Let’s imagine that there’s an organization whose mission is to act in the best interests of the world’s children, and that organization consistently spends its time to make it more difficult for children to gain the forever family they’ve always dreamed of.

Sadly, that organization really exists. It’s called UNICEF and the United States is one of their largest sources of funding.

UNICEF’s unrelenting war against international adoption is a huge black mark that obscures all of the other good the organization accomplishes on behalf of children…so much so that Senator Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana), a proponent and friend of adoption, pursues a lonely battle every year to try and eliminate their US funding.

Ultimately, UNICEF is willing to sacrifice the lives of millions of orphans desperate for a family of their own, in pursuit of their geopolitical agenda to achieve prosperity in every country across the globe.

That’s certainly a valid goal, and UNICEF would find no greater ally than adoptive parents in the United States. That’s a large part of what has propelled us and many other families into action with the Adami Tulu Project.

Yes, one continent can’t just adopt all of another continent’s kids. But while we are working toward permanent solutions, we can’t sacrifice this generation of kids to spend the rest of their lives as orphans.

Elizabeth Bartholet of Harvard Law School’s Child Advocacy Project says it best.

“Largely deprived of the human touch as they grow up, those who survive physically are unlikely to develop emotionally and mentally in ways that will make it possible for them to relate meaningfully and happily to either human beings, or to learn or work in meaningful ways. The longer they spent in such orphanages, the less chance they will have are anything resembling normal development.”

You can find more detail to this story here, but in the mean time, I hope you’ll consider contacting UNICEF via their web site or Twitter.

Every child deserves the love and permanence of a family, not just those who live in prosperous countries.