Note from CEO

Many of you have already read the recent NY Times article about international adoption agencies this week.  I have read this article and I think in some ways that it does accurately portray the situation being faced by adoption agencies.  Unfortunately, many adoption agencies are closing down due to the harder regulations and the difficulty seen in many of the countries that had traditionally placed the most children for adoption.  Our agency did not experience too much hardship acquiring Hague Accreditation as this article states was the case for many agencies.

I’m writing to let you know that although this is a financially difficult time, our agency has a long-term vision for our work.  We are currently taking measures to reduce costs where we can, including reducing the amount of office space that we rent.  I want to reassure prospective adoptive parents in the midst of an adoption that our agency is not planning on closing down.  We are strictly following our budgets and we’re monitoring our financial statements closer than ever.  Our Board of Directors met last night and they share the same commitment that me and our staff have for the future of America World.  There are still millions of orphans in need of families around the world and we intend to close our doors only when those children have homes.

We are taking very proactive steps to ensure there will be viable adoption programs in the future.  We are developing new programs and working to maintain and improve the programs we do have.  Some families have called and emailed our agency to ask “what can I do?”.   I always tell families that prayer is the most important tool we have; I’ve also encouraged families to consider America World’s Orphan’s Ticket Home campaign.  This is a great way to try and improve broken or poorly functioning systems that handle the placement of orphans.

We appreciate the prayers and the concerns of our families.  We look forward to continuing to work with you and serve you in the months, years and decades to come.

Sincerely,
Brian Luwis, CEO