The Problem....

I mentioned in our first post that right now Sarah is "stuck" in Cambodia.  We are so thankful she is in a great orphanage that loves her and cares for her needs.  (Check out placeofrescue.com).   But as much as they love her, the directors of the orphanage also strongly believe that Sarah needs to be placed in a loving family who can give her the extra love and attention she needs...and to be in a place where she can access the extra supports that would benefit her.  Supports that she will not receive in Cambodia. 

As I mentioned before, Cambodia (as of Jan 2013) is now open for inter-country adoptions.  Canada, however, is not allowing Canadian citizens to adopt from Cambodia.  
We have not been able to get many straight answers on why Canada has maintained its suspension on Cambodia. But from what we have researched and been told by our AB gov't...it boils down to our government deciding that Cambodia does still not yet meet the requirements of the Hague Convention.  (For info on what the Hague is you can read: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/adoption/hague.asp .) In the past, there have been some cases of child trafficking.  Children who were not legitimate orphans were being sold to families in the States who did not know the true story of the children.  Money was being made by dishonest people in Cambodia taking advantage of poor/desperate families.  

The frustrating part for us, is that we are BY ALL MEANS in support of stopping child trafficking and for improving adoption programs to ensure the safety of all children.  BUT by stopping adoptions completely, there are so many children (like Sarah) who are LEGITIMATE orphans who are being denied the right to be a part of a loving adoptive family.   It is not in Sarah's best interest to have to wait.  We don't believe she should have to "suffer" for all of the problems that others have caused.  There is paperwork proving that Sarah is an orphan and that her parents are not choosing to keep her.  There is strong research and information that explains how important it is for children to bond with their adoptive families at as young age as possible.  She is missing out on opportunities to access prosthetics and other therapy etc. that would help her to live a successful life without arms.  

So, this is the problem.  Our AB gov't knows we want to adopt Sarah, the Cambodian gov't knows that we want to adopt Sarah.  The Cambodian gov't is willing to cooperate, but the AB gov't is not willing to let us move forward.  We keep getting told that we have to "wait".  We have been waiting...and waiting...and waiting.  It is one thing to wait with a guaranteed date and "yes" at the end to look forward to.  It is a whole other ballgame to wait with no idea of when it will happen...or if it will ever happen.  We are hoping and praying for a miracle.  We are hoping and praying for another door to open that we can pursue to bring Sarah home.