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Chances for Children and Both Ends Burning
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Chances for Children and Both Ends Burning
June 27, 2009
Media Contact:
Tripp Baltz, 303.358.3371, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Chances for Children: Confronting the Crisis in International Adoption
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.--The orphaned children of the world deserve a chance. A chance for a future. A chance for a better life.
But those chances are disappearing for many of them as international adoptions have plummeted in recent years. In 2004, international adoptions to the U.S. hit an all-time high of 22,824, according to the State Department. Since then they have plunged by more than 20 percent, falling to 17,438 in 2008. Some agencies in the U.S. are predicting international adoptions could be as low as 10,000 by 2010.
Craig M. Juntunen, founder of Chances for Children, an organization working for a better future for the orphaned children of the world, is confronting the international adoption crisis head-on. The foundation runs an orphanage in Lamardelle, Haiti, and works unceasingly to find families for children without them. Now Chances for Children is making a big push to reverse the declining trend in international adoption and transform the process so it is more affordable and less bureaucratic for American families.
In July, Chances for Children will conduct a nationwide survey of some 10,000 respondents to determine American attitudes about international adoption. The organization also will coordinate five focus groups this summer to examine adoption trends and gather information about the adoption process. It will conduct a statistical analysis and release its findings by Labor Day.
"We're going to have the most current data about the problems international adoption is facing," Juntunen said. "Then we are going out on a campaign to make a real, positive difference for the world's orphans. What we're trying to do is change society."
The foundation also will work with members of Congress and state policymakers to achieve stronger, more affordable pathways for international adoption.
Juntunen admits he is one of the least likely guys to take on such a challenge. In 2006, he and his wife Kathi adopted three children from Haiti. Three years later, Juntunen published a book telling the emotional story of how he found his children amid the squalor of Port-au-Prince, and, in the process, discovered his own capacity to be a father.
For Craig, the journey to parenthood was transformative and profound. The book, Both Ends Burning: My Story of Adopting Three Children from Haiti, is being called the Marley and Me of parenting. It's a compelling, human and emotional story, one that challenges us to reach out and serve kids in need. Reviewers have attested to how deeply the book has moved them . . . the experience of reading it comes with laughs and tears, and with the call to protect, nurture and cherish children.
Now Juntunen and Chances for Children are working to avert a global tragedy for orphaned children. "Our role as advocates for children and international adoption is growing," he said. "We are also expanding into community cultivation; aiding schools, providing clean water, supporting medical clinics, and assisting agricultural development in poverty-stricken countries."
Children abroad deserve no less than children here at home. Chances for Children is on a campaign to provide homes, families, and a future, to the orphaned children.
Juntunen is available for scheduling interviews and speaking engagements at 480.502.2393 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or through Tripp Baltz, media contact, at 303.358.3371 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
