Families Thru International Adoption (www.ftia.org) Advises Relief Needed First and Foremost for Tsunami Orphans

Evansville, IN — With thousands of newly orphaned children from the tsunami disaster in the hearts and minds of many Americans willing to adopt, international adoption agencies are being deluged with inquiries on how to help. Families Thru International Adoption, headquartered in Evansville, Indiana, is no exception, logging dozens of inquiries since the disaster hit South Asia on December 26.

The agency adopts children from six international countries including China, India, Brazil, and Guatemala, but Executive Director Keith Wallace says adopting these children is premature and is instead directing inquiries to disaster relief agencies. "We are giving people a list of several agencies we know personally that do good work for children because the immediate need is for food, medicine, shelter, and efforts to reunite families and extended families,' Wallace says. All our inquiries are being directed to agencies such as: Christian Children's Fund, Oxfam, Save the Children, and Doctors Without Borders.

Wallace anticipates within the next twelve months the different governments of these ravaged regions are going to have a clearer idea of the number of truly orphaned children which Wallace believes will be in the thousands. "I expect that any responsible government is going to first look at opportunities for domestic adoption, but with so much devastation, there will be a great need for permanent homes far beyond the means of the individual countries and the families in those countries,' he says. When the time is appropriate FTIA hopes to serve these orphaned children by finding permanent homes for every child in need.

Wallace also serves as a board member of the Joint Council on International Children's Services (JCICS). JCICS is the largest organization of international adoption agencies committed to permanency for all children.

For more information on FTIA and relief agencies, log onto: www.ftia.org.

For an interview with Keith Wallace, contact: Allison Moore via email at: moore.pr@gmail.com


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