Liberia with the courage to print the truth and hold these officials accountable to abide by Liberian laws. As a US citizen, I know some of my tax dollars go to support programs in Liberia. I am happy to support any country that is ethical and law-abiding. But I am very concerned that the truth is not being reported about US adoption practices and Liberian laws are not being followed in regards to adoptions with Addy's Hope and other private agencies. I hope and pray that someone in power in Liberia will step up to the plate and see to it that ALL U.S. ADOPTIONS are processed legally and ethically, and correct all the lies that are being published about the U.S. and our adoptions before it does permanent damage to our US/Liberian relationship! Until this happens, I will be contacting all my US representatives and request that they put a hold on all US tax funding to Liberia until this situation is corrected. From a very concerned US citizen

We adopted two children from Liberia via an accredited agency. I consider it a solemn honor and a grave responsibility to raise my children as best I can. I love Liberia. I love the country and I love the people. Liberia is important to me because it is important to my children. It is my hope that my children will return to Liberia as adults, with the education they've received in the US... opportunities that we in the US take for granted... and use this to help better life in Liberia.

We are also grateful for the support and love we've received from the Liberian immigrant community where we live. Thank you for teaching all of us more about traditional Liberian culture... even if my pepper soup is pretty bad!

I believe that there is a potiential for abuse in international adoption and I support any and all attempts by the Liberian government and the US government to halt illegal and unethical practices. But I also believe that the majority of international adoptive parents take on the responsibility of raising children not born to them with great respect and reverence.

I hope that someday intercountry adoption is no longer necessary, that every child in Liberia will have a family to love them, adequate food, shelter, healthcare and education. Until then, I promise to be the best adoptive parent I can to my children.

Thank you.