Raising (money for) the ROOF!

An amazing organization doing wonderful, desperately needed work:
 Russian Orphan Opportunity Fund (ROOF)

From a firsthand account about one of the institutions where ROOF would like to work:

As we drove back to the city, I asked our Russian facilitator, “why is this institution so far outside of civilization?” Her response was that the government did not want people to see the children with disabilities. Her exact words: “they hide them away”.  She went on to say that she had never seen a person with Down Syndrome before we came to adopt Kirill. I asked her more about what she knew of the institution we had just visited. I discovered it was actually called the Bobrovsky Institution for Mentally Retarded Children. She told us it was for children ages 4-18. “But I didn’t see any older children there; the oldest looked maybe ten?” I questioned. Our facilitator explained that these type institutions don’t get much funding from the government for medicine and other necessities. Therefore, the children don’t live to be very old because they die before they reach older childhood.

. . . You might ask, “Why can’t Russian families take care of the orphans there?” Russian citizens cannot adopt these children even if they wanted to. There is no place for them in society-no handicap accessible facilities, no special education programs, no jobs, and no medical care. Institutions are the only options for these children.

So where does this new ban on adoptions leave the children of Russia with disabilities? It is a death sentence for most of them. The only other option would be sweeping reform of the orphan care system in Russia, which would take years if not decades.

Read the rest here and please, please consider supporting ROOF's efforts. They need donors committed to providing a combined total of $5,000 each month to expand their programs to the institution described above. Monthly donors can commit as little as $10 per month.