Apr 21, 2009

An Exciting Letter I got emailed today!

First Rock Families-
It is with great joy and excitement that I share this email with you as it not only makes your life easier, but it also serves as an exceptional example of the Army Family Action Plan (AFAP).A bit of background, late last year a Soldier in this BN and his wife had a baby boy. They wanted the son's first name to be the same as the father's.The middle names were different. When the father arrived at the birth registration office downtown, he was told that, under Italian law, it was illegal. Forced with no alternative, he switched the child's names and registered his birth - thus legally naming the child a something neither he nor his wife truly wanted. His only recourse was to take time and money to legally change his name upon returning to the states. Original document,however, would always have the wrong name. I was frustrated by this and put in an AFAP issue. It seemed unfair that we, non-Italian citizens whose children would ALSO be non-Italians, would be forced to give up one of our fundamental freedoms as American citizens - the right to name our children whatever we want. It turned out the Red Cross also put in a similar issue. In the end it was a hot topic at the local conference. Work to change the situation began immediately. The positive result is attached. I am so excited for EVERYONE, but especially the folks who want to continue family names, have hyphenated names or make up a name that no one has ever had before. Although it may sound like I am bragging, my real purpose is to share the AFAP news with all of you. If YOU are outraged by something that affects more than just your family, AFAP is your recourse. Submit your issue today at http://www.vicenzamwr.com/acs_afapform.html I have already put in two since March! (but you could have guessed that!)Thanks Jennifer

I wanted to share this exciting news! CPT Saahene has achieved what was thought impossible! I guess that is what AFAP is for :) See attached for the agreement to allowing the naming of children with the following exceptions to Italian regulations:
a child of two non-Italian citizens will be able to name their child the same as the parent, with two last names (of both parents), geographiclocations, seasons, months, days, after someone famous, or with a first name widely considered to be a last name.

Apr 3, 2009

Angry!!

Ok, so today is the day that you can call me a hypocrite for complaining about living in Italy. I can't believe that it came so soon. I still love living here don't get me wrong, but today I am very angry with the Italian Government!!!!

I read this last night in a military document that was sent to me:
Currently, United States citizens who give birth while living in Italy do not have the freedom to name their child(ren) as they choose. Under Italian law, a parent and child cannot share the first name even if the middle name is different, nor can children have suffixes or hyphenated last names. Such limitations remove the ability for families to continue important family traditions when naming their children.

WHAT THE HEC!!! So basically, that means that if we have a boy, we are legally unable to name him Reamer Welker Argo V while we are here in Italy! I am furious!

I don't care if by Italian law I am unable to do it, if we have a boy our childs name WILL BE REAMER WELKER ARGO V!! I will "legally" name him something else but will call him REAMER WELKER ARGO V. And as soon as we move back to the U.S. we will legally change it to the correct name! I don't care what we have to do, it will happen.

Seriously, this is so important to me. I love Reamer so much and I love his name. I have always wanted to have a son and name him after the love of my life, and to continue this neat family tradition. We don't even know if we will have a boy or a girl yet, but the thought that I can not legally name my own child really makes me angry!!!!!!!

Apparently, this issue was brought up at the Army Family Action Plan Meeting and may possibly be something that our government may try to fix, but there are many requests and who knows if it will make it to the final list. Hopefully something will change but there will probably not be any results before we have the baby.

Sorry that I have taken such a negative tone with this blog but I am just furious right now!