Journey to Chloe
This is the journal recording our family story as we travel to China to adopt a beautiful little baby girl. Chloe is from Qinzhou ("chin"-"jo") City in the Guangxi Province of China. She was born January 19, 2004, Year of the Sheep.
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Friday, April 28, 2006
SB 1393 Gains First Victory
Tuesday was our hearing in Sacramento to present SB 1393, regarding International re-adoption in the state of California, before the Senate Judiciary Committee. A few hours before the presentation, I was given an amended form of the bill. It was seriously flawed, but I was told I needed to accept these amendments for now to get past the committee and then I could fix it later.....I sure hope so.
Anyway, our bill passed unanimously, even though there was a woman who spoke in opposition to the bill and made wild accusations and outright lies about the consequences. This success has created quite the firestorm. People are now coming out from all locations to support the efforts of getting this bill passed. It has a long way to go. Next onto the Senate, then the Assembly committee process, then the Assembly and then finally back to the Senate.
We should be having an informational website up and running very soon. We will have to travel to Sacramento at least one more time to speak on behalf of this bill, probably in July. After I get a chance to rework this bill, I will post a link to it sometime next week.
Monday, April 24, 2006
We're Off to the State Capitol!
For the past month, I have been working with my local State Senator to draft legislation that would simplify re-adoption law for international adoptees in California. Our present system is redundant, costly and interpreted differently from county to county and even court to court.
Senator Dean Forez' solution was to draft SB 1393 to streamline the re-adoption process in California. Not surprisingly, this bill has met opposition from adoption agencies who use current law to charge their clients high fees to prepare reports that restate reports we have already paid for. These adoptions have already been FINALIZED in the foreign country. Re-adoption should merely be a process to formally RECOGNIZE these adoptions, as is the case in at least 28 other states. Additionally, this bill also simplifies the procedure to obtain a state-issued birth certificate for our adopted children.
Tomorrow, I will get the chance to speak before the Senate Judiciary Committee on behalf of this bill. If it passes this committee, it will go before the full legislature. Be sure to stay tuned for photos and updates!