STUCK

Last Saturday, Jon and I attended the Dallas showing of STUCK.  The film was produced by the organization Both Ends Burning to bring awareness to the crisis that's building in international adoption.  The film followed the stories of three families, each who's adopted from a different country.  One of the families was in the middle of adopting from Vietnam when that country closed to inter-country adoption.  My heart ached for them as we watched their desperation grow as they fought to bring their son home.  After the film a couple from Arkansas got up and spoke about fighting to bring their daughter home from Guatemala for the past six years. They're still fighting.  For a family who's at the beginning of their international adoption journey, the whole evening was very sobering and a little terrifying.  However--heart-wrenching terror aside--I encourage you, beg you, to watch this film.  Even if you're caring for the orphan here in the U.S. or if adoption isn't on your radar at all, these kids are worth fighting for.  Check out the trailer below; you can watch the film in its entirety at http://buy.stuckdocumentary.com/.  

Contrary to popular belief that international adoption is "trendy" and that loads of people are doing it, it is actually becoming more difficult--more expensive, more complicated--which is turning a lot of people away.  Some countries are more difficult to adopt from than others.  Ethiopia has historically been one of the easier countries to adopt from, which led to the peak number of Americans adopting from Ethiopia in 2010.  But, check out the stats below from adoption.state.gov--even in 2010, only 2,511 American families adopted from Ethiopia.  Things started tightening up and getting a little more difficult in 2011, and you can see that nearly 800 less families adopted from Ethiopia that year.  The stats aren't posted for 2012 yet, but I'm sure they will be even lower.  For a country with approximately 5 million orphans, that's not a lot of kids being adopted.  

I pray that international adoption doesn't continue to become more and more difficult. Please watch the film, and sign the petition which the leaders of Both Ends Burning will be presenting on Capitol Hill this May.

Adoption Statistics

Adoptions from Ethiopia to U.S. by year

2011	1732
2010	2511
2009	2275
2008	1723
2007	1254
2006	731
2005	442
2004	284
2003	165
2002	105
2001	165
2000	95
1999	42