Best Posts in Thread: Frank Died

here is the latest update. Lisa has graduated from junior high and is currently staying with a child services employee. Right now she seems very happy. child services will interview here again and give there recomendations to the american embassy. After talking to the embassy they said they take the recomendations very serious. I have spoken to both agencies and recommended she be placed in foster care in Hawaii. The hawaiian people have similiar views on family that the filipinos do also she will look like all the rest of the kids there. the weather is the same and it is an island culture like here. I told Lisa to look up 5 American cities in the U.S. and google the ten best and worst things about those cities. She agreed with me that she thinks she would be the happiest in Hawaii. Now we will have to wait and see what will become of her. I will post when I know something I figure they will pick her up sometime in the next month.

 

she is with foster family in phoneix. It is just her a foster mom and dad I am in the states but I did not want to see her now she has made new friends in school I think she is happy for the most part I will visit her next year as I thought it was better for her to settle in

 

Good thinking, Dave_Hounddriver... domestic guardianship as an alternative in addition to domestic adoption, repatriation to Thailand, or American foster care options is worth exploring.

Whichever it will be, having had at least one loving parent to provide emotionally instability, nurture, and set good examples in a happy childhood, I am certain that, as a teenager, she will overcome grief in time and will have better chances at overcoming the challenges before her -- be these in Philippines, Thailand, or in USA.

The childhood memory of a father’s love in her heart will be her confidence in good times and will be her strength through bad times. May Frank rest in peace.

 

this is my final post on the subject . the american emabassy picked her up and she is headed to phoneix arizona where she will be put in foster care. I hope she gets a good family

 

You can only hope and pray she gets a good home. Truly sad that she is in a situation like that.

 

The kid has a tough row to hoe in life and I hope she makes it.
I have a real soft spot in my heart for kids like that. I wish I was a little closer to Phoenix so that the wife and I could look in on her.

 

A lot has been said in this topic but until re-reading I missed the part about the US embassy WILL pick her up. It gives me pause to ask a couple of questions:

If the child has only known life in Philippines does she want to leave and go to a foster home in a strange country, the USA? This is important to figure out before she gets shipped off to the US. What does the child want? What is best for her?

Was she born in another country and brought here or was she born here to foreign parents? If the latter, the Administrative Naturalization Law of 2000 (R.A. 9139) provides a path for administrative naturalization. So she could likely stay in Philippines if it is what she wants. Reading that the mother left when the child was 6 months old tends to make me think the child was born in Philippines. Is that known? She has an expired passport so it could be checked.

If she wants to stay in Philippines, who is the lady looking after her and would she want to/be able to apply for guardianship?

As the child is the only known dependent of the American (she has an expired passport and that's proof enough) she will qualify for survivor benefits from his pension, correct?

I bet there is someone that the child knows in Philippines who will be willing to be her guardian once they realize she comes with Social Security survivor-ship benefits. And that money will help her a lot more in Philippines than in some foster home in the US, IMHO.

Did the child go to school here? Have a best friend here? Staying in Philippines with no money would be hell on her but staying here with a friend and SS benefits could be exactly what she is best for her, at least until she is 18 and ready to go to the US on her own. Just an opinion, folks, but I have little faith in "the system picking her up".

 

I am very aware that the writer 'Mom Miriam' has very high moral values, but I ask the question: Will this child be better within the foster (maybe eventually adopted) system of the USA or within the Philippines? People will have different opinions on this but I think I veer towards giving her the opportunities which the USA can offer in terms of education and employment opportunities. Perhaps she has some relatives there, even if she has never been there, and may have a sound life with them.

 

First, I have no idea how old the fella was. And, I do hope he rests in peace. But, any single parent should have some sort of plan in place, for someone to look after their child in the event of something happening. I know it is probably something we may not want to think about. But, in the case of this little girl. God only knows what is going to happen to her, now. Personally, I feel terrified for her. I have heard so many horror stories of both abused, and neglected children in the foster care system (in the US).

 

Film guy .... NICE guy.