Star Fish Foster Home helps orphans in Xian China

Amanda DeLang, founder of Star Fish Foster Home in Xian China is in Nashville the week of July 6th thru July 14th, 2009. Here are some pictures of the orphans she takes care of. Most of her orphans have medical problems that she is able to get corrected. 20 orphans have been adopted from Star fish. Amanda is in Nashville to meet with Vanderbilt Doctors who have expressed a willingness to give medical care to some of her orphans who have more serious medical problems.

Amanda'a has rented 3 apartments in her building and cares for 51 babies with the help of 28 Nannies.

While there may be illegal adoption activities in some parts of China, Star Fish Foster Home is registered and works with the official China Adoption Agency. She has had 20 adoptions since she started.

Child Trafficking is happening all over the world

China babies 'sold for adoption'

Rural couples are allowed two children under China's family planning laws Dozens of baby girls in southern China have reportedly been taken from parents who broke family-planning laws, and then sold for adoption overseas. An investigation by the state-owned Southern Metropolis News found that about 80 girls in one county had been sold for $3,000 (£1,800) to foreigners. The babies were taken when the parents could not pay the steep fines imposed for having too many children. Local officials may have forged papers to complete the deals, the report said. Unpopular policy Parents in rural areas are allowed two children, unlike urban dwellers who are allowed one. But if they have more than that, they face a fine of about $3,000 -several times many farmers' annual income. The policy is deeply unpopular among rural residents, says the BBC's Quentin Somerville in Beijing. Nearly 80 baby girls in a county in Guizhou province, in the south of the country, were confiscated from their families when their parents could not or would not pay the fine, Southern Metropolis News said. The girls were taken into orphanages and sold to couples from the United States and a number of European countries. The adoption fee was split between the orphanages and local officials, the newspaper said. Child trafficking is widespread. A tightening of adoption rules for foreigners in 2006 has proved ineffective in the face of local corruption.

Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions - ICAHD and Rabbis for Human Rights - Shomrei Mishpat speak

June 29th, 2009

JERUSALEM

MUNICIPALITY PLANS TO FREEZE 70% OF

HOME DEMOLITIONS IN EAST JERUSALEM: A STEP FORWARD?

The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) and Rabbis for Human Rights-Shomrei Mishpat welcome the Jerusalem Municipality’s announcement that it is considering a freeze on the demolition of 70% of the so-called “illegal” Palestinians homes built without a permit. The Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem himself, Yakir Segev, revealed that in 2008 only 18 permits were issued for building in the Palestinian parts of the city, home to some 270,000 Palestinians. It was the Municipality’s policy of granting so few permits that was driving Palestinians to construct illegally. “To get a construction permit in East Jerusalem you have to be more than a saint," said Segev. In 2008 the Municipality demolished 87 Palestinian homes, issued 959 demolition orders and collected $3.6 million/€2.5 million in fines from Palestinians, 70% of whom live below the poverty line.

While we welcome any change of policy that reduces home demolitions, we must protest the continuation of that policy, even if parts of it are “frozen.” Twenty thousand (20,000) Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem housing 180,000 people currently have demolition orders. Freezing the demolition of 70% of them means that 6,000 homes would still be slated for demolition. In fact, the Municipality has indicated that it intends to remove completely those 6,000 homes. It seems to believe that offering compensation will legitimize that action.

This is not merely a game of numbers. Lying behind the plan is the intent to leave intact “unauthorized” Palestinian homes in areas of East Jerusalem of little interest to Israel – those on the periphery of the city in particular – while targeting those in areas that Israel wishes to annex. The targeted 30% are therefore in the most politically sensitive areas subject to conflict: the Old City, the Silwan area adjacent to the al-Aqsa mosque (already renamed the “City of David”), the Mount of Olives, Sheikh Jarrah and other strategic locales.

We call on the Jerusalem Municipality and the Government of Israel to end their policy of demolishing Palestinian homes altogether, whether in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza – or inside Israel, where the homes of Palestinian and Bedouin citizens of Israel are also targeted.

For more information, please contact Jeff Halper , Meir Margalit , or Rabbi Arik Ascherman <info@rhr.israel.net>.