Foster Care Redesign Is Not Working In Texas

I have had several people asking me about my testimony last week at the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. I ended up discarding my planned testimony to address the misinformation that had already been spoken in the hearing. I simply spoke to the Committee about my experience and the reality of the system for children. However, the Committee did receive this written testimony.

The hearing was actually over Senate Bill 11 which has Foster Care Redesign moving forward across the state, but even more alarming is that it wants to privatize even more rolls of CPS! If you know someone who works for CPS, you need to make sure they are aware of this Bill.  It would do away with their job with DFPS. This Bill is very alarming! I will be posting bullet points tomorrow that I would ask everyone to call their Senator and Representative to voice the concerns and challenge the misinformation being given.

This is what I presented to the Committee:

To:                   House Health and Human Services Committee Members

Background/Perspective:

I am a former foster parent, mother to 9 children (6 of whom are adopted), and executive director of an adopt only child placing agency. I have managed a contract with DFPS for adoption services for the past three and a half years. I attempted to secure a contract with Providence, and currently have a contract with OCOK. I have been a part of the adoption community for the past 15 years. I have a passion to empty the Texas foster system of children who are legally free for adoption, but remain in foster homes because of a lack of adoptive homes. I have a passion for recruiting, training, and supporting adoptive homes to ensure successful, life-long outcomes for our children who cannot return to their biological families.

Problems with Senate Bill 11

First, let me thank the committee for seeing the current state of our child welfare system and desiring a change. I commend you for that. However, upon reading the majority of Senate Bill 11, I am left with a sense of dread as it is clear that the issues with our system have been misdiagnosed. The issues that plague our current system and result in poor outcomes for children cannot be fixed with the continued roll out of Foster Care Redesign or the privatization of more case management services.

My concerns over privatization of any aspect of case management for our children as well as the continued roll out of redesign across the state come not from theory or unsubstantiated fear. My concerns come from my actual experience with redesign and the current philosophy that the competition of the free market will ensure better outcomes for children.

My first experience with redesign was in 2014 when Providence, the SSCC in the catchment area for regions 2 and 9 refused to discuss a contract with me as an adoption only provider. During my first phone call to Providence I was told “We would never stand in the way of children finding a home.” That changed over the course of my 6 week battle for a sibling group of 4 to be placed in one of my licensed adoptive homes. I had a contract with DFPS. I met all of their requirements. My licensed home was located in the same catchment area, but because the SSCC would lose money by placing the children in my licensed home the placement was denied. That is a decision that was driven completely by profit margin. The outcome for those four children was a sentence to languish in foster care for three more years. One child remains in CPS custody still today. The siblings who would have remained a unit, are no longer able to live in the same home. Did redesign fix the system for those children?

Providence withdrew their contract in the midst of my conversations with the HHSC as well as Kaysie Reinhardt the DFPS Foster Care Redesign Director. As I continued to work in Region 9, my agencies home region, to place waiting children in licensed adoptive homes through my DFPS contract, I would have to wait 6 months for a case file for a little girl and her brother so that one of my families could move forward with adopting them. When I inquired time and again why we were having to wait, it was stated that the overwhelming task of transferring cases back to CPS from Providence had left the department paralyzed. What we would learn later is that every Sunday of that 6 months, that little girl went up to the alter at her church and prayed for an adoptive family. She had an amazing foster family who did a wonderful job of beginning her healing process and preparing her for a forever family. However, week after week, the little girl expressed her feelings of rejection that no one wanted her as their forever daughter. The heart ache of trauma of this little girl was extended by 6 months because of the failed privatized system of foster care redesign. I am happy to report that once redesign was out of the way, the little girl’s prayers were answered. She and her brother are thriving in their adoptive home and have far exceeded anyone’s expectations of progress in the time they have been in their adoptive home. Redesign did not fix the system for these children. And the case turn over when Providence withdrew leaves the question, what will we do with massive case turnovers when a SSCC does not renew their contract if we continue the move to privatization. There is not a good answer. It is an inevitable occurrence that will once again leave Texas children vulnerable and unaccounted for.  We are simply exchanging the cancer that currently plagues our system for another.

This was not an isolated occurrence with Providence. In the January of 2016 I was contacted by CPS and asked if I had an adoptive home for the twin sister of a 16 year old I had placed a few months prior. The sister was now ready to be adopted, and her amazing CPS worker was attempting to find a home geographically close to her twin sister to facilitate regular contact between the twins. Again foster care redesign threatened to stop the placement of a 16 year old girl simply because of financial reasons. I have black and white emails where the SSCC worker was willing to let her remain in an RTC instead of working to place her in an adoptive home that was ready to take placement – and could have moved forward without any hesitancy in the legacy system. Thankfully the potential adoptive parents along with the adoptive parents of the twin sister already placed advocated for their daughters. With the help of Representative Brooks Landgraff and Matt Krause, we were able to secure a contract with OCOK in order to place this young lady in a home where she is currently thriving – maintaining regular contact with her twin sister. For this young lady, redesign was a huge step backwards. She has a bright future despite redesign.

I hear many sing the praises of foster care redesign. There are many goals of redesign that I support 100%. However, as a person working on the ground, I do not see those goals being obtained for the children of Texas. I hear reports that are given by the people with a vested interest – either an interest in financial gain or an interest in saving face that redesign is worth the tax payer dollars it has used. This leads me to one of the biggest concerns of child advocates with privatization. How do we ensure quality outcomes when profit margin is the driving force? I am perplexed when I speak to those at DFPS as well as some who serve on the PPP for redesign. They all state there are amazing outcomes from redesign. It leaves me wondering where is the disconnect between the theory of what should be happening in this privatized system and the reality of what is actually happening for our children in care. For example, everyone I speak to about my concerns with adoptions under redesign refers to the increased number of adoptions occurring in catchment area 3b.  Yet, I have a conversation with the CASA office in Johnson County telling me that they have not had any of their children placed in adoptive homes in months and are wondering why that would be. I personally have experienced an increased delay in the process of selecting children for adoptive homes under redesign. If I am working with a CPS worker directly in the selection process, it takes a matter of weeks. Twice I have had to enlist the assistance of Governor Abbott’s office to simply get a phone call or email returned to by OCOK letting me know if children are still available for adoption or if my family was selected. Yet the numbers say adoptions are increasing. When I asked Ms. Reinhardt to see the numbers for actual adoptive placements of children who are legally free for adoption and placed into matched adoptive homes, I was told that data was unavailable. The adoption numbers being reported include those where children were adopted by their foster family as well as kinship placements. These are amazing and highly desired outcomes for those children. However, the reporting of those numbers as “adoptive homes” gives an inaccurate representation of the outcomes for our harder to place children who are remaining in foster homes when they should be in permanent, adoptive homes. 

I would encourage those on the HHSC committee to talk to the people on the ground. Ask foster families and CPS workers if they see an improvement in our system under redesign. I have yet to speak to any CPS case manager or foster family who feels redesign is a good model. At a town hall meeting in catchment area 3b, foster family after foster family expressed concerns over lack of support and poor outcomes for children. One foster family stated that they had a bed available in their home that was 20 miles from a CPS office where an infant was having to stay at the office due to no “available” bed. This foster mother was a 3b home and was therefore not allowed to take placement of this baby sleeping in a CPS office. So while redesign may show that fewer children are sleeping in offices, what do the numbers of the regions around redesign say? Is anyone looking at the entire picture to see what creating a competitive market for children’s cases does overall to Texas children? I have a string of emails I will be happy to share that show a region 3b family reaching out to a CPS worker in another region about adopting a Texas child because she has had no movement on her case in months. The CPS worker has a child she would like to consider placing in their home after visiting with the family. However, the placement is not allowed to occur because the family is told that her agency will not release her home study for a placement of any child outside of 3b. This young man’s only other family being considered was in New York. I believe this is an unintended outcome of implementation of redesign. But is anyone looking at these unintended outcomes? Or are we just looking at the numbers in the catchment area and ignoring the negative outcomes for all other Texas children?

Based on my experience, I would have to say the latter. CPS workers have been told they cannot speak out against redesign, or they will lose their jobs. My initial contract with OCOK had a silencing clause in it. Had I signed the contract as it was originally sent to me, I would not be able to sit before you today exercising my right to speak up for children without the threat of legal action against me. This begs the question, if redesign is all the numbers say it is, why do we have to silence the people who know the actual outcomes for children?

I understand the concept of free-market supply and demand. In a consumer driven market, consumer choice drives the demand for quality. I am told that is what will maintain the quality of care for children under privatized systems like redesign. Yet, I know providers who are being paid less under their contracts with OCOK than they were under contracts with DFPS. When asked why that is, service providers are told that OCOK must recoup some of it’s cost somewhere. How is paying a middle man, in this case an SSCC, making the best use of the funds available to in fact provide quality service to our children? That fact alone defies the entire philosophy of creating a privatized system that will ensure quality care of our Texas children.  We already have a vast shortage of agencies willing to license families for adoption only due to the drastic profit loss when an agency moves a child from a foster placement to an adoptive placement. That shows that outcomes for children will in fact be affected by a system based on monetary incentives. How will we ensure biological families are protected, and every child who could be returned home will be when an organization would profit from the child remaining in care? You cannot afford to give large enough incentives to reunify a child compared to what an organization would earn for keeping the child in care.

We need not look to Florida or any other state to see if privatization of DFPS case management works. The private sector in Texas, of which my organization is part, has proven is does not have the capacity to manage the vast needs of our children in care. This is why Providence failed and why we have seen no other redesign roll outs despite deadlines that have come and gone for the next SSCC to take over.

Suggested Solution:

I believe if someone brings a complaint to the table, they should have a proposed solution as well. The sections of Senate Bill 11 suggesting we continue the roll out of foster care redesign as it is as well as begin to create privatization of other case management currently under the supervision of DFPS are simply exchanging one crisis for another.

I work with amazing people with DFPS who have a heart for children. They have a desire to do their job well so children have positive outcomes. However, they simply cannot do their jobs because of caseloads and supervisor turnover. We need to funnel all of our available funds into strengthening salary scales, and hiring more workers to make caseloads manageable. We need to have accountability on the local level and empower our regional offices to engage the community and take ownership of their outcomes for children. Harris County is giving us an amazing example of how this can work. Let us learn from their success and stop redesign roll out. We cannot simply exchange one cancer for another. We need real, proven, successful outcomes for our children. We must look at the facts of redesign as they apply to all Texas children and understand it has not truly created the outcomes it was in theory able to create. We cannot allow competition for outcomes and profits in one area of Texas by an individual organization keep children from another area of Texas from receiving quality care of permanence. We must not be divided in our efforts to help children, but come together united for all Texas children.

The question I leave with you is: if you want to continue the roll out of privatization of any case management of children where demand drives quality, what is the price tag for ensuring our children have the safety and future they deserve? I am quite certain it is a price you cannot afford. 

***After hearing some amazing people who have a heart of the children of Texas speak against Senate Bill 11 and all it's challenges, it became clear that there should be a pilot program that would fully fund one region of CPS from investigations all the way through post adopt programs. Lets fund the current CPS program with the money they are using to fund redesign and see if by chance what we have now will actually work when it is fully funded! Our children do not have time for us to get this wrong....and Foster Care Redesign is too costly and has already failed in one of two attempts! Our children cannot survive under those odds! 

For Such a Time as This

The past few weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind as I have found myself once again in the middle of a battle with government and bureaucracy for the welfare of children.  Only this time, it's local!

It took almost two years to secure our contract with DFPS to place waiting children in adoptive homes.  When I first started the process, even the DFPS contract managers told me it would be a difficult and life-draining process.  They were right.  But we knew God had revealed to us the orphan crisis in our own backyard for us to make a difference....not to just walk away and pretend like we didn't know.  So I pressed on.  We placed our first waiting children in an adoptive home in December, and they finalized last month.  If all that work was done for just those two kids...it would be worth it...because every child deserves a home! But there are 13,000+ still waiting.

That's why when I was made aware of a sibling group of four kids who have had parent rights terminated for over a year with NOTHING done according to policy of CPS to try to find an adoptive home, I jumped to action.  Initially just because we had an adoptive home that was open to looking at the possibility of adopting them.  There is so much more to their story and the travesty of it, but that will have to be a post for another time! My efforts to find them a home were met with a huge brick wall!  Texas is undergoing a foster care redesign and evidently sometime between February when I was told adoption wasn't part of it and June when I am trying to find a home for children whom the system has failed for a year now, adoption became part of it.  The details are appalling and make it obvious that the issue is money and not welfare of children, but that too is a post for another day also.

I spent the better part of the next two days on the phone with officials trying to explain the issue that would severely limit the availability of adoptive homes for the 13,000+ children who are waiting.  On July 3, I found myself on a phone call with a foster care redesign attorney with DFPS and a couple of other people.  It became obvious that this was not going to be an issue easily fixed.  I was defeated.  I was left wondering where God was in all of it! I knew He had called me to this work with waiting children of Texas.  It's my passion, it's become the focus of my life's calling to care for the orphan.  But I truly didn't think I could fight not one more battle in the war for these kids.  I was emotionally, physically and spiritually spent with the demands of that battle, the cases I still had to work with Addy's Hope, and the job to be wife to John and mom to 9.  I leaned over my kitchen counter and just sobbed!

"What do you want from me, GOD?!" I screamed from the deepest part of my soul!  I have fought this battle before in Liberia. I had to walk away from that one without success leaving children and families broken in the wake of those events.  What are you asking me to do now?  What more do you want from me?

I knew I had to have a break at the very least.  So I determined to not work for the 4th of July weekend and take that time to enjoy my family.  I spent most of that weekend trying to figure out how to shut Addy's Hope down.  I truly didn't know how I could continue to work passionately for children to keep hitting government bureaucracy that stood between them and forever families.  It was one thing to deal with that in a third world country half way around the world, but to once again be face to face with this monster in my own country, in my own state in a "civilized" society was more then I felt I could continue to battle. But come Monday morning, God was waiting for me when I got still and started my quiet time with Him.

I had heard a couple of teachings on the dry bones coming to life in Ezekiel 37.  I had turned there that morning.  I started in verse 36 to try and get a little intro to what was happening in 37.  As I read, I felt the despair and hopelessness of the situation melt away.  The Spirit of the Lord spoke to Gideon telling him that what he saw with his eyes was not reality.  He told him to tell the bones to get up...then piece by piece, the bones became an army that could fight for him!  As I read, I knew God was reminding me that what I was being told by those I was talking with was the physical world, but God was telling me to speak life into the situation!  He was reminding me that the true reality of what was happening was in what He had planned.  He brought to mind several Words that had been shared with my be key people in my life.  He showed me how they were for this time and this exact situation.  Then He did something I don't know that I can ever remember Him doing in my walk with Him.  He gave me a choice.

We always have a choice.  I know that.  We can choose life, or we can choose death.  We can choose obedience, or we can choose sin.  But this time was not like that.  This time He spoke to me like I would one of my children who were contemplating a decision.  He assured me that He knew the sacrifice this battle would take.  He told me it would be hard,  it will take all you have to fight it. Then He assured me that I could walk away from it.  It wasn't a "you can walk away, but you will be walking in disobedience" rebuke.  It was truly a choice.  I felt like what I think Jesus must have felt in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Obviously not nearly to the extent of sacrifice that Jesus had to make or the agony he felt, but a similar scenario.  God was telling me this is truly a choice.  However, there were some "buts" to that choice.  It was a choice, "but" all the work I had done in Liberia with the government there was for such a time as this.  It was a choice, "but" the working of the CPS contract and having an agency doing only adoptive placements of waiting children was for this time and place.  So much of the heart ache and the walking through the valleys was for this moment.  It truly felt like God was saying, "This is the moment I created you for!  But I know it will cost you, and you can walk away from it.  Just know that all you have suffered in walking out your faith, beliefs and passion has prepared you for this battle. Now what are you going to do?"  He assured me the battle would be won.  He had already declared it in the heavenlies.  However, He also made clear that pulling that victory down from heaven to earth would require going to battle.  In my work with Addy's Hope, I have always felt inferior.  Inferior as a professional, inferior as a tiny agency, inferior in just about every way possible.  Can I tell you something? God knows our insecurities!  And that morning He spoke directly to mine when He said, "Do not be ashamed or timid because you are a small agency - you are David and I will give you the stones of Truth and wisdom to sleigh Goliath."  (And to confirm that one of my amazing families made a reference to David and Goliath just a few days later!)

And with that, I had a decision to make.....

Aristotle visits Liberia

Criticism is something we can avoid by saying nothing, doing nothing, being nothing. ~Aristotle

I don't usually quote Aristotle, but this was in a book I am reading and hit home. I imagine this will end up on a canvas in my office! This has been one of the hardest lessons of the ministry I am in and the government work God has called me to in Liberia. So often, I know without a doubt what God is calling me to do, yet it goes against the positive public opinion. Many times it is just because when you sit in different seats you see different angles. Sitting in the seat I am in as adoption professional, been there done that adoptive parent, and person talking to the government officials, I have a different angle than many of my critics. I am also charged with the job of caring for all children, not just my personal ones who I want to adopt. I know I made this same mistake as an adoptive parent talking to my adoption agency. I just wanted Eden home, well Eden and the other two children who were being adopted when I want to get Eden. But those to come after them really weren't my concern, but they should have been.

I have been quiet many times for fear of backlash. But what God has revealed to me over the past few weeks is that the only fear that is appropriate, is fear of HIM! He is the one holding Victory in His hands. He brought this home again over Easter. He has conquered the grave. That same spirit that raised Jesus from death lives in me! Why do I have fear of man? Greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world!

There are two people that I have dealt with in Liberia who have amazed me time and again at their actions. One is just two people removed from the President. He is a Deputy Minister which is like the officials in the US government who are directly under Secretaries of the different government entities such as the Secretary of State. Mr. Joseph Geebro is Deputy Minister of Health and Social Welfare. My first encounter with this man was when a UNICEF worker advised him to put the passports of my son and the other 8 children being adopted with him on hold. He is the reason that we almost did not get to bring Toben home. He is the reason all of our adoptive families had to pay thousands of dollars to have their plane tickets changed plus the expense of staying in Liberia an extended time. However, I am pleased to say that God has replaced that money! It was His anyway! But that was just the beginning.

Since that time, this man has continually stepped in the way of Liberian children receiving care. In just our tiny organization in Liberia he has held our container captive ultimately requiring us to pay $7,000 in taxes to get what should have been a duty free container out of port. Thus he stopped the construction of a school for the children of Margibi County in Liberia. That $7,000 was going to build the walls and desks to complete the school. So thanks to Mr. Geebro, the children of Marbigi County still don't have a free school on the road to Marshall. The shell sits there, waiting for us to have the funds to complete it and open it. The Ministry of Education in Liberia is so excited about our efforts. Unlike the Ministry of Health, they have been so supportive and told us that they will help in any way they can to see that our efforts to help the Liberian children are successful. What a concept!

The next major intervention of Mr. Geebro came as the death of Matthew, a precious little boy that God entrusted to our care. Matthew's parents had been to three other organizations begging for help, but had been turned away. We were the first ones to say we would take him and all that entailed. He was our first special needs baby. Matthew taught me more than any other child we have had in our care! Matthew will live on in my heart forever...he will be memorialized in many of the actions I take as he is the motivation for them! Matthew lost his fight for life when the Ministry of Health, specifically, Geebro's office and a lady that works for him Ms. Lydia Sherman, refused to allow Matthew to travel to Ghana for the medical care he so desperately needed. We had done everything we knew to do for Matthew. We were not comfortable with Matthew having surgery in Liberia as we were concerned about what would be found when he was opened. However, unknown to me at the time, another US organization was working with the Ministry of Health. This organization was putting Matthew on their blog as if they were in charge of his care....not paying a dime or providing any food or workers for his care....but claiming he was in their care. I am pretty sure that is called fraud, but once again, any words I said in this situation made me out to be the bad guy, back to that criticism quote, while I was the one who had been fighting for Matthew all along! I was the one paying personally for his care when the agency couldn't afford it. I was the one doing the fundraiser to raise the $2,000 he needed for medical care. Which by the way, the amazing foundation called the Hext Foundation, made sure Matthew had all he needed....yet Geebro and Sherman said, NO! He can't leave because he might disappear. Disappear??? He was traveling with the woman that THEY sent to us! We were just working under what we though were their efforts to save Matthew only to find out they would block his care! I was furious! But remained silent for fear of retaliation and because of other people here affected by Matthew's death who would later turn on me as well...another lesson of how pleasing God is the ONLY way to be motivated..people are fickle! The Ministry of Health along with this organization in the US would arrange for Matthew to have surgery in Liberia and would remove him from our custody. Within only three days of Matthew being placed in the care of this other organization at the demand of the Liberian Ministry of Health, Matthew was gone. He lost the battle with life. Lydia herself told us that the home was not fit for foster children and the conditions Matthew were in were not sanitary. Really? Then why did you order him to go there? Aren't you charged with caring for the children of Liberia? Isn't that the whole purpose of the MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL WELFARE?!

Then most recently, Geebro has been accused of taking the government subsidy checks for 18 orphanages over the past 9 months. The Ministry of Health was supposed to close down these orphanages and relocate/reunify the children. But guess what? He didn't! The children are still in the care of these orphanages, the only difference? Geebro took their money! The man in charge of seeing to the well-being of Liberian children was pocketing the money given by the government to feed them. Did you see that in the Liberian papers? Of course not! Why? Because we are afraid? Afraid of what he will do since his office is in "control" of adoptions.

Well, I'm not afraid anymore! You know why? Because as I was reading my Bible this morning, I started counting the number of times I have "Geebro" written in my Bible. Why? Because as I read, God gave me promises over this man over the past2.5 years! You see, God doesn't take kindly at all to people messing with His orphans! In fact, God says it is better for a man to tie a heavy brick around his leg and jump in a lake than to cause one of his little ones harm! God also says in Proverbs 25 that the Redeemer is strong and will not plead the case of anyone who goes into the field of the fatherless. Now, these officials may not be afraid of me, and they may not think I have any power over them, but God sure does! They may get by with this for awhile, but God will have the final say....just as He did at the Resurrection! Praise God!

So here are a few places where Geebro is written in my Bible:

• Proverbs 22 ~ Do not rob the poor because he is poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate; for the Lord will plead their case and take the life of those who rob them. ~ In Jesus Name!


• Proverbs 11 ~ The righteousness of the blameless will smooth his way, but the wicked will fall by his own wickedness. ~ In Jesus Name!


• Proverbs 10 ~ He who walks in the integrity walks securely, but he who perverts his ways will be found out. ~ In Jesus Name! ~ Doing wickedness is like sport to a fool...what the wicked fears will come upon him, but the desire of the righteous will be granted. ~ In Jesus Name! ~ The way of the Lord is a stronghold (protection) to the upright, but ruin to the workers of iniquity ~ In Jesus Name!

And that is just in Proverbs! These are God's promises to me! This is what God has said to me when I have said, should we forget about adoption in Liberia? Should we cave to the demands of UNICEF and Save the Children as they make demands on these government officials if they want to keep their money! I have spoken to NUMEROUS senators, the Minister of Health the advisor to the President, even the Vice President of Liberia. They all know what this man is doing yet he holds his position! I pity these leaders when they get to judgement day as the blood of Matthew as well as the numerous other children who have been denied life because of the direct actions or their careless attitude toward the complaints brought to them about Geebro's office! God will have the final say regardless of what is done or not done on this earth!

The battle has been lonely lately! We have a group of adoption service providers. We are working together, a huge miracle in and of itself! But we are all weary as well. We feel like our efforts to help the children of Liberia are blocked at every angle and the ones with power in Liberia are really not concerned about the children. Like in any political game, they are not the "hot topic", so they get ignored. Adoptive parents are weary. Of course! Many have had their lives on hold for two years or more. That is eternity when you are waiting on a child! It wears you down and wears you out. There are really no words to describe it. When you are in that place, you want someone to blame. And I am the easiest person. I become the bad guy. That makes the battle even lonelier.

But then I read the quote again. Even when it is the people I am helping who want to turn against me, I still must fight on. Why? Because it is the children who need me...and ultimately, it is God I work for, not man! I have been silent because I felt maybe the crowd was right...maybe we needed to be silent and let the "system" work. Well, we are 15 months into a halt on adoptions that has seen the death of at least two children and who knows how many countless others that those of us funded by adoption fees could have helped but didn't because we have no money and our homes are full. Fifteen months into this, being quiet hasn't helped! As I was reading and praying about what to do, Proverbs 31:8-9 came to mind. I looked it up. "Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all the unfortunate. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the rights of the afflicted and needy." These kids are the mute! They are the unfortunate, the afflicted and needy! It is not just the kids, it is their families! They put them in our care because the conditions of Liberia and the neglect of the government brought them to a place of desperation! Proverbs 31 doesn't say be silent and wait. It says open your mouth and defend! I don't know what all that means right now, but I know sitting and waiting is over! Even if I have to go alone, God will give me the sling shot and stones to defend the giant if no army will fight with me.

If you are reading this, would you pray these scriptures with me? It is in God's Word that heaven is moved and battles are won. My bubbly, always smiling children are now forlorn and downcast. They are losing hope! I refuse to stand by while that happens! Pray with me about the next step. Is it a media campaign to expose the officials in Liberia? We have not done that because we have wanted to "play fair" while those on the other side publish untrue accounts of adoption agencies and the mistreatment/trafficking of children while they take the food right out of their mouths and we remain silent. Pray that Madam President would somehow see this post and know the acts of those in her Cabinet toward the children of her country. Pray that those here in the US dancing with the enemy would read this and tell Geebro and his office so they too can read it and hear the Word of God. Pray for their hearts to be changed. Pilot was made for the day of evil, I often wonder if that is true of these people who have all experienced the wonderful American life, whose families are still here in America while they block the poor of Liberia from being adopted and coming to have that same freedom and privilege their families enjoy. Have they too been made for the day of evil that God can use them in the same way He used Pilot, or will God use what is about to come in their demise to turn their hearts to Him and bring them to their knees and ultimately back to relationship with Him.

Pray with me! Write your Senators here in the US! Why when we are going trillions in debt are we sending millions to Liberia for them to eat the food of the children? Write your local media! Put a link to this on your blogs....to steal a Buckner motto...DO SOMETHING! Please!

God, forgive us for remaining silent. Guide us in Your ways as we seek to move forward. Silent us when we should be silent give us stones when we need to slay the giant! ~In Jesus Name ~ Amen and Amen!

Capitol Hill - check!

So my first miracle of the day on Friday was arriving at the right place BEFORE my meeting time! Those who know me know how directionally challenged I am! The fact that I navigated the subway system from VA to DC and then found the right building and office, well, let's just say, "Thank you, Jesus!!!"

I met with three Senator's offices and two reps offices. Some were seemingly more interested than others, but at any rate, we met, they have my documentation, they know my requests, and I will follow up. As I have told everyone, working with the government is much of the time like watching grass grow! But seeds were planted, and I am trusting God to water them!

I will blog more later as I study Acts and visited the Holocaust Museum, I have some heavy thoughts...need to process some more before I put them all out there!

Capitol Hill

Capitol Hill, here I come! I have meetings with three rep/senator's offices today with hopes of sneaking in two or three more with a visit to the Liberian Embassy. I'm thinking I will be working through lunch! ha!

As I have made the arrangements to meet these people over the last couple of days, the question that keeps coming up is, "what am I doing here?!" The only answer can be: GOD! I am just a little 'ol housewife from a far West Texas town. But somewhere along the way, God gave me a passion for the rights of the poor and hopeless of Liberia (Proverbs 29:7). He has called me to a be a voice to those with no voice...not just for the children, but for their parents and grandparents as well!

So today I go as not an ambassador for Liberia, but an Ambassador for Christ's Kingdom. Asking those with more power than myself to help out my brother's and sister's in Christ.

If you are just an ordinary person who God has put an extraordinary dream in your heart, GO FOR IT! Me being on capitol hill is proof that ALL things are possible with God!

Same Song 5th Verse

This is my fifth trip to Liberia...the story is the same. A few have much while many have little. Those who have much don't seem to care that many have little. I have talked to so many who agree that what we are doing is a good thing. I ask them, if we don't take care of the 59 children in our home, who will? The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare does not have the money to take care of them. Their parents don't have the money to take care of them, that is why they are here! Do these people who are opposing adoption wanting the children to just starve? Is that ok? Why should I be ok with that? Should you be ok with that? But how do I fight it? God has called me to adoption. I have contemplated many times if I can just fund raise and help the people. But God has said no! Adoption is my calling! My passion! But we use what we make in adoption to change the lives of children and adults who are left in Liberia. Why is that a bad thing?

Our opposition is far and wide. Most are "Christians" that we fight. Both in Liberia and in America. How is that? How do people who call themselves followers of Christ work against us when our desire is to feed children and help them. The list of things we have done for Liberia goes on and on...and I hope it continues to go on and on some more! But right now, I have to worry about where the next month's meal and salary money will come from. Will the Ministry of Health help me if I can't feed the children? NO! Will President Sirleaf who put the ban on adoption feed the children next month? NO! It is up to me, ok, not really up to me since God is in total control, but you get the drift. I have to make sure the money is there. And if it is not, find the avenue that God wants to use to bring the money.

But the money is really just a small part. It is also the children who sit here with out a mommy and daddy to tuck them in. I am Mother HollyAnn here at Addy's Hope. When I come to the home at the end of every day, the kids bombard me. They want a hug..they want to hear someone say their name! Their little eyes light up every time I use their name! They want to be someone special! Doesn't every child deserve that? There are 18 families waiting to tell them just how special they are, but because of government and politics, they are not allowed to.

UNICEF and Save the Children would rather see them starve than go to another culture. I have always said, and still believe that the children should reaming with a family member if at all possible! But sometimes, that just can't happen. And with the poverty that is in Liberia, families cannot take in all the children that are in need in this country.

I could go on and on. I just don't understand. I know this is my call...I know there is no walking away from it. I entertain the idea now and then, but I know down deep that God has not released me, and probably will not for quite some time! So I must press on! I must draw closer to God so that I can lean on Him and rely on His wisdom and protection and guidance.

If you are reading this, pray for me. Pray that I would have the perseverance to sustain me even when it seems that nothing is happening. Pray that I would believe with all that is within me that God is working behind the scenes even when I don't see anything happening.

On a lighter note, I had a first this trip...well many firsts, but this one was surreal. I was walking down the hall at the capital and a guy said, "Hey, I saw you on tv last night!" It took me a minute to register, then I said, "Yes you did." I am never quite sure which side of the fence anyone is on with adoption so I didn't know if I was about to get slammed or congratulated. So I just started praying for the right words and attitude whatever remarks came. I am not sure he was totally pro-adoption, but he did say he enjoyed the porgram. I had another press conference, and this time the tv station was here. It was mainly on adoption education. There is still so much ignorance here about adoption. As the Liberians say, we have to change the mindset of the people. We will be traveling to some villages to help do just that while I am here. I am excited about that as I can meet more Liberians and get out of the Monrovia area to where the real need is.

I also had another first. I did a live radio interview. That was a little unnerving, but God was so faithful and gave me the words I needed. I even saw one of the government officials that I had talked to the day before in an elevator after the interview and she said she heard it. I kind of held my breath, but let it out when she said, "I was pleased with what was said!" Yes!

Headed to bed! I am going to take tomorrow to visit with some of the people I am trying to help...the people who have nothing in Liberia! I so want to improve their quality of life!

By the way...as I type this, I am listening to Barney as 30 some-odd Liberian children sing, "Clean up, Clean up, Everybody, Every where!" Got to love it! :)