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‘The Bond Between Them is Amazing’: Congressman and his Wife Reunite Two-Year-Old Twin Girls who were Separated at Birth by Adopting Them

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Photo Credit: Mallory Hall

Photo Credit: Mallory Hall

A congressman and his wife have reunited two-year-old twin girls who were living in separate homes by adopting them into their own family.

Oklahoma congressman Markwayne Mullin told NewsOK that he was hesitant at first to expand his brood of three to five, but his wife convinced him otherwise.

Now, little Ivy and Lynette – who were born into ‘kind of a bad situation’ – are fully integrated into the Mullin family and they ‘could not be happier,’ says the congressman.

Before the adoption was approved on August 21, the blonde twins were living with distant relations of Mr Mullin’s wife Christie, in separate but ‘very loving’ homes.

But the relatives, a grandmother and great aunt, had told Mrs Mullin that they hoped they’d live long enough to see the girls graduate.

Read more from this story HERE.

Hundreds Call to Adopt Down Syndrome Baby, Save it From Abortion

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Photo Credit: Carolyn KasterWhen the Rev. Thomas Vander Woude learned about a young couple planning to abort their unborn baby that had been diagnosed with Down syndrome, the priest reached out and offered a deal: Deliver the child and he would help find an appropriate adoptive family…

The woman, who has not been identified for her privacy and her protection, was just shy of six months pregnant and lives in a state that prohibits abortions past 24 weeks — which meant he had a short time to find a family willing to make a lifelong commitment.

So Father Vander Woude, the lead pastor at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Gainesville, Va., approached a volunteer who helped manage the church’s social media pages, and she posted an urgent plea on Facebook early Monday morning.

“There is a couple in another state who have contacted an adoption agency looking for a family to adopt their Down Syndrome unborn baby. If a couple has not been found by today they plan to abort the baby. If you are interested in adopting this baby please contact Fr. VW IMMEDIATELY,” the post read. “We are asking all to pray for this baby and the wisdom that this couple realize the importance of human life and do not abort this beautiful gift from God”…

[A church staff member was astounded by the response, saying] the church received phone calls from all over the United States and around the world, including from England, Puerto Rico and the Netherlands.

Read more from this story HERE.

Rubio: Immigration Bill Doomed; Homosexual Push Continues

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Photo Credit: Reuters Marco Rubio: Gang of Eight’s immigration bill can’t pass the House

By Seung Min Kim. Sen. Marco Rubio acknowledged Tuesday on a conservative radio talk show that the Gang of Eight’s comprehensive immigration reform bill won’t likely pass the Republican-led House.

The comments from Rubio, perhaps the most influential congressional Republican on immigration, illustrate the challenges facing the prospects for reform after months of private negotiations by a bipartisan coalition of senators produced a wide-ranging, 844-page bill.

“The bill that’s in place right now probably can’t pass the House,” Rubio told Mike Gallagher, a nationally syndicated talk show host. “It will have to be adjusted, because people are very suspicious about the willingness of the government to enforce the laws now.”

He continued: “That is a very legitimate suspicion, it’s one that I share, and if there’s anything we can do to make [the bill] even tighter … that’s exactly what we should be working on.”

In a separate radio appearance Tuesday, Rubio elaborated on the challenges facing the legislation in the House, saying the enforcement mechanisms in the Senate legislation would need to be much stronger in order to pass the lower chamber. Read more from this story HERE.

Push to Include Gay Couples in Immigration Bill

By Julia Preston. This has been a good year for gay rights advocates — with public opinion shifting in their favor and same-sex marriage advancing in the states — but not when it comes to immigration.

An 844-page bill introduced in the Senate in mid-April by a bipartisan group of eight lawmakers includes measures to make legal immigration easier for highly skilled immigrants, migrant farmworkers and those living here illegally. It has no provisions that would help foreigners who are same-sex partners of American citizens to become legal permanent residents.

Gay advocates were sharply disappointed to find that same-sex couples were excluded from the legislation, since the Democrats who wrote it included two of their most consistent champions, Senators Charles E. Schumer of New York and Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the second highest-ranking Senate Democrat. Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, the Democrat who is chairman of the Judiciary Committee, where the bill is under consideration, has offered, since as far back as 2003, a separate measure that would allow immigrants in long-term same-sex relationships to obtain residency with a green card.

But in the lengthy closed-door negotiations that produced the overhaul proposal, the four Republicans in the bipartisan group made it clear early on that they did not want to include such a hot-button issue in a bill that would be a challenge to sell to their party even without it, according to Senate staff members. The Republicans are Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Jeff Flake and John McCain of Arizona, and Marco Rubio of Florida. Read more from this story HERE.

Gay rights push threatens immigration deal

By Carrie Budoff Brown. The most serious threat to bipartisan immigration reform doesn’t involve border security or guest workers or even the path to citizenship. It’s about gay rights.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) has told advocates that he will offer an amendment during the bill markup next week allowing gay Americans to sponsor their foreign-born partners for green cards, just as heterosexual couples can. The measure is likely to pass because Democrats face pressure from gay rights advocates to deal with it in committee, rather than on the Senate floor, where the odds of passage are far less favorable.

But by doing so, Republicans warn that Democrats will tank the whole bill.

“It will virtually guarantee that it won’t pass,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a member of the Gang of Eight negotiating group, told POLITICO in a brief interview. “This issue is a difficult enough issue as it is. I respect everyone’s views on it. But ultimately, if that issue is injected into this bill, the bill will fail and the coalition that helped put it together will fall apart.”

As the legislation moves through the Judiciary Committee and on to the Senate floor, many people will make pronouncements about things that must be kept in or kept out of the bill — but few issues worry the Gang of Eight as much as same-sex partner rights. Read more from this story HERE.

Changing With the Times: Paul Ryan Now Backs Gay Adoption

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Photo Credit: APGOP Rep. Paul Ryan reportedly has changed his views and now says he believes gay couples should be able to adopt children.

Asked at a town-hall-style meeting Monday in Wisconsin about the issue, Ryan said he would “vote differently these days” and still opposes gay marriage. In 1999, the congressman voted in favor of banning same-sex couples in the District of Columbia from adopting.

“I do believe that if there are children who are orphans who do not have a loving person or couple … I think if a person wants to love and raise a child, they ought to be able to do that. Period. I would vote that way,” Ryan says, according to video posted on the liberal Think Progress website.

Read more from this story HERE.

Married Homosexuals, Charged With Raping Adopted Children, Headed for Trial (+video)

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Photo Credit: Glastonbury Police Department

A judge on Friday allowed two Glastonbury men, accused two years ago of sexually assaulting two of their nine adopted boys, to withdraw their no-contest pleas and take their cases to trial.

The unusual action came during what was to be a sentencing hearing for George Harasz and Douglas Wirth, who entered pleas in January to one felony count each of risk of injury to a minor. They agreed to suspended prison sentences. The only issue for Friday’s hearing was to be whether each would be required to register as sex offenders.

But a new allegation of sexual assault against Harasz by one of the victims, contained in a pre-sentence investigation of Harasz, helped scrap the plea agreement. The case was further clouded Friday by disclosure in court of new allegations of abuse by three other of the nine children. No new criminal charges have been filed.

The new information gives rise to the possibility of new criminal charges, and therefore continuing with Friday’s planned sentencing would not have been prudent, prosecutor David Zagaja told Judge Joan K. Alexander. Further, Zagaja said, the victim has said he wants to testify against Wirth and Harasz at trial.

“I think the only proper resolution of this matter is to try it,” Zagaja said. Initially, Harasz, 49, was charged with two counts of first-degree sexual assault, aggravated first-degree sexual assault, fourth-degree sexual assault, two counts of risk of injury to a minor and cruelty to persons. Wirth, 45, was initially charged with third-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor. Those charges were reduced to a single charge for each man as part of the plea agreement.

Watch video here:

Read more from this story HERE.

Putin Orders Ban On Adoptions By Foreign Same-Sex Couples

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Photo Credit: RIA Novosti/Aleksey Nikolsky

President Putin is against the adoption of Russian orphans by foreign same-sex couples, Russian media reveal. The government and the Supreme Court have reportedly been requested to come up with amendments to the law by July 1.

Most likely the order will be fulfilled by the Ministry of Education and Science, which deals with issues concerning orphans and adoptions, according to Izvestia daily. But the ministry says it has not yet received instructions on the matter.

Tensions over the issue arose in mid-February, after the French National Assembly approved a sweeping bill to legalize gay marriage and allow same-sex couples to adopt children.

Soon after that children’s rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov vowed he would do everything possible to ensure that Russian orphans are only adopted by traditional, heterosexual families.

In February, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported that it planned to verify the possible “psychological damage” inflicted on Russian orphan Yegor Shabatalov.The boy was adopted by an American woman, who lived in a same-sex marriage with another US citizen. However, she concealed her relationship from Russian authorities when she filed the adoption request.

Read more from this story HERE.

Study: Childless Couples Have Higher Risk of Dying Prematurely

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Most parents have claimed at one stage that their children will be the death of them – but the reverse could be true.

A new study suggests being childless may increase the risk of dying prematurely, especially in women.

Scientists say the study throws new light on the age-old question of whether life fulfilment provided by children can actually extend your years.

The answer appears to be yes – but only compared with people who want children and are unable to have them.

In these circumstances, adoption may reduce the risk of early death, according to Danish scientists.

But their investigation did not look at whether couples who choose to be childless are likely to have shorter lives as a result.

Among possible reasons for early death rates are risky behaviours, such as more drinking and drug abuse, depression and psychiatric illness, and physical illness linked to their infertility.

Professor Esben Agerbo, of Aarhus University, who led the research, said the study was a ‘natural experiment’ because it only analysed data from parents who wanted a child and were actively seeking to do so using IVF treatment.

He said it found an ‘association’ between being childless and dying prematurely but no link with higher rates of mental illness.

He said ‘Mindful that association is not causation, our study suggests that the mortality rates are higher in the childless.

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: Pat Robertson’s advice – “don’t adopt children”

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While discussing a question about adoption on the 700 Club last week, Pat Robertson disagreed with his co-host and stated that women should not adopt children and “take on someone else’s problems.” He notes that children may be sexually molested or abused in other ways prior to the adoption. At the end of the segment, however, Robertson realizes he stepped in it and admits, “OK, I’m in trouble.”

Here’s a transcript of Pat Robertson’s comments:

A man doesn’t want to take on the United Nations, and a woman has all these various children, blended family, what is it – you don’t know what problems there are. I’m serious. I’ve got a dear friend, an adopted son, a little kid from an orphanage down in Columbia. Child had brain damage, grew up weird. And you just never know what’s been done to a child before you get that child. What kind of sexual abuse has been, what kind of cruelty, what kind of food deprivation, etc. etc. “You don’t have to take on somebody else’s problems. You really don’t. You can help people – we minister to orphans all over the world, we love helping people. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m going to take all the orphans around the world into my home.