The devastation of the December 26th tsunami in South Asia has impacted everybody. Many people have sought ways of helping and many relief agencies have stepped in to bring medical supplies and personnel to help the survivors.

Faith International Adoptions has begun a relief program to help the children that survived the tsunami but lost families and homes. All donations to this program will go directly to the aid of the children and all administrative costs will be borne by the agency. Any donation will be greatly appreciated.

Whenever there is a disaster of this sort Americans step up to the plate to help. This often involves seeking information about adopting the children that survive the horror of the event. Unfortunately, as in the current situation, this is not possible for the following reasons:

• the countries involved are required to determine that a child is an orphan before he or she can be adopted. This means determining that there are no other living relatives that can take the child. It is not sufficient to say that this child is an orphan because of the terrible circumstances and investigation must be done to be in compliance with international and US laws. In a situation such as the tsunami this process will take months if not years.
• many of the countries impacted do not have adoption programs or the programs have requirements that are difficult or impossible for most families to meet. For example Malaysia has no adoption program and Sri Lanka requires that adoptive families live in Sri Lanka for six months.

What can families do that want to adopt right now. Remember that before this disaster there were many children around the world that already orphaned and met the legal requirements. These children still need homes desperately. You can still reach out to these children.