“When things are wrong, they can be made right.”
These were the words spoken by Craig Juntunen as he introduced his film “STUCK” to an intimate gathering in Los Angeles in March. I was fortunate enough to be there and learn more about the plight of orphans and the shockingly broken system of international adoption that continues to fail vulnerable children.
Craig is an interesting character, an inspiring and charismatic force. Having played collegiate and professional football before transforming himself into a successful entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, he has an intensity of focus and drive that helps explain his success both on and off the field. In 1998, he sold his businesses and set out to enjoy the fruits of his labor. He did not have children and had no desire for them. He spent his days on the golf course or ski slopes, and his nights at cocktail parties with friends. He was living the dream, until a conversation about adopting from Haiti one afternoon on the golf course with an acquaintance changed his life.
Within a few weeks, Craig was on a plane to Haiti to see for himself the poverty and despair his friend described. What he saw changed him. During this trip, Craig visited several orphanages and began to have a new sense of purpose.
Suddenly his life of leisure seemed inconsequential, and he wanted to do more, to make a difference. He saw with his own eyes the importance of a permanent loving family for a child, and the devastating impact the absence of a family has on children.
Within a year, Craig and his wife adopted three children from Haiti. He was fundamentally transformed by the process and committed his life to helping the children who were left behind. Craig was again transformed, this time he emerged a father and an advocate but his focus and drive remained.
Not a social or political priority
Craig’s three children are now thriving in a supportive and loving environment, but millions of children are left behind in orphanages worldwide without love, care, guidance and hope. The main problem, says Craig, is that children living outside of parental care are not a social or political priority.
Craig began to believe that a family is every child’s basic human right and far too many children are being deprived of this right around the world.
Craig is on a mission to change that.
CRAIG JUNTUNEN
A MAN WITH A CAUSE
DEFENDING EVERY CHILD’S HUMAN RIGHT
TO A PERMANENT LOVING FAMILY
Conservative estimates say more than 10 million children around the world live outside a family setting, in institutions or on the street. In reality, that number may be much higher.
Adoptions into the U.S. have fallen by more than 60 percent since 2004, due in large part to a broken system filled with delays, bureaucracy, discrimination and staggering costs.
In the meantime, children are suffering.
by
Perreault Magazine - 40 -