Each adoptee received a foreign certificate of birth, making it possible to obtain a work permit in the future. (Photo courtesy Christian Freedom International)
USA (MNN) ― In Burma, countless Karen children have faced inconceivable horrors, such as witnessing their parents' brutal murders and being told that the same would be done to them. Eight Karen kids recently found refuge in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, says ASSIST News Service. After 18 months, Jim and Karen Jacobson became the legal adoptive parents of eight Karen refugees, setting a new precedence in foreign adoption.
"It was clear that all of the children wanted us to adopt them," says Karen Jacobson. "The goal for them is to be trained and educated to someday go back and serve the Karen people."
Jim Jacobson's nonprofit organization, Christian Freedom International (CFI), works extensively among persecuted Karen Christians in Burma and Thailand. Throughout the past decade, Jim has helped build schools and medical clinics in the region, delivering the hope of Christ to a people caught in the midst of a "genocidal nightmare."
The Karen is a heavily-persecuted Burmese ethnic group.
Although hundreds of Karen refugees seek shelter in the United States each year, says ASSIST, the Jacobsons forged a new trail in adopting refugee siblings. Four kids had been receiving care in Thailand through CFI, and in the spring of 2008, they arrived in the U.S. A CFI press release says that a lack of official birth records hindered the Jacobsons' adoption once the siblings were in America.
"One of the things that makes it very difficult to adopt refugee children is that there is no certificate of foreign birth; they have no birth record at all," explained Karen Jacobson. "The only birth records they have are the ones that have been discovered or researched by the UNHCR [United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees]."
After six months of consideration, a Michigan judge ruled that the kids' green cards could function as "Other Proof of Birth," and the adoption process moved forward. During this time, the Jacobsons applied to adopt another four refugee orphans. When the adoptions were finalized, each child received a certificate of foreign birth, key to obtaining a passport or work permit.
"That was a detail that we knew had to be taken care of," Karen Jacobson says, "but we didn't know the adoption [process] would take care of it. That was a real miracle."
Jim and Karen Jacobson now have 12 children and live in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. As possibly the first American family to adopt Karen children without foreign birth certificates, the Jacobsons are resolute in telling other Americans that adoption can be an effective way of providing a secure and loving home for Burma's refugee children. It can also give kids easier and quicker access to better education, and even American citizenship.
Click here to learn more about the Jacobsons' adoption or refugee resettlement. With the help of volunteers, CFI's ministry provides housing, employment opportunities, transportation, food, and medical assistance for dozens of Karen refugees who have relocated to the Eastern Upper Peninsula.
