Child Trends News Letter: A User's Guide to Online Resources for Identifying Evidence-Based, Out-of-School Time Programs
 

Governor signs historic Family Leave Insurance legislation

Concerned Persons for Adoption Hosts 25^th Annual “Let’s Talk Adoption Conference” at Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ www.cpfanj.org

National Adoption Attitudes Survey
 

 

12/23/10
Institute Asks Companies, in Their Holiday Advertising, to be Sensitive to Adoption Concerns

The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, saying its message is “especially pointed during the holiday season,” today called on companies to show sensitivity to all types of diverse families when developing their marketing campaigns.
to read the entire article e please click here.



12/20/10
The Holiday Season can be a trigger for a child who has suffered past traumas prior to adoption or current placement.
How to Assist Your Child in a Crisis.

Children and teens often struggle with difficult challenges growing up in the 21^st century.  Sometimes, these challenges appear too great, and a child or teen may struggle with wishes to hurt oneself or others. For children who had early loss and trauma, there is more likelihood of having periodic crises. When these occur, it is important that the child or teen's parents are able to assist the child to cope with the crisis. 
To read the entire article please click here.


12/20/10
Parents' stress filters down to kids, not that Mom and Dad notice

In a new survey reported by the American Psychological Assn., children who say their parents are stressed out also say they feel that way. Some said it made them feel sad, worried or frustrated - feelings parents seem to be unaware of, according to the survey.
To read the entire article please click here.


12/15/10
New Jersey Foster Care Scholars

New Jersey continues to make a commitment to provide financial assistance to eligible foster, adoptive, and homeless youth seeking a post-secondary education. Through the New Jersey Foster Care Scholars Program, educational funding has been made available to help youth make a successful transition to adulthood and self-sufficiency. To read more please click here

12/15/10
Cookies, Stockings Lights and Love: Rise December 2010 Web Exclusive

“I hope my daughter will have good memories of our holiday traditions.”
In this December 2010 web exclusive from Rise Magazine, Sylvia Perez writes about holiday experiences, both when her daughter was in foster care and when she returned home from foster care, as well as her own childhood experiences.  Rise magazine is written by and for parents involved in the child welfare system. Its mission is to help parents advocate for themselves and their children.
http://www.risemagazine.org/featured_stories/Cookies_stockings_lights_and_love.html


12/15/10
Successful Older Child Adoption: Lessons from the Field

This article from the Summer 2010 issue of “Adoptalk” published by the Northern American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC) discusses proven strategies to increase adoptions of older youth. The article, authored by Mary Boo, describes the results of conversations with leaders in states that had particular success in increasing adoptions of older children and teens. It lists key strategies that resulted in significantly increased adoptions for the states and provides specific examples for each strategy, highlighting successful experiences of individual states.
http://www.nacac.org/adoptalk/OlderChAdoptions.html


12/15/10
Unpacking the “No” of Permanency for Older Adolescents: Planning for Youth Transitioning from Foster Care to Adulthood

This PowerPoint presentation was developed by Dr. Gerald Mallon, National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections (NRCPFC) Executive Director. It covers statistics, permanency definitions, compelling reasons, strategies which support permanency, the concept of permanency for youth, various pathways to permanency, what youth say they need, and more. (2010)
http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/socwork/nrcfcpp/info_services/youth-permanency.html#ppt


12/15/10
Child Welfare/Education Collaborations – State Examples

The Fostering Connections Act builds on prior law by adding a requirement that case plans ensure the educational stability of the child in foster care and by also requiring that Title IV-E state plans show that each child receiving a Title IV-E foster care, adoption, or guardianship payment is a full-time school student, or is incapable of attending school due to a documented medical condition. NRCPFC compiled these documents as a tool for State peer-to-peer sharing about successful education and child welfare collaborations to meet these requirements. Some of the information was relayed directly to NRCPFC in response to a survey of State Foster Care Managers and outreach by NRCPFC.  Other information was retrieved from the “Fostering Connections Implementation State Survey” available on the National Association of Public Child Welfare Administrators website ( http://www.napcwa.org/Legislative/fostering.asp).

Child Welfare/Education Collaborations (Highlights): Highlights child welfare/education collaborations in Delaware, Nebraska, New York, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin. (2010)
http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/socwork/nrcfcpp/info_services/download/ChildWelfareandEducation2pgr.pdf

Child Welfare Education Collaborations (Full Review): Provides information on the status of efforts to meet the education requirements of Fostering Connections in 35 States and the District of Columbia, providing information on policies, practices, and approaches to collaborations between systems. (2010)
http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/socwork/nrcfcpp/info_services/download/ChildWelfare_and_Education.pdf

12/14/10
Mom2mom Services

UMDNJ’s UBHC and NJMS have partnered to provide a peer support helpline. MOM2MOM is a 24/7 live answered resource for moms who have children with developmental disabilities. The program is funded by a generous grant for The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey.  With there support we are able to provide this valuable resource. If you or someone you know could benefit from this program, please pass on the information. The initial phase catchment of the program is Essex and Union Counties. This is where our outreach efforts are concentrated.  All callers regardless of call origin will be receiving service.
The number is; 1-877-914-MOM2 (6662) 
Find us on the web at: www.mom2momnow.webs.com
For MOM2MOM flier please click here, for brochure please click here

12/08/10
Webinar To Discuss the Effects of Childhood Trauma in Girls' Lives

On December 14, 2010, at 2 p.m. E.T., the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office on Women's Health will present a Webinar on the effects of trauma over girls' lifespans.
Lifecourse Effects of Trauma in the Lives of Girls: Findings from the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study will explore the frequency of trauma in girls' childhood and discuss how that trauma affects women's physical and mental health and behavior. Participants will learn best practices in trauma-informed care and identify ways to integrate these practices when providing services to trauma victims.
Resources:
To learn more about this Webinar and register online, visit https://services.choruscall.com/links/womenshealth.html.

12/08/10
The New Jersey Foster Care Scholars Program Celebrates Six Years of Success!

The New Jersey Foster Care (NJFC) Scholars Program closes its sixth successful year this month. Although the program was signed into existence in 2003, its first sizable student population occurred during the fall 2004 semester. Since then, 78 students have completed degree or certificate programs as NJFC Scholars at accredited colleges, universities, and trade/career schools. The 2008-2009 academic year resulted in 29 graduates, the most in any single year of the program. Foster & Adoptive Family Services would like to congratulate those graduates and encourage its current NJFC Scholars in the pursuit of their goals. For more information about the NJFC Scholars Program, please call 1.800.222.0047 and ask for the Scholarship Department or send an email: scholarships@fafsonline.org; for more information log onto http://www.fafsonline.org/Scholarship.html

12/02/10

12/02/10
Families across N.J. grow a bit larger on National Adoption Day

Eight-year-old Emma-Rose Hastrup had a lifelong dream fulfilled yesterday. “I always wanted a sister because all mom had before were boys,” she said. “I wanted a sister to play with.”A week before Thanksgiving, the priceless gift of family was provided by
Emma-Rose’s parents, Laura and Wayne Hastrup, as the adoption of new daughter Mily was finalized Friday, National Adoption Day, at the Union County Courthouse. Two-year-old Mily, a developmentally disabled child, will join the Hastrup’s three biological children. Mily’s need for a stable, permanent family combined with the Hastrup’s experience and desire to do right made for a perfect fit. The Hastrups have previously been foster parents to 16 children.
To read the entire article please click here.

12/02/10
Special Day For Families Fulfilled Through Adoption

Hope Crumbley says the moment her foster children came into her home years ago they became her own. Yesterday she celebrated the law finally catching up with what her heart has known all along.

“We’re a family. We are unified forever,” she said of the three children she adopted this year.

The Ewing resident was among dozens of adults and children gathered at the Masonic Temple to celebrate Adoption Day and honor families across the state whose adoptions were finalized this year.
To read the entire article please click here.


12/01/10
Report Examines Educational Experiences of Children Entering Foster Care
 

A new report from Chapin Hall examines how children's academic experiences are intertwined with their family life and maltreatment experiences.  Researchers focused on the experiences of children at the point they became involved with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and found that children who struggled academically were on the same trajectory when they were first placed in out-of-home care. The report raises issues for discussion concerning the role of schools and the child welfare system in supporting the educational progress of children before the peak of family crisis and after placement in out-of-home care. Visit the Chapin Hall website to read the full report Looking Back, Moving Forward.

12/01/10
SAVE THE DATE! -  NYC Educational/Advocacy Event on Achieving Equal Rights in Adoption
 

The Evan B.  Donaldson Adoption Institute will hold an exciting, unusual event on Jan. 18, 2011 to heighten public, media and policymaker awareness about the need to restore adopted adults’ right to access their original birth certificates. The event will feature the official world premier of “I’m Legit” by Darryl (DMC) McDaniels and Zara Philips, an exceptional and moving music video that vividly brings the issue to life.  The Adoption Institute is committed to this cause, and will work collaboratively with everyone who wants to make the event (and opening records!) a success. Anyone with questions or input can contact Adam Pertman at apertman@adoptioninstitute.org.  The event is still in the planning stages and more information will be available in the near future.  In the meantime here are the essentials.
WHO: Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, Darryl McDaniels, prominent activists and scholars, surprise guests
WHAT: Panel presentation, Q&A and discussion of next steps based on the Institute’s “For the Records” reports
WHEN: From 9:30 a.m. until noon on Tuesday, January 18, 2011; please note: light refreshments will be served

11/29/10
A Home for the Holidays
 

Stay Tuned for the next “A Home for the Holidays.” sponsored by Wendy’s International and The Dave Thomas Foundation (DTF) for Adoption.

This special 12^th anniversary broadcast will be aired on Wednesday, December 22^nd at 8pm on CBS. Following the success of the past 11 annual shows, this year's special continues to tell touching stories about foster care adoption to raise awareness of this important issue.

This broadcast is presented in association with the DTF for Adoption and Children's Action Network. The goal of the Dave Thomas Foundation is to increase the awareness of the 115,000 children in the United States foster care system that are currently free for adoption.  

Many inspirational stories of adoptive families will be featured as well as children waiting for adoption.
For more information about this broadcast visit: www.davethomasfoundation.org/Our-Programs/A-Home-for-the-Holidays

For adoption resources in  Spanish, please log onto:
www.davethomasfoundation.org/Free-Adoption-Resources/Adoption-Guides/Una-guia-para-la-adopcion.


11/29/10
Sensory Issues and the Holidays

We are just starting two months of what can be a nightmare of parents of a child with sensory issues.
Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukah, and New Year’s are filled with sensory issues. Bright lights, sounds, textures, colors, busy stores, and many other things can cause your child with sensory issues to have meltdowns or struggle this time of year.
To read the entire article please click here.

11/29/2010
Kid-Friendly Christmas Crafts

The holiday season is upon us again. This season is a time to spend with your loved ones. And what better way to get your family involved this Christmas than to have fun with some fantastic kid-friendly Christmas crafts. You have so many options when choosing which Christmas crafts would be best for your family. Below you'll find just a sampling of a few great ideas to consider as the holidays come closer.
To read the entire article please click here.

11/29/10
Celebrating the Holidays

The upcoming holidays can be a time of magic, happiness, joy, and love. But for some foster children, their experiences with this time of year are filled with sadness, anger, confusion, and loneliness. But it doesn't have to be that way this year. Decide that this holiday season you're going to make a difference in your foster child's life through creating happy holiday memories. As this holiday season progresses, here are some things to consider and keep in mind as you help your foster child celebrate and create positive memories.
To read the entire article please click here.

11/18/10
Congressional Summer Internships for Current or Former Foster Youth

The Foster Youth Internship Program of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI) is for young adults who spent at least 24 consecutive months in foster care at any point in their life and who have completed at least 4 semesters of higher education by May 31, 2011.  CCAI places these interns in Congressional offices in Washington, DC for a 9-week internship and provides housing, travel, and a weekly stipend. Applications are accepted now until January 7, 2011.  For more information and to apply, visit  www.ccainstitute.org/fyiapply or contact Emily Collins at Emily@ccainstitute.org.


11/18/10
Fostering Family Adoption Month Promotion

Fostering Families Today magazine is conducting a giveaway-a-day in November for current and new FFT subscribers and Facebook fans. Giveaways include adoption movies, music CDs, books, subscriptions and more. Prizes will be given away daily through FFT's Facebook page. Offer ends 11/30/2011.


11/18/10
Essential Skills for Working with LGBTQ Youth in Out of Home Care (Video)

This training video, developed by NYS OCFS promotes understanding, offers concrete guidance to improve well-being and permanency for LGBTQ youth in out of home care, and reviews standards, expectations, and policies that promote a safe, respectful environment for LGBTQ youth in out of home placement. Dr. Gary Mallon, NRCPFC Executive Director, provides perspectives of youth and adults on LGBTQ issues, and practical guidance for staff working with this population. To see the video please click here.


11/18/10
LGBTQ Foster and Adoptive Parenting Information Packet

This new NRCPFC information packet provides information on Foster and Adoptive Parenting by LGBTQ individuals and families. It includes a summary of issues, and reviews facts and statistics, policy and legislation, and best practices and promising approaches to work with LGBT foster and adoptive parents. (October 2010) To see please click here.
 

11/18/10
New resources on the federal adoption tax credit!

We just posted the latest information from NACAC about the 2010 refundable adoption tax credit. Famiilies who adopted a special needs (subsidy eligible) child in the last five years may be eligible for the tax credit, even if they incurred no expenses related to the adoption. Be sure to read NACAC's excellent fact sheet on claiming the tax credit for adoptions finalized between 2003 and 2009.  View the NACAC resources, and more, on our Tax Benefits page.


11/18/10
Consideration of Foster Care and Subsidy payments as family income.

Though foster care and adoption subsidy payments are not considered taxable income, government agencies, financial institutions, and others processing applications for financial assistance have different definitions of income that may include either or both. NYSCCC has researched and posted current guidelines for the consideration of foster care and adoption subsidy payments as income for federal & NYS financial assistance programs. Visit our financial supports pages for more information and let us know if you have information about eligibility guidelines for other programs. 



11/18/10
Going to AAC Conference? Take advantage of reduced rate during November.

If you are planning on going to the AAC conference in Orlando next April, you might want to take advantage of the reduced rate for membership during the month of November.  Membership entitles you to a reduced rate at the annual conference among other benefits.    

Go to www.americanadoptioncongress.org and click on Membership.  The cost for new members is $40 or $30 for seniors (62+).   Alternatively, print out the attached and mail it in.

11/09/10
Adoptive Families On-Line Magazine

To view Adoptive Families On-Line Magazine for National Adoption Month ideas, click here


11/09/10
Adoption Month Ideas

To download a month of National Adoption Month ideas, click here.


11/09/2010
New Law Aims for Educational Stability for Children in Foster Care
 

On September 9, 2010, Governor Christie signed into law a bill to promote educational stability for children in foster care. The law, designed to comply with the Federal Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008, Pub.L.110-351, will allow more children to remain in their current schools when placed in foster care.
To read the entire article please click here.

11/04/2010
Advocates for Children of New Jersey E-news

To read the newsletter please click here.

11/04/2010

Adoption Agency Organizes Gift Card Drive For Women in Need

 

Wynnewood, PA – To honor National Adoption Month this November, a local, non-profit adoption agency organizes a gift card drive to benefit women in need. Each year just before the holiday season, Adoptions From The Heart (AFTH) makes donations to women who have placed children through the agency’s domestic adoption program and have been identified by social workers as needing extra financial assistance. The identified birthmothers are often already parenting children at home or don’t have a place to call home. This year the agency expects an even greater need, so AFTH will be graciously accepting Target, Walmart, Acme and Visa gift cards to assist birthmothers in purchasing groceries, clothing and holiday gifts for their children. For many, this is the only way they can do something special for their children during the holiday season.
 “Last year, AFTH donated a total of $12,900 to 29 women who have made adoption plans for their children and we are eagerly hoping to surpass that this year with the gift card drive by making it easy—gift cards are a simple item to pick up while you’re holiday shopping to help a woman in need,” said AFTH Executive Director Maxine Chalker.
Gift cards ranging from $25 to $200 can be mailed to AFTH’s main office (30-31 Hampstead Circle, Wynnewood, PA 19096, Attn: Gift Card Drive) and please indicate the gift card denomination.
For more information: www.afth.org or call 610-642-7200

11/02/2010

Tax Credit Resources Updated

 

NACAC has updated information on the U.S. federal adoption tax credit to reflect that the credit is now refundable. Targeted to families who adopt from care, the resources cover adoptions finalized in 2010 and those completed in earlier years.

 We encourage you to share this information with  families who adopted from foster care in recent years so they can take full advantage of the newly refundable credit.

 Visit http://www.nacac.org and click on the tax credit links to access the updated information.

 

11/02/2010

Long Island attorney found guilty in $300K adoption scheme
 

MINEOLA, N.Y. — A New York attorney who advertised himself as an adoption expert has been convicted of stealing more than $300,000 from prospective parents for babies that did not exist.
Kevin Cohen was convicted Monday in Nassau County Court of grand larceny, forgery and other charges. He faces up to 92 years in prison. Prosecutors say Cohen, a Roslyn attorney, scammed hopeful couples with fake sonograms and fictitious records on forged stationery from hospitals and doctors. Thirteen prospective parents testified against him at his three-week trial.
Cohen, who represented himself, says he suffers from multiple illnesses including bipolar disorder and was under medicated at the time.
Copyright 2010 NYP Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.

11/02/2010

Let's Celebrate National Adoption Month Together!

Adoption Today magazine is doing a giveaway-a-day in November for AT subscribers and Facebook fans. Giveaways include adoption movies, music CDs, books and so much more...all from adoption advocates around the world. Win prizes, subscriptions and more by participating in Adoption Today's great National Adoption Month Promotion. You'll be able to purchase Adoption Today, the premier resource for adoptive parents with children of all ages, and you'll also have the chance to win amazing prizes. For more information please click here.

10/19/2010
National Adoption Month 2010

November is National Adoption Month, a month set aside each year to raise awareness about the adoption of children and youth from foster care. This year's National Adoption Month initiative targets adoption professionals by focusing on ways to recruit and retain parents for the 115,000 children and youth in foster care waiting for adoptive families.

For more information, log onto: http://www.childwelfare.gov/adoption/nam/


10/19/2010
Welcome to National Adoption Day
 

National Adoption Day is a national day of celebration of adoptive families and an opportunity for courts to open their doors and finalize the adoptions of children from foster care. Since 2000, more than 30,000 children have had their adoptions finalized on National Adoption Day. This year on November 20, families, adoption advocates, policymakers, judges and volunteers will come together and celebrate adoption in communities large and small all across the nation. For more information, log onto http://www.nationaladoptionday.org/

For information about NJ events, please log onto: http://www.nationaladoptionday.org/events/2010-11-19/adoption-day---2010

10/19/2010
DCF's Adoption Operations Director Honored as an Angel in Adoption
 

For her outstanding advocacy of adoption issues, Ellen Kelly, Adoption Operations Director for the Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS) within the New Jersey Department of Children and Families (DCF), has been selected by Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen (NJ-11) as a 2010 Angel in Adoption. The Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI), which orchestrates the Angels in Adoption program, honored Kelly, along with more than 190 Angels, at an awards ceremony and gala event in Washington, DC, October 6, 2010. 
To read the entire announcement please click here.


10/13/2010
Report Details Experiences of Foster Youth in an Employment Training and Job Placement Program

This second report on youth in foster care, employment, and Community Assistance Programs (CAPs) documents focus groups with foster youth participating in CAPs, a community-based employment training and job placement program for Cook County foster youth. In particular, researchers wanted to know: why foster youth participate in the program; what the program does to help foster youth become employed; and, how foster youth would change the program to better address their needs. The report, Experiences of Foster Youth in an Employment Training and Job Placement Program, is authored by Amy Dworsky and Judy Havlicek and is available on the Chapin Hall website.
http://chapinhall.org/research/report/employment-training-and-job-placement-program-foster-youth-making-transition-adultho?utm_source=ConstantContact&utm_medium=Email&utm_
campaign=October


10/13/2010
National Adoption Month Website Now Available

Child Welfare Information Gateway, a service of the Children’s Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is pleased to announce that the 2010 National Adoption Month website, created in partnership with AdoptUsKids, is now available. November is National Adoption Month, a month set aside each year to raise awareness about the adoption of children and youth from foster care. This year's National Adoption Month initiative targets adoption professionals by focusing on ways to recruit and retain parents for the 115,000 children and youth in foster care waiting for adoptive families. The 2010 National Adoption Month website is built around 5 themes to help adoption professionals build capacity, raise awareness, and make lasting change: Supporting and Retaining Families; Doing Diligent Recruitment; Working with Diverse Populations; Doing Proactive Family Finding; and, Facilitating Interjurisdictional Placements. For each theme, find resources and tools, State and local examples, and ideas for things you can do today, this week, and this month to honor National Adoption Month all year. This year's site also provides a letter from ACYF Commissioner Bryan Samuels, information on how the Children's Bureau supports adoption, a National Adoption Month poster, and relevant resources and materials in Spanish. For these and many other useful resources, bookmark the National Adoption Month website today.
www.childwelfare.gov/adoption/nam/index.cfm

 

10/11/2010
Florida Court Strikes Down Gay Adoption Ban
 

There is no rational reason to prohibit all homosexuals from adopting children, a Florida appeals court said on Wednesday in a ruling that upheld a gay man's adoption of two young boys.
Florida was the only remaining U.S. state to expressly ban adoption by gay men and women, and state officials said after the court ruling the ban would no longer be enforced. They have 30 days to decide whether to appeal to the Florida Supreme Court.
To read the entire article please click here.

10/06/2010
New NYS Law Allows Unmarried Couples to Jointly Adopt

Chapter 509 of the Laws of New York State was passed into law on September 17, 2010, allowing unmarried couples (including same sex couples) to adopt jointly in New York State. Visit the New York State Citizens’ Coalition for Children website to read the text of the new legislation and the Governor's approval memo.
http://nysccc.org/adoption/legal-issues/new-adoption-legislation/

10/05/2010
The Adoption Tax Credit and the Affordable Care Act

On October 5, senior administration officials and leading advocates will discuss the importance of the Adoption Tax Credit, and the key improvements made to the credit under The Affordable Care Act.
Join the live webcast of the discussion today at 12:30 PM EDT on www.hhs.gov/live.


10/05/2010
Adoption Cafe

On Saturday, October 16^th, the National Adoption Center will be hosting our Adoption Café at the Enterprise Center, Burlington County College in Mt Laurel, NJ from 10am-1pm. This event is for studied and unstudied families and will have agencies from NJ, PA and DE presenting their waiting children. We will also have information tables for support groups and post-adoptive services.
To see the flier please click here


10/05/2010
The reviews for the NJCTS Wednesday Webinar “Childhood Bullying:  Are Adults the Problem?” was outstanding
 

09/30/2010
New NYS Law Allows Unmarried Couples to Jointly Adopt!

Chapter 509 of the Laws of New York State was passed into law on 9/17/10 allowing unmarried couples (including same sex couples) to adopt jointly in New York State. View an Albany Times Union article and visit the NYSCCC website to read the text of the new legislation and the Governor's approval memo.


09/30/2010
Good Preschools May Prevent Problem Behaviors Later

American children from low-income families who are exposed to well-structured, attentive and stimulating preschool programs between the ages of 2 and 4 years are less likely to develop behavioral problems during their preteen years, new research says. The finding, reported in the September/October issue of Child Development, appears to be particularly strong for boys and black children, the study authors found.
To read the entire article please click here.

 

09/30/2010

New Census Data Shows Drop in Uninsured Children, Rise in Poverty
 

New Jersey followed national trends with a drop in uninsured children and a rise in child poverty, according to new U.S. Census Bureau data released today. The number of uninsured New Jersey children fell to 129,835 in 2009 from 147,720 in 2008, according to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.  “With more parents out of work and poverty increasing, the drop in uninsured children suggests that efforts to enroll more children in NJ FamilyCare are resulting in fewer uninsured children,” said Cecilia Zalkind, Advocates for Children of New Jersey.
To read the entire article please click here.


09/27/2010
Hard Truths of Some Adoptions
 

A friend, an adoptive mother, said to me recently, “I have faced the fact that my daughter is only mine because I have more money than her birth mother.” That is a simple reality of adoption, she says, and yet it is so rarely spoken aloud.
Another common reality of adoption, particularly of older children from certain countries, is that almost overnight a child’s world changes completely — and sometimes, for the luckier ones, that world was one where she loved and was loved. That is one of the themes in the PBS documentary “Wo Ai Ni, Mommy (I love you, Mommy)” (available online until Nov. 1.)
It is also a lesson learned by KJ Dell’Antonia, who writes about family for places like Slate’s XX Factor, Babble, Parents and Wondertime. As an adoptive mother she watched the PBS film with recognition and chills. Her daughter already had a family back in China, she writes, and money was just one of the reasons the little girl is no longer theirs.
To read the entire article please click here.

09/27/2010
Victories for Families
 

A state appeals court in Florida toppled a monument to bigotry last week, declaring unconstitutional a 33-year-old state law that prohibited gay people from adopting children. The animus behind the ban is unmistakable. Its sponsor in the Florida State Senate, Curtis Peterson, declared in 1977 that its purpose was to send a message to the gay community that “we’re really tired of you” and “we wish you’d go back into the closet.”
To read the entire article please click here.


09/23/2010
Congratulations to Rose Zeltser

Congratulations to Rose Zeltser, VP of Professional Services for Children’s Aid and Family Services on receiving the 2010 Peter M. Cicchino Lifetime Achievement Award from the NJ Alliance for Children, Youth and Families.
To read the entire Award please click here.


09/22/2010
New Law Gives Foster Children School Stability

New Jersey's foster children now have the right to stay in their current school when entering foster care or changing placements, if remaining in that school is in the child's best interest, under a bill recently signed into law by Governor Christie. Previously, children entering a foster home attended school in the foster parents' district. This new law is expected to provide these vulnerable children with educational stability that can help them succeed in school. ACNJ will be providing more information on the details of the new law and how caregivers and others can advocate for the educational stability of children living in foster care.
To read the law please click here.

09/20/10
HHS awards $39 million to states for increasing adoptions

The U. S. Department of Health and Human Services today awarded $39 million to 38 states and Puerto Rico for increasing the number of children adopted from foster care. States use the funds from this adoption incentive award to improve their child welfare programs.
"All children deserve loving, safe and permanent homes," said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. "It is gratifying that most states continue to excel in promoting the adoption of children from foster care. I sincerely thank every adoptive family that has welcomed a child into their home."
States receive $4,000 for every child adopted beyond their best year’s total, plus a payment of $8,000 for every child age 9 and older and $4,000 for every special needs child adopted above the respective baselines. The year 2007 is the baseline.
This year’s incentive award recipients completed more adoptions in 2009 than in the 2007 baseline year.
"America’s communities benefit when children grow up in stable families," said David A. Hansell, HHS acting assistant secretary for children and families. "We’re very pleased that the adoption incentives program is helping states improve their programs and place more children into homes that are theirs forever."
States and territories receiving today’s funding are: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and Puerto Rico.
A list of each state’s adoption incentive award amount can be found at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/news/press/2010/fy10_adoption_incentive_awards.htm <http://nysccc.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=8d6689db40f05c9c615b526c7&id=5bf17661f8&e=71ae45ed70>

09/13/2010
An Adopted Linebacker With an Unlikely Story

 Bryan Kehl leans back, smiles and says his dad has always been a "storyteller." He wraps exaggerated finger quotes around that last word to make it clear the stories his father tells aren't always rigorously fact-checked. Six of Gary and Nancy Kehl's nine children were adopted, including Bryan. As a rule, there were never any distinctions made about whose genes came from where: Everyone was to be treated equally. But there was always one exception—and it always involved Bryan.
To read the entire story please click here.

09/08/2010
Free Informational Opportunities Offer Ways to Build Your Family
 

CHERRY HILL, NJ – In our greatest efforts to educate your community on the services we offer to those looking to build their family, we present several learning opportunities this month:
Adoptions From The Heart, a licensed, non-profit adoption agency, will hold a free information meeting, Adoptions From the Heart Cherry Hill Office (451 Woodland Avenue, Cherry Hill, NJ 08002) on September 21, 2010 at 7:00PM. The meeting will cover the adoption process, adoption myths vs. facts, financial assistance, and more. Join us to learn more about adoption and find the program that is right for your family. FREE ONLINE WEBINARS FOCUSED ON HEARTBEATS PROGRAM
The HEARTBEATS: India Surrogacy Webinar on September 28, 2010 at 7 PM will provide an opportunity to learn more about surrogacy in India and how this program makes it possible for intended parents who are unable to carry a child, to have a child that is biologically related to them. While maintaining the high quality of medical care, surrogacy in India is considerably less expensive that surrogacy in the U.S. Available in PA, NJ, DE, VA, CT, and NY and proudly serving the LGBT community.
Register for meetings on our calendar of events at www.afth.org or call 856.665.5655

08/23/2010
2010 Foster youth Interns Release Policy Report
 

 

08/23/2010
Do Students have to pay taxes on their summer income?

Many students have a summer job and may not realize they have to pay taxes on their summer income. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) wants you to know about taxes on income earned while working a summer job.

All employees fill out a W-4 - Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate (.PDF document) when starting a new job. This form is used by employers to determine the amount of tax that will be withheld from your paycheck. You may use the IRS Withholding Calculator to verify your withholding tax is correct.

Whether you are working as a waiter or a camp counselor, you may receive tips as part of your summer income. All income you receive from tips is taxable income and is therefore subject to federal income tax.

Many students do odd jobs over the summer to make extra cash. Earnings you receive from self-employment are subject to income tax. These earnings include income from odd jobs like baby-sitting and lawn mowing.

If you have net earnings of $400 or more from self-employment, you will also have to pay self-employment tax. This tax pays for your benefits under the Social Security Administration.

Food and lodging allowances paid to Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) students participating in advanced training are not taxable. However, active duty pay received during summer advanced camp is taxable.

Special rules apply to services you perform as a newspaper carrier or distributor. You are a direct seller and treated as self-employed for federal tax purposes if you meet the following conditions:

You are in the business of delivering newspapers.

All your pay for these services directly relates to sales rather than to the number of hours worked.

You perform the delivery services under a written contract that states you will not be treated as an employee for federal tax purposes. Generally, newspaper carriers or distributors under age 18 are not subject to self-employme

 

08/23/2010
U.R.O.C.K.
A program for Teens Transitioning out of Foster Care

You know as well as I do the challenges that face teens when they leave foster care. Everyday, your organization works hard to ensure that teens have the tools they need before they leave care. I can remember the how I struggled to find a program that was not only educational, but also motivational and engaging for teens. And after 13 years, I believe we have the perfect one-day program to do just that! Our team came together to create a program that is unique, educational, and motivational for teens in care. Below you will find more information about the one-day program, as well as, how you can bring this program to your agency. I'd be glad to work with you to create a one-day program to pull in the teens from your program, and the other programs in your area. I look forward to talking with you about this exciting program.
Adam Robe, MSW
To read more please click here.


07/27/2010
We're home! Now what? Webinar

Please join us for a webinar introducing adoption professionals to
WE'RE HOME!  NOW WHAT?  How to Settle in and Thrive as a New Adoptive Family.  
This webinar is for adoption professionals only.  Judy Stigger and Barbara Supergan will walk you through what families will learn in these courses and will share practical tools to get this help into the hands of families who will benefit the most.  
What's more, you'll get a free NASW-approved CEU course enrollment just for attending the webinar!
To register please click here.

 

07/27/10
Graying Adoptees Still Searching for Their Identities

Carol Cook of Blairstown, N.J., grew up thinking she was a WASP with Native American blood, a splash of ethnicity that pleased her because she had majored in anthropology in college. But at 33, the executive secretary and mother of two inadvertently discovered a secret her entire family had held from her: Cook was adopted, born in a Catholic hospital and was likely Italian. "I suspect the [secret] evolved and it became more impossible to tell me," she said. "I had good parents. But suddenly I was not the person I thought. I was a totally different nationality. I was floored." Now she is 68 and a grandmother, but Cook's struggle to find her identity is never-ending. In New Jersey -- and in all but eight states -- it's against the law to for her to get her original birth certificate.
To read the entire article please click here.

07/19/2010
Turrell Child Care &early Learning Center Fall Enrolment

 

To see the flier please click here.


07/19/2010
Report shows Misconceptions Stymie Equality for Adoptees by Keeping Records Closed

In its continuing effort to improve law, policy and practice so that “all adopted people can achieve equal treatment with their non-adopted peers,” the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute today released a major report recommending that every state enact legislation restoring the right of all adult adoptees to access their own original birth certificates (OBCs).
To read the entire article please click here.

07/14/2010
New Management and Supervision section in Child Welfare Information Gateway

Child Welfare Information Gateway has added an entirely new section to its website: Management and Supervision. This new section provides the resources that help child welfare managers and supervisors provide effective leadership and build and maintain a skilled workforce. The new Management and Supervision section, which can be found on the left navigation bar of the Information Gateway website, addresses a vast array of topics relevant to the delivery of effective child welfare services, which include: Administering and Managing Child Welfare Agencies and Programs; Ethical Practice and Client Rights; Evaluating Program, Practice, and Service Effectiveness; Disaster Preparedness and Response; Funding; Information Systems and Data; Service Improvement; Supervising Child Welfare Services; System Reform; Training; and, Workforce. Access the resources of the Management and Supervision website section by clicking the link below.
http://www.childwelfare.gov/management/


07/01/2010
Adoption Fact Sheets

NACAC produced the following adoption fact sheets to help inform adoption community members and adoption advocates. The fact sheets, derived mostly from 2007 AFCARS data, have information about the number of waiting children, the length of time children spend in care, the race of waiting and adopted children, types of exits from foster care, Title IV-E payments, and more.
To review the entire publication please click here.


06/29/2010
State Budget Restores $3 Million Budget Allocation to New Jersey After 3

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed the Fiscal Year 2011 state budget into law today, restoring $3,000,000 to New Jersey After 3. New Jersey After 3 is a nonprofit organization which supports a Statewide network of evidence-based afterschool programs that expand learning time in public schools. The restoration of public investment in New Jersey After 3 was one of a handful of items restored through the budget deal between Governor Christie and the Legislature on June 21st, demonstrating the widespread support of this innovative public/private partnership among State leaders, and validating New Jersey After 3's position as a top priority for children and families of the Garden State.
To read the entire article please click here.


06/28/2010
Facebook Fuels Honesty, Unpredictability in Adoption
As Adoption Becomes More Open, Social Media Present New Questions
 

In private messages and on public pages, adopted children and parents of children of given up to adoption are seeking out _ and finding _ estranged relatives. But experts say that while the phenomenon is moving families toward more transparency about adoption, it is also raises new questions.
"It has the rich promise of opportunity, but also absolutely has potential pitfalls that we as a field have not thought through and figured out how to deal with," said Adam Pertman, executive director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute.
The Internet age has enabled more people than ever before to locate their birth parents or children once given up for adoption, he said, but social networking sites like Facebook allow reunions to take place without the support systems and third-party intermediaries traditionally available during that often vulnerable moment.
"One of the ways we see this manifesting is people are finding each other without any structures around them, without any guidance around them and often without any rules," he said.
To read the entire article please click here.

06/24/2010
Educational Scholarships offered by the University of Phoenix
 

In partnership with the National Foster Parent Association, the University of Phoenix has offered 50 full-ride scholarships to foster youth, foster care alumni or foster parents, under the banner of the University's First Chance Scholarship program. The scholarship is redeemable at any University of Phoenix campus, including the online program. Foster Care Alumni of America has just agreed to partner with NFPA to promote the scholarships to the alumni community and to assist in the selection of 25 alumni scholarship recipients.
The program is offered on a competitive basis.  To access the guidelines and application click here, or visit the NFPA website at www.nfpainc.org.
Time is of the essence!  The deadline for applying is July 18, 2010.
Whether you are a first-time college student, someone working to complete their undergraduate or advanced degree, or an established professional looking to re-train in a new field, take a look at this opportunity or pass it on to someone you know could benefit.

06/16/2010

N.J. Assembly committee approves bill unsealing adoptees' birth records
 

Lawmakers this evening advanced a bill that would allow adoptees in New Jersey to access medical history and birth records.

The measure was approved by the Assembly Human Services Committee by a 6-0 vote with four abstentions. It now advances to the full Assembly. It has already passed the state Senate. To read the entire article please click here.

06/14/10
Edison man fights for adoptees' rights in new film

Joe DiGeronimo of Edison was so close,  yet so far.
His search for his birth parents, which began 30 years ago, culminated with his learning of his birth father's identity just six months after he died and five years after his birth mother died.
"That's the worst part," DiGeronimo said. "That's crazy to know that at least I could have said hello."
DiGeronimo's search is depicted in the new documentary "For the Life of Me" from filmmaker Jean Strauss. It will be shown 7 p.m. Sunday at Voorhees Hall on the campus of Rutgers University in New Brunswick as part of the New Jersey International  Film Festival.
To read the entire article please click here.


06/03/2010
The Birds and the Bees (via the Fertility Clinic)
 

If you want to adopt a child in the United States, you’ll face an array of bureaucratic roadblocks and invasive interrogations. Adoption agencies will assess your finances, your relationships, and your fitness as a potential guardian. The interests of the child, not the desires of the would-be parent, will be treated as paramount throughout.
If you want to procure sperm or eggs, the process is completely different. You can shop for gametes the way you’d go shopping for a house or a car — buying ova from an Ivy League undergraduate, or sperm from a 6-foot-8, athletic, blue-eyed Dane. The person selling you the right to bear and rear their biological offspring can do so anonymously, with no future strings attached at all.
To read the entire article please click here.



06/02/2010
Adoption Records
 

New Jersey adults, who were adopted as children, are barred from access to their birth records. A bill to change that recently passed committee with a unanimous decision, but there is staunch opposition to the proposed legislation from an unlikely coalition of opponents: the A.C.L.U., the NJ State Bar Association, and Right to Life. History is in their favor as the bill has been voted down repeatedly since it was first introduced in 1980. Sandy King’s field piece profiles two adoptees who have been lobbying ever since.  But we also hear from the director of NJ Right to Life who fears a rise in abortion rates if adoption files were opened.  In the studio, Raymond Brown talks to State Sen. Loretta Weinberg, Bar Association Representative Thomas Snyder, and Attorney Barry Evenchick.

05/24/2010
AdoptUSKids twitter party

Join us for a live Q&A on Twitter!
We’ll be hosting a live question-and-answer session with adoption experts and former foster youth on Twitter from 2 to 3 p.m. (EST) on Thursday, May 27.  This will be a safe and open informational chat about the benefits of adoption with a focus on adoption from foster care.
We welcome you to this online community of concerned citizens and look forward to your questions about how you can make the difference of a lifetime for these children.


05/18/10
Modern Love: Open Adoption: Not So Simple Math
 

We were taking a walk in the woods outside Boston, and following behind him I was surprised by how much he moved like his father. We spent that afternoon showing each other icicles and hollow trees, breaking frozen patterns in the river ice, inching too close to the water to get a better view of the bridge above.
When we arrived home, Ben said that the reason he wanted to go for a walk was to spend time with me. It had been three months since I last saw him. I smiled sheepishly and stepped into the living room, where the woman who had adopted him six years earlier sat reading the newspaper.
To read the entire article please click here.

05/13/2010
Time for Prom and Graduation? Time to Talk with Your Teens

Prom season is fast approaching, and for many teens, this time of year offers a taste of  new freedoms and the temptation to engage in risky behavior. A new study of 11th and 12th grade students from across the country shows that teens don't recognize the dangers of driving on prom and graduation night, even though they recognize their peers may be more likely to drink on these occasions. Nearly all of the students surveyed, 90 percent, reported that their peers are more likely to drink on prom night and 79 percent reported the same for graduation night. Despite believing that their peers are more likely to drink during prom and graduation, only 29 percent reported that they believe driving on prom night is dangerous, while 25 percent said the same for graduation night.

The study surveyed over 2,500 students and was conducted by ORC Guideline for Liberty Mutual and Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD).



05/12/2010
Beyond Culture Camp: Promoting Healthy Identity in Adoption

Adam Pertman will provide an in-depth look into The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute's groundbreaking research on identity formation in adoption. While Korean Americans are at the heart of this study, the Institute's review of decades of literature and its examination of trans-racial adoption from foster care indicate that the recent findings are highly relevant to all trans-racial adoptive families.
Judy Stigger, LCSW, will then show you how you can begin to put the most current, most authoritative data available into practice.
This webinar is designed for professionals working in the field, and offers CEs for successful completion.
www.AdoptionLearningPartners.org/ce_information.cfm for details.
Audio for the webinar will be via telephone at the following toll number: 218-339-2409. You will receive call in information prior to the webinar.
To register please click http://www.bluestreakwebinars.com/AccountManager/RegEv.aspx?PIID=EE53D88089


05/10/2010
May is National Foster Care Month

Proclamation issued by Governor Chris Christie. To see the proclamation please click here.


05/10/2010
Harvard University Announcement: No tuition and No Student Loans
 

05/06/2010
In Some Adoptions, Love Doesn't Conquer All
 

At times, Kelly Lytle Baehr wondered how they would all get through it.  Two years ago, she and her husband adopted three boys from Ukraine — two of them 8, the other 16 — and brought them back to their home in Omaha. She knew assimilation into a family life would not be easy; all had come from troubled backgrounds, including one who had spent the first five years of his life in a prison orphanage back in Ukraine, and had a mother who drank while she was pregnant.
She was often tested by the strains of raising these three new sons. The youngest of them, Ian (born Igor) had rummaged in garbage dumps in Ukraine for toys, with hub cabs and discarded car parts his only possessions. At the Baehrs’s home in Nebraska he soon became a wild, uncontrollable kleptomaniac, she said. The other 8-year-old, Erik, struggled to attach to her — kicking, screaming, biting and yelling, “I hate you.” Only the oldest son, Viktor, seemed to welcome his new life quickly, blending easily into the family and eventually making the honor roll at his high school.
To read the entire article please click here.


05/04/2010

May is National Foster Care Month!

 

Every day, some 513,000 children and youth are living in foster care because their own parents can't take care of them. We must address the needs of these children, who need a stable and secure home until they can either return to their parents or establish a lifelong connection to a nurturing adult.
National Foster Care Month in May provides an opportunity for people nationwide to get involved as foster parents, volunteers, mentors, employers, or in other ways. It's also an opportunity to show our appreciation for the dedication of the foster families who care for these children and youth, and the social workers who support them.
Foster Care Month originated in 1988 when the National Foster Parent Association persuaded then-Senator Strom Thurmond to introduce a resolution to proclaim May as National Foster Care Month. The first President Bush issued an annual proclamation during each year of his presidency, providing an impetus for state, county, and city proclamations. The main focus of the early efforts was appreciation and recognition of the tremendous contributions of foster parents nationwide.
The Foster Care Month partnership now comprises 14 national organizations. CWLA invites you to recognize May as National Foster Care Month. Join us in making this a time to recognize and celebrate those who make a difference in the lives of children in the foster care system.
For more information on how to get involved in National Foster Care Month activities, visit www.fostercaremonth.org, or check out the Foster Care Month Toolkit for ways you can show recognition for foster parents and social workers, tools for reaching out to reporters, materials for working with businesses and elected officials, fact sheets, and more.

05/03/2010
Presidential Proclamation - National Foster Care Month

Nearly a half-million children and youth are in foster care in America, all entering the system through no fault of their own. During National Foster Care Month, we recognize the promise of children and youth in foster care, as well as former foster youth. We also celebrate the professionals and foster parents who demonstrate the depth and kindness of the human heart. Children and youth in foster care deserve the happiness and joy every child should experience through family life and a safe, loving home. Families provide children with unconditional love, stability, trust, and the support to grow into healthy, productive adults. Unfortunately, too many foster youth reach the age at which they must leave foster care and enter adulthood without the support of a permanent family.
To read the entire proclamation please click here.
 

05/01/2010
May is National Foster Care Month...You Can Change a Lifetime

All children — including the 463,000 American children and youth in foster care —  deserve a safe, happy life. Young people in foster care especially need nurturing adults on their side because their own families are in crisis and unable to care for them.
Each May, we salute the compassionate people who make a difference by serving as foster parents, relative caregivers, mentors, advocates, social workers, and volunteers. Thanks to these unsung heroes, many formerly abused or neglected children and teens will safely reunite with their parents, be cared for by relatives, or be adopted by loving families.

But some children in foster care are less fortunate. Most communities across the country are urgently seeking more everyday people to help these youth overcome their troubled childhoods and realize their full potential. No matter what their age, every young person in foster care benefits from a meaningful connection to a caring adult who becomes a supportive and lasting presence in his or her life.

 Take a closer look at the number and diversity of people who were once in foster care. It might surprise you. In fact, there are an estimated 12 million foster care alumni in the U.S. representing all walks of life.  Behind this statistic are countless stories of children who grew up to be thriving adults while others struggled with life’s challenges all alone. The difference between triumph and tragedy will become very clear as you read about these foster care alumni. Success stories come about when someone takes the time to offer comfort, provide support, give advice, or simply share a milestone moment with a youngster enduring a difficult family situation.

Now is the time to get involved. No matter how much time you have to give, you have the power to do something positive that will Change a Lifetime for a young person in foster care.

04/27/2010
Russia, Adoption Notice

We have received no official notification that adoptions of Russian orphans by Americans have been suspended, but it is clear the recent controversy has slowed down adoptions in some parts of the country. 
To learn more please click here.


04/14/2010
Anderson Cooper’s CNN’s interview with Dr. Jane Aronson regarding the Russian Adoption

Anderson Cooper talks about the outrage over the 7-year-old adopted boy sent back to Russia and other international adoption problems with Dr. Jane Aronson, international adoption specialist and founder and CEO of Worldwide Orphans Foundation and with legal analyst Lisa Bloom.
To watch the entire interview please click here.


04/08/2010

Study Finds More Woes Following Foster Care
 

Only half the youths who had turned 18 and “aged out” of foster care were employed by their mid-20s. Six in 10 men had been convicted of a crime, and three in four women, many of them with children of their own, were receiving some form of public assistance. Only six in 100 had completed even a community college degree.
The dismal outlook for youths who are thrust into a shaky adulthood from the foster care system — now numbering some 30,000 annually — has been documented with new precision by a long-term study released Wednesday, the largest to follow such children over many years.
To read the entire article please click here.


04/06/2010

After Haiti earthquake, spike in adoption requests benefits other countries in need

 

Adoption agencies in New Jersey and the rest of the country received thousands of calls after the Jan. 12 earthquake from people interested in bringing a Haitian child to the United States. But agency officials knew it might be months or even years before those children could be adopted.

So the officials suggested that prospective parents consider another country filled with orphans needing a home. In most cases, that country was Ethiopia.

To read the entire article please click here.


04/01/2010
April is Child Abuse Prevention Month

This Thursday, April 1, marks the beginning of Child Abuse Prevention Month when organizations and communities across the country will promote the importance of healthy child development and child abuse prevention.  As one of the more than 3.5 million people who have chosen to support this mission and our organization, Prevent Child Abuse America and our flagship program, Healthy Families America, we offer our most sincere thanks for your commitment; we could not do our work without you.  With April around the corner, we would like to share the following preview of messages to come over the next six weeks, highlighting the various ways you can get involved. 
Tomorrow (April 1) – Launch of an exciting new month-long fundraising challenge to help make an impact on families and children in communities nationwide.
Week of April 5 – Next fundraising challenge message. 

Week of April 12 – Next installment of the fundraising campaign as well as re-introduction of the pinwheel-themed Facebook gift benefiting Prevent Child Abuse America, born from our national campaign, Pinwheels for Prevention^®.  These are great to give as virtual birthday gifts or gifts at any time of year! 

Week of April 19 – Introduction of a new signature line of handcrafted pinwheel-themed sterling silver jewelry as well as the next installment of the national fundraising challenge. 

Week of April 26 – Final fundraising challenge message to make sure we end the campaign strong!  

Week of May 3 – Recap of all the great achievements you made possible in April!

Week of May 10 – Launch of a new groundbreaking survey polling why members chose to join the Society Against Child Abuse, ways you may have supported our mission and your thoughts on how social media can positively impact real world social causes.

03/23/2010
NJ Senate Approves Open Adoption Birth records Bill
 

Adult adoptees moved a step closer to being able to get copies of their original birth certificates and medical histories when the state Senate voted today to open adoption records.

The bill, approved 27-10, includes protections for biological parents who want to remain anonymous, but opponents in the Senate said it does not go far enough and that parents’ privacy could still be invaded.
To read the entire article please click here.

03/08/2010
SCS for S799/S1399 released to Senate for vote

 

Trenton.   SCS (Senate Committee Substitute) for S799/S1399 was released from the Health, Human Services and Sr. Citizens Committee yesterday afternoon, just two years and a day after last session's bill passed on the Senate floor, 31-7.  After hearing more than two hours of testimony (in addition to the previous hours heard by all but one (a new) member of the committee at previous hearings), the committee made its decision.  The bill is now released for posting on the Senate floor.


03/08/2010

An only child finds his big family

Growing up, a suspicion constantly gnawed at Harold Cogdell Jr. He'd never heard his mother, Jeanette, talk about her pregnancy, or how much he weighed at birth - like his friends' mothers did.
She and his father, Harold Sr., were older than his friends' parents in Kinston, where Harold Jr. was raised an only child 70 miles southeast of Raleigh. They were reserved; he was outgoing.
And they didn't share the same physical features. Harold Jr.'s friends often kidded that he looked like he came from Ahoskie, a town in northeast North Carolina known for its large Native American community.
To read the entire article please click here.

 

03/04/2010

N.J. Senate panel approves bill unsealing adoptee birth records

 

Adopted adults would gain access to their original birth certificates and family medical history under a bill a Senate panel approved today.

The bill in one form or another has been before the Legislature since the 1980-81 session. Religious leaders, anti-abortion activists and the New Jersey chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union have successfully lobbied against it, asking lawmakers to protect birth mothers, who believed they had anonymity when they gave up their children. To read the entire article please click here.

03/03/2010
Open records bill for NJ adoptees advances in Legislature

 

The state Senate today approved a bill that would allow adults adopted as children to obtain their original birth records, now sealed under New Jersey law.

For nearly three decades, adoption rights advocates have tried to get this bill passed, arguing they have a right to know their biological and cultural identities. Yet religious leaders, anti-abortion activists and, more recently, the New Jersey chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union have persuaded lawmakers to reject the bill to protect the identity of birth mothers, who believed they had anonymity when they gave up their children.
To read the entire article please click here.

02/27/2010
Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act

When the Fostering Connections Act was passed by Congress the National Foster Care Coalition formed a committee to develop documents to help the foster care community better understand all the provisions of the Act. By clicking on the link that follows you will find a document that answers the frequently asked questions on the provisions of this act that impacts youth and young adults. To access the FAQ Report:
View the FAQ Report: CLICK HERE   
http://www.nfpaonline.org/uploads/NFCC-FAQ-olderyouth-2009.pdf 


02/27/2010
The 2009 Federal Tax Guide for Foster Parents and Kinship Parents

The 2009 Federal Tax Guide for Foster Parents and Kinship Parents has arrived. Please click here to download. 
http://www.nfpaonline.org/uploads/2009_federal_tax_benefits(1).pdf 


02/23/2010
Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI) launches blog to provide you with more adoption and foster care resources! 
 

CCAI is thrilled to share the launch of our new blog with you!  Updated weekly, our blog will feature Executive Director Op-Eds, Current Event Responses and Positions, CCAI Program and Project Updates, Upcoming Adoption Events, Responses to Legislative Happenings, and Adoption Polls!  Click here to visit, and be sure to bookmark our blog and check regularly for updates!

02/23/2010
Children's Trust Fund Tax Check-off
 

02/08/2010
New Resources from NACAC

We have recently uploaded two new resources to the NACAC web site:
A series of state-by-state adoption fact sheets (based primarily on 2007 AFCARS data) —  Designed to be a tool for local adoption advocates, each sheet highlights the number of waiting children, number of children adopted, race and ethnic background of waiting children, data on who adopted foster children, and much more.
A flyer for recruiters about our adoption subsidy program — Adoption recruiters, parent group leaders, and other adoption professionals can use this flyer to help inform prospective adopters about the support and information NACAC can provide related to adoption assistance. 
We encourage you to use these resources and to share them with others.

02/04/2010
Haiti's Children Best Served By Care, Not Removal

SAN DIEGO, February 3, 2010 – Concerned United Birthparents (CUB) urges the governments of Haiti and the U.S. to stand strong against suggestions that the best way to help Haiti’s children is by removing them from their families, culture and homeland.
A national non-profit of birthparents, adoptees and adoptive parents, CUB shares the world’s concern for Haiti’s most vulnerable in the wake of the devastating earthquake of January 12, 2010. But the 33-year-old non-profit says it has a unique understanding of how important it is to reject quick-fix solutions when it comes to a child’s life, especially in its time of greatest need.
To read the entire article please click here.


02/03/2010
EITC Awareness Day is Friday, January 29, 2010:
Help Spread the Word about the Earned Income Tax Credit

One of the largest benefit programs for working families is also one of the most overlooked tax credits. It’s called the Earned Income Tax Credit and, as the name implies, it’s for people who work for a living but don’t make a lot of money.
Rural residents, self-employed people such as farmers, childless workers and grandparents raising grandchildren are among those who may be eligible but fail to claim EITC.
The EITC can make life a little easier in these hard times. A married couple with three children and an income ranging from $12,570 to $21,420 could be eligible for the maximum tax credit of $5,657.   Taxpayers making as much as $48,279 could qualify for EITC and can get tax returns prepared for no charge at a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) site in their local community. In New Jersey the 2-1-1 Hotline can help families locate VITA sites and other vital services. For Newark area VITA site locations go to the Newark Asset Building Coalition (NABC) website at http://www.newarkassetbuild.org.
The Association for Children of New Jersey just released the Newark Kids Count which shows that the number of Newark residents claiming the federal Earned Income Tax Credit rose 5 percent from 2003 – 2007 and the number claiming the state EITC rose 2 percent from 2004-2008. This is good news through the times of economic downturn, but so many more children and families could benefit from the credit.

02/03/2010 
A family in China made babies their business

Reporting from Changning, China - The telephones kept ringing with more orders and although Duan Yuelin kept raising his prices, the demand was inexhaustible. Customers were so eager to buy more that they would ply him with expensive gifts and dinners in fancy restaurants.
His family-run business was racking up sales of as much as $3,000 a month, unimaginable riches for uneducated Chinese rice farmers from southern Hunan province.
What merchandise was he selling? Babies. And the customers were government-run orphanages that paid up to $600 each for newborn girls for adoption in the United States and other Western countries.
To read the entire article please click here.


02/03/2010
Mother and Child

This private screening is about a 14 yr old that places her child for adoption. It will be coming to movie theatres in the summertime.

01/25/2010
New Adoption Documentary "Off and Running", opens at the IFC Center in New York City on January 29th

With white Jewish lesbians for parents and two adopted brothers - one mixed-race and one Korean - Brooklyn teen Avery grew up in a unique and loving household. But when her curiosity about her African-American roots grows, she decides to contact her birth mother. This choice propels Avery into her own complicated exploration of race, identity, and family that threatens to distance her from the parents she’s always known. She begins staying away from home, starts skipping school, and risks losing her shot at the college track career she had always dreamed of. But when Avery decides to pick up the pieces of her life and make sense of her identity, the results are inspiring. Off and Running follows Avery to the brink of adulthood, exploring the strength of family bonds and the lengths people must go to become themselves.  See the website and trailer for more information.


01/25/2010
NACAC has posted updated state adoption fact sheets
 

 

01/25/2010

Haiti quake, tough standards complicate adoption process

Adoption agencies across North Jersey have been inundated with calls from families who want to care for the youngest victims of the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti.
But agency directors are responding cautiously — saying media images of suffering children may be triggering an emotional reaction from some who have not considered the complexities of adoption.
“That always happens after a huge national disaster and they show pictures of children and show horrors,” said Jared Rolsky, executive director of New Jersey-based Golden Cradle Adoption Services. The priority, he said, is to protect the children and verify they are actually orphans.
To read the entire article please click here.


01/20/2010
Canada to fast-track Haitian adoptions.

The federal government is fast-tracking the adoption of up to 100 Haitian children, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced Wednesday.
Kenney announced temporary resident permits will be issued and fees waived. The government is contacting 100 families who are at different stages of adoption procedures for Haitian children that were underway before last week's devastating earthquake.
To read the entire article please click here.

01/20/2010
UNICEF worries about Haitian children adoptions

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday it is worried about some countries decision of speeding up Haitian children adoptions after the earthquake, in detriment of family reunification.
"We want to find the children's family at all cost and to achieve reunification. Adoptions are the last alternative", explained the UNICEF spokeswoman Veronique Taveau.
To read the entire article please click here.

 

01/20/2010
Quebec holding new Haitian adoption requests over child smuggling fear

 

The Quebec government has put on hold all new adoption applications for Haitian children as part of an international effort to prevent a repeat of the child smuggling that occurred after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. On Monday, a United Nations agency urged caution with any new adoptions, given that the events unfolding in Haiti make it impossible to verify the personal and family situation of children.
To read the entire article please click here.

 

01/20/2010

53 Haitian Orphans Are Airlifted to U.S.

 

A group of 53 Haitian orphans landed in Pittsburgh on Tuesday morning, the first wave to arrive after the United States loosened its policy on visa requirements to expedite Americans’ adoptions of parentless children living in the post-earthquake ruins.

But the new policy, announced late Monday, affects only 900 children whom the Haitian government had already identified as orphans, and whom adoption agencies had matched with couples in the United States.
To read the entire article please click here.

 

01/19/2010
Center For Family Connections It's Show Time

Tune in to WMBR at 88.1 FM TONIGHT at 7pm to hear an interview with CEO and founder of Center For Family Connections, Dr. Joyce Maguire Pavao!
This week's version of Emily Corwin's radio show, "The Neighborhood," will focus on providing insight regarding issues around adoption. It will be composed of several segments, featuring the perspectives of a variety of individuals, including Dr. Pavao herself!
Find the show on MIT's radio station, WMBR, at 88.1FM or streaming online at wmbr.org.
It will also be available as a podcast afterwards on Emily's website, www.neighborhoodradio.org.


01/19/2010
Assessing Lesbian and Gay Prospective Foster and Adoptive Families: A Focus on the Homestudy Process

Foster care and adoption by gay men and lesbians is not a new phenomenon. Children and youth have always been placed by states and public agencies in homes with gay and lesbian parents. Some gay men and lesbians have fostered or adopted children independently from private agencies or have made private adoption arrangements with individual birth mothers; others have fostered or adopted through the public system. Drawing on research literature, practice wisdom from 34 years of child welfare experiences, and case examples, this article offers child welfare professionals guidelines for competent assessment with prospective foster or adoptive parents who identify as lesbian or gay.
To read the entire article please click here.


01/19/2010
Hearst Training Introductory Webinar, March 18, 2010

During this interactive webinar, the presenters will describe The Healing Nature of Relationships©. This training program creates a cross-team approach to care and provides a solid foundation in the basics of child and personality development, psychopathology and systems theory.
Helping vulnerable children and teenagers heal from tragic pasts is difficult and challenging work that demands patience, skill, knowledge, resilience, and willingness to work together across various disciplines. Yet the perspective and language of child care workers can be very different from the perspective and language of clinical staff. The Healing Nature of Relationships© bridges these differences by creating a common language and fostering a true relationship-based team environment dedicated to meeting these youngsters’ needs.   

This curriculum was designed by staff at Children’s Aid and Family Services to provide affordable training to those that work with severely traumatized children and adolescents in community-based therapeutic settings. This new training program is being offered to Alliance members at a specially discounted rate.
To learn more please click here.

01/13/2010
Help When It Is Needed Most

It has been an extraordinary year of need for residents in NJ. Last year, one in every four callers to 2-1-1 needed emergency financial assistance. Today, one of every two callers needs immediate financial relief. In 2009, 2-1-1 was able to respond to 373,000 requests for health, human service and preparedness information because of you - the agencies and community organizations who provide much needed services and support. In the spirit of the season, all the staff at 2-1-1 would like to thank you and our state, local and United Way partners for believing in providing the residents of NJ with an easy to remember number to call, 2-1-1, when help is needed most.
To visit the 211 Homepage please click here.


01/12/2010
Intercountry Adoption

Statistics from the Intercounty Adoption, Office of Children’s Issues, US is not posted.  These include the number of children adopted internationally around the county as well as by state.  To view the numbers log onto    http://adoption.state.gov/news/us_map.html  and select the state.

 

12/22/2009
Deadline Approaches for Foster Youth Internship Program

The application deadline for the 2010 Congressional Foster Youth Internship Program is fast approaching, and is due on January 4^th!   What we are asking from you is simple.  You may know of someone who would be a perfect match for this program.

To read the entire article please click here.


12/21/2009
Significant Reduction in International Adoptions
 

The number of foreign children adopted by Americans plunged more than a quarter in the past year, reaching the lowest level since 1996 and leading adoption advocates to urge Congress to help reverse the trend.

Big declines were recorded for all three countries that provided the most adopted children in the previous fiscal year. In China and Russia, government officials have been trying to promote domestic adoptions, while in Guatemala, a once-bustling but highly corrupt international adoption industry was shut down while reforms are implemented.
To read the entire article please click here.


12/21/2009
Lean Times, but No Raise in Adoptions

Just over a year ago, when the economy first took a nose dive, snatching the stability of countless families with it, the people who run Spence-Chapin Adoption Services, a New York-based adoption agency, prepared themselves for an influx of pregnant women seeking their help.
To read the entire article please click here.


12/08/2009
Jane Aronson: The Guardian Angel

  She is a Woman of the Year because: “She has a heart the size of Texas and a drive like Tiger Woods, and she has made a huge difference to countless children and their families.” —Hugh Jackman, actor and longtime supporter of Worldwide Orphans Foundation
To read the entire article please click here.


12/02/2009
A Home for the Holidays

Broadcast set for Wednesday, December 23^rd on CBS from 8:00 – 9:00 pm.  “A Home for the Holidays” shares, through the eyes of a child, the joy of having a family - not just for the holidays, but every day and forever.

Each December, the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption and Children's Action Network presents “A Home for the Holidays”, a CBS network television special bringing together all-star talent to raise awareness for foster care adoption.

In its 11th year, the special will feature Faith Hill and include performances by Mary J Blige, Reba McEntire, Skakira and Carrie Underwood.

Nia Vardolos (My Fat Greek Wedding) and Jenna Elfman are among the celebrities who will present inspirational stories of extraordinary families who share the joys found through foster care adoption.

Since 1999, this heartwarming holiday special has generated tens of thousands of calls to the Foundation, from viewers moved to action after hearing true stories of waiting children and families who adopted from foster care.

 

To learn more about the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, log onto www.davethomasfoundation.org or contact us at www.njarch.org .

11/30/2009
New Colombia Adoption Sibling Registry launched

New Colombia Adoption Sibling Registry launched:  The Colombia Adoption Sibling Registry is a database that adoptees and adoptive families of Colombian born children can utilize when searching for biological siblings who may also have been adopted. For information, log onto http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ColombiaAdoptSibRegistry/



11/30/2009
December 2009 Adoption Month E-Magazine

To see an E-Magazine please click here



11/24/2009
"Find My Family" premiers on ABC-TV
 

 

11/24/2009

Parents Matter: The Role of Parents in Teens' Decisions about Sex.

Positive parent-teen relationships, high parental awareness and monitoring of whom their children are with, and family dinner routines are all linked to delayed sex among teens, according to a new Child Trends research brief.  The brief, Parents Matter: The Role of Parents in Teens' Decisions about Sex, explores how parenting practices that occur before adolescents have had sexual intercourse are associated with the probability of first sex by age 16.  
Among the findings:
Better parent-adolescent relationships are associated with reduced risk of early sexual experience among teen girls.
Teen girls who reported high relationship quality with both parents were less likely to have sex at an early age (22%), compared with teen girls who reported low relationship quality with both parents (37 percent).
This finding holds true for teen girls' relationships with their mothers and fathers separately, but no significant association was found for teen boys
Teen boys who eat dinner with their family every day have a lower probability of having sex before age 16 (31%), compared with those who eat dinner with their family four days a week or less (37%).  No significant association was found for teen girls on this measure.
Adolescents whose parents are more aware of whom they are with when not at home are less likely to have sex by age 16.  For example, only 22% of girls who reported that their parents knew "everything" about whom they were with when they were not home had first sex before age 16, compared with 43% who reported their parents knew little or nothing.
"These findings highlight the importance of parents in adolescents' lives," said study co-author Jennifer Manlove, Ph.D.  "Parents can be involved beyond having the 'sex talk' with their adolescents - by fostering strong relationships, developing family routines such as eating dinner together regularly, and being aware of where their children are when they are not at home."
 This study is based on data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, sponsored and directed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor.

11/23/2009
Nia Vardalos, the breakout star of the 2002 hit My Big Fat Greek Wedding, has adopted a child.

The little girl, whose name has not been released, is the first for the 46-year-old actress and her husband, Ian Gomez reports. Click here for details  http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20240711,00.html

11/23/2009

First-Ever National Data on Adopted Children and Their Families

Adoption USA: A Chartbook Based on the 2007 National Survey of Adoptive Parents presents findings from the first nationally representative survey of adoptive parents in the United States. About two percent of U.S. children joined their families through adoption. The Chartbook describes the characteristics, adoption experiences, and well-being of these children and their families, making comparisons between adopted children and the general population of children in the United States and among children adopted through different adoption types.
The Chartbook contains information on types of adoption, adoption by relatives, contact with birth families, physical health and social and emotional well-being of adopted children, and parenting.  It is based on the National Survey of Adoptive Parents, a collaborative effort of several agencies within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).  Researchers from Child Trends conducted the analyses under contract to HHS.

11/18/2009
Adoption Records November 22nd and 24th Show.

New Jersey adults, who were adopted as children, are barred from access to their birth records. A bill to change that recently passed committee with a unanimous decision, but there is staunch opposition to the proposed legislation from an unlikely coalition of opponents: the A.C.L.U., the NJ State Bar Association, and Right to Life. History is in their favor as the bill has been voted down repeatedly since it was first introduced in 1980. Sandy King’s field piece profiles two adoptees who have been lobbying ever since. But we also hear from the director of NJ Right to Life who fears a rise in abortion rates if adoption files were opened. In the studio, Raymond Brown talks to if State Sen. Loretta Weinberg, Bar Association Representative Thomas Snyder, and Attorney Barry Evenchick. For more information, log onto http://www.njn.net/television/njnseries/dueprocess/2006season/1113.html

1/16/2009
National Adoption Awareness Month, 8 Ways to Celebrate

November is National Adoption Awareness month. According to the North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC), "The primary purpose of Adoption Month is to raise awareness about adoption, adoptive families and children who need adoptive homes. If done well, awareness-raising efforts represent adoptive families in a positive manner."
There are many ways to promote adoption. Some take little thought or planning, while others involve more, but it's often easier than you think. Don't let November pass by without doing something to acknowledge the importance of adoption in your life. The following are just a few ways that you can make a difference.
To read the entire article please click here.

10/29/2009
Operation Medicine Cabinet

On November 14, 2009 between the hours of 10am and 2pm Operation Medicine Cabinet is taking place.  This initiative is open to all residents in the state of New Jersey and is to encourage residents to properly dispose of their unused, unwanted and expired prescription medication. To read more please click here.



10/29/2009
DCF Newsletter October 09

Click here to view the Division of Youth and Families (DCF) Spotlight newsletter that features articles such as Home Visitation Programs to Support New Families and Prevent Child Abuse and other items of interest.



10/28/2009
Professional Training Adopting Older Children

After careful analysis, it was reported that “Internationally adopted children have disability rates similar to those adopted domestically (11.7% vs 12.2%, respectively) and more than twice the rate for all children in that age range (5.8%). The adjusted odds of disability relative to domestic adoptees range from one half or less (China and Korea) to twice as large or more (Romania, Bulgaria, other Eastern Europe, and other Western Europe).”
To read the entire article please click here.



10/20/2009
A life spent advocating fiercely for children

It was her job to tell the little boy he would have new parents, to introduce him to the family adopting him, and to make him comfortable over a series of visits. But when she opened his case file, her stomach sank. His biological parents had signed a consent form placing him for adoption when he was 3 days old, and no one ever acted on it. For eight years, he lived with a family that didn't want him. "So here I am, driving this 8-year-old who, eight years ago as a baby, could have been placed with a family but has to go through the trauma of leaving one family and moving to another," she said. "That was heart-wrenching. How do you tell a child, "Well, this is going to be better, it's a permanent family'?"
To read the entire article please click here.

10/20/2009
How to Be an Adoption Advocate

As an attorney, I used to advocate for my clients. But when I left work at the end of the day, my cases and my lawyering skills stayed at the office. A few years ago, however—about the time Zack, my oldest, entered preschool—I noticed that my professional skills had crossed over into my dealings with friends, neighbors, and others in the community. I was becoming an adoption advocate.
To read the entire article please click here.

10/15/2009
New Jersey’s 28^th Annual “Let’s Talk Adoption” Conference
 

 

10/15/2009
November is National Adoption Month.
 

10/15/2009
Adoptee aims to change rules for birth certificates

Eric Roach is working to change a South Dakota law so other adoptees won't have to work as hard, or tell lies, to get their original birth certificates.
Roach, of Spearfish, was adopted as a 6-month-old infant in Iowa in 1955. At age 40, he was denied access to his sealed adoption records and his original birth certificate by an Iowa court.
"That's wrong," Roach said. "I can't have what other people get automatically. Any biological child can go to the state of South Dakota and request a copy of their birth certificate and, with the appropriate documentation, they'll get it -- no questions asked. As an adoptee, if you want a copy of your birth certificate -- hang on for the ride. The answer is 'No. You're adopted.' The laws ought to be equal across the board."
To read the entire article please click here.

10/13/2009
Three Decades After Adoption, DNA Test Reveals Painful Truth

For Cockeysville businessman Ron Ryba, the long walk from the parking lot to the stadium in Philadelphia was a 29-year trail of memories.
He had come to meet the son he and his high school sweetheart had never dared to look at when they gave him up for adoption nearly three decades earlier. Now, the baby was a grown man. What would he say to him? What would he look like?
To read the entire article please click here.



10/012/2009
She Adopted a Child — Then Gave Him Up

No decision she ever made or ever expects to make was more agonizing or more controversial. After 18 months of pouring her love and efforts into bonding with her adoptive son, Anita Tedaldi realized it wasn’t working and gave the child to another family.
“I loved him and I cared deeply for him,” Tedaldi told TODAY’s Matt Lauer Thursday in New York. “I tried to do the same exact thing I did with my biological children, but over time it became clear that our family maybe wasn’t a good match for him, that we were unable to meet some of his needs.”
To read the entire article please click here.

 

09/30/2009
UMD Case Transracial Research
 

The University of Maryland Department of Family Sciences and The Center for Adoption Support and Education are working together to facilitate this important national study of transracial adoptive families. Be part of cutting-edge research to help families like yours!

If you're an adoptive parent of a teen, this might be your opportunity to be part of a national, cutting-edge research project that could lead to improved services and resources for families like yours.
To see the UMD Case transracial research Flyer please click here.

09/30/2009
AdoptUsKids: Interjurisdictional Placement Services

AdoptUsKids has the ICPC Receiving and Sending State Checklists available on the NRCRRFAP pages of the AdoptUsKids website. The checklists provide an overview and generalized description of how ICPC might operate for children and youth being placed across State lines with recruited, general applicant families for the purpose of adoption. Not all steps in the checklists will apply to all situations in every State, but they are a great starting point for the interjurisdictional placement process.
Please click here for the Receiving State Checklist.
Please click here for the Sending State Checklist.



09/30/2009
Mental Health Needs of Foster Children and Children At-Risk for Removal

A recent issue of Virginia Child Protection Newsletter focused on the mental health needs of children entering foster care and children at risk to enter care. The article explored the range of mental health needs and ways to address those needs using evidence-based practices. It will discuss ways to work with the children as well as methods for parent and foster parent training.
Please click here for a copy of newsletter.



09/22/2009

Co-workers at Waldoboro store discover they are brothers

For weeks, Randy Joubert and Gary Nisbet laughed off customers’ comments that the two furniture deliverymen looked similar enough to be brothers. It wouldn’t be long before fate would prove the old adage, the customer is always right.  Joubert said something in him clicked after yet another customer asked the same question during a routine delivery in late August.  Prefacing his line of questioning with the statement, “Don’t think I’m weird,” Joubert asked his co-worker a few pointed questions based on names and dates gleaned from his own adoption records. Seconds later, Joubert realized that the man who had been on the other end of countless couches, mattresses and recliners since July wasn’t just a co-worker. Nisbet was the long-lost brother for whom he had been searching.
To read the entire article please click here.

09/17/2009
HHS Awards $35 Million to States for Increasing Adoptions
 

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today awarded $35 million to 38 states and Puerto Rico for increasing the number of children adopted from foster care.  States use the funds from the adoption incentive award to enhance their programs for abused and neglected children.
“Adopting a child from foster care is a wonderful way to enrich any family’s life,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.  “We congratulate the states that performed so well this year and we thank the parents who are providing loving and permanent homes.”
To read the entire article please click here.

09/17/2009
National Child Welfare Evaluation Summit Materials Available Online

The Children’s Bureau hosted its first National Child Welfare Evaluation Summit in May2009 in Washington, D.C. The purpose of the Summit was to explore the current state of evaluation practice in the field of child welfare and to promote cohesive, strategic, and sound approaches for evaluating child welfare systems, programs, and practice. The materials provided to the Children’s Bureau by presenters at the Summit are now available to the public on the website of James Bell Associates, including PowerPoint presentations, handouts, and resources. The documents are listed in the order that they appear on the agenda.
To read the entire article please click below.
http://www.jbassoc.com/reports/summary.aspx




09/17/2009
Child Trends Research Brief:
Examining Judges' Perspectives on Termination of Parental Rights and Adoption of Foster Children

A new Child Trends research brief explores the issues that judges consider when making decisions about termination of parental rights and adoption of foster children. The brief, The Timing of Termination of Parental Rights: A Balancing Act for Children’s Best Interests, is based on interviews with 20 judges from 18 states. The federal Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 shortens the timeframe for terminating parental rights (TPR) as a way to facilitate timely adoptions for children in foster care who cannot be reunited with their birth parents. The interviews suggest that while judges are concerned about terminating birth parents' rights to a child before an adoptive family has been identified, recent innovations in case practice have helped to address these concerns and have made for a less divisive decision-making process. This research brief also presents the study's implications for juvenile and family court policy and practices: the advantages of judges and caseworkers exploring children's views about TPR and adoption; ways for foster children to maintain birth family connections to support their well-being while in foster care and after adoption; the importance of judges having familiarity with adoption recruitment efforts to inform their decisions; and the importance of seeking consultation and guidance for judges on the requirements of the Adoption and Safe Families Act.
To read the entire article please click below.
http://www.childtrends.org/Files//Child_Trends-2009_09_09_RB_LegalOrphans.pdf



09/17/2009
Mission Transition: A Valuable Tool for Foster Youth Aging Out of Care

Ohio State Bar Foundation in collaboration with the state-wide Public Children Services Association of Ohio and the members of the Overcoming Hurdles in Ohio Youth Advisory Board developed this website to guide youth who are aging out of care. The site provides tools and helpful links to education, finance, health, housing, job, legal, parenting, responsible citizenship and other resources.
To visit the site please click below.
http://www.mymissiontransition.com/

09/15/2009
DCF PRESS RELEASE - New Jersey Launches New Campaign to Support Foster Care and Prevent Child Abuse

The New Jersey Department of Children and Families (DCF) and Casey Family Programs today launched a new campaign – Raise Me Up – aimed at inspiring people to support children in foster care to help prevent child abuse and neglect in communities throughout the state. Raise Me Up campaign is an initiative of Casey Family Programs, the largest national foundation with a sole mission to advocate for children in foster care.
To read the entire article please click here.



09/14/2009
Freedom is not Free

Jordan Brochu was a remarkable young child, always full of questions and intrigued by everything from Legos to the trees in his parents' woods. He played the violin, liked Superman, read J.R.R. Tolkien novels and kept his Sunday school teachers on their toes with all his creative energy. Those were some of the things family and friends recalled about Brochu, a soldier from Oakland who died Aug. 31 in combat in Afghanistan. The private first class, serving with Company C, 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry out of Fort Lewis, Wash., was just 20.
His adoptive mother, Suzanne Brochu, stood before about 200 family members, friends and military officials who packed the Faith Evangelical Free Church for his funeral.
To read the entire article please click here.


 

09/12/2009

A new Child Trends research brief explores the issues that judges consider when making decisions about termination of parental rights and adoption of foster children.  The brief, The Timing of Termination of Parental Rights: A Balancing Act for Children's Best Interests, is based on interviews with 20 judges from 18 states.
The federal Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 shortens the timeframe for terminating parental rights (TPR) as a way to facilitate timely adoptions for children in foster care who cannot be reunited with their birth parents. The interviews suggest that while judges are concerned about terminating birth parents' rights to a child before an adoptive family has been identified, recent innovations in case practice have helped to address these concerns and have made for a less divisive decision-making process.
This research brief also presents the study's implications for juvenile and family court policy and practices: the advantages of judges and caseworkers exploring children's views about TPR and adoption; ways for foster children to maintain birth family connections to support their well-being while in foster care and after adoption; the importance of judges having familiarity with adoption recruitment efforts to inform their decisions; and the importance of seeking consultation and guidance for judges on the requirements of the Adoption and Safe Families Act.




09/08/2009
Man from EHC wants adoptees to get access to medical history

It took Dan Haines 37 years to find out who he was. Now, the 47-year-old Egg Harbor City resident is fighting for the state Legislature to make it easier for other adoptees to get the same sense of wholeness that Haines said filled a lifelong void for him. Haines' search for his identity began when he was 5 years old. "I never fit in. I didn't look a thing like my parents. They had brown hair and brown eyes. I have blond hair and blue eyes. Things like that started making me very inquisitive," Haines said. "Then one day my mom sat me down and read me a book about being adopted. I told her that a terrible mistake had been made and that we had to call someone because my real family was out looking for me."
To read the entire article please click here.

08/03/2009
2009 Best Adoption-Friendly Workplaces

 

To see the entire report please click here.



07/30/2009
Returning to her Roots Guatemala Connections

Chloe Cohen, 7, has a really big "how I spent my summer vacation" story to tell her friends. Visit-your-birthplace-and-meet-your-foster-family big. The Germantown Friends School student returned this month with her adoptive mother, Amy, from a nearly two-week trip to Guatemala.
Not that Chloe remembers her homeland: She left there as a 7-month-old when the Cohen family of Mount Airy adopted her.
The point of the trip - and the group that organized it - was to connect her and other foreign-born adoptees of U.S. parents to their birth countries. Chloe seemed to get that point.
To read the entire article please click here.

07/23/2009
Adoption Stories: Fact and Fiction

It’s a big week for adoption advocates—across the nation and right here in Santa Barbara. Tomorrow afternoon, movie theatres across the country will screen the R-rated horror show, “Orphan.” It’s one of those awful modern-day takes on “The Bad Seed,” that perpetuates dangerously misguided myths about adoption and offends the sensibilities of anyone with any knowledge whatsoever about the blessings—and inherent difficulties—of adoption. The movie’s original tag line was “It must be hard to love an adopted child as much as your own,” which raised the hackles of enlightened individuals who are particularly concerned about such insensitive portrayals of such a delicate subject. A group called Orphans Deserve Better pressured Warner Bros. to reconsider—and the studio not only apologized, but changed the line to “There’s something wrong with Esther.”
To read the entire article please click here.

07/23/2009
The Benefits of and Barriers to Out-of-School Programs for Youth

Research suggests that participation in out-of-school time programs and activities can lessen the likelihood that youth will engage in negative behaviors, such as using drugs and alcohol, dropping out of school, and practicing unhealthy eating habits. Despite these benefits, millions of youth still do not participate in these programs. Three new Child Trends briefs explore the various reasons for nonparticipation.
To read the entire article please click here.



07/22/2009

Domestic vs. International Adoption: Are Celebrities Overlooking American Children?
 

A judge rejected Madonna's bid to adopt a 3-year-old Malawian girl because the African nation's laws require prospective parents to live in the country for at least 18 months, the star's lawyer said Friday.

The process of adopting a child from Africa involves significant wait time, international scrutiny and significant cost. So it raises the question: Why doesn't Madonna — as well as many other celebrities who have gone abroad to adopt — look a little closer to home for her new family members?

Madonna's rep Liz Rosenberg said she first met the young girl she wants to adopt, named Mercy, on a visit last year, and the Material Girl been working toward adopting her ever since.

Stars including Sheryl Crow, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, Rosie O'Donnell and Calista Flockhart have all adopted domestically. But, in addition to Madonna, celebrities including Angelina Jolie, Mia Farrow, Julie Andrews and Meg Ryan have all adopted children from foreign countries. And while last year saw a slight decline, international adoptions overall have nearly tripled since 1992.
To read the entire article please click here.

07/22/2009
Adoption - Records Advocates to protest in Phila

In the United States, Depression-era laws created "amended birth certificates" that replaced the names of biological parents with those of adoptive parents, symbolic of a time when adoption was a shameful secret for all involved: for unwed mothers, scorned by society; for adoptive parents, unable to conceive; for the children, bastards in a society that prized marriage.
To read the entire article please click here.



07/22/2009
New Resources on NYSCCC Website

To view new resources on the New York State Citizens’ Coalition for Children, including a Guide to Starting and Managing Parent Support Groups, click here



07/20/2009
New Jersey Parents Caucus Presents 2nd Annual NJ Community Outreach & Advocacy Tour

Calling All Parents & Caregivers Who are Struggling with Finding Supports & Services for their Children

NJPC is bringing Services via our 25 Foot Community Outreach RV to Your Neighborhood!

Onsite Services Include: Street Outreach, Registration for Parent Education Programs, Information & Referral Services, Parent Advocacy,  Man Talk Fatherhood Initiative, NJ Youth Justice Initiative

Onsite NJPC Staff Include: Community Based Parent Advocates, Masters of Social Work (MSW), Licensed School Psychologist, Volunteers

Elizabeth – Broad St. & Dickerson St. - August 8, 10 to 5PM

Trenton – Walnut Ave. – August 13, 12 to 5PM

Asbury Park – Springwood & Borden Ave – August 19, 2 to 6PM

Atlantic City – 1539 Adriatic Ave. - August 20, 1 to 6PM

Newark – Bradley Court, 48 Munn Ave. – August 26, 2 to 7PM

Flyer attached for your review.  For more information, call (973) 989-8866 or email info@njparentcaucus.org   

www.newjerseyparentscaucus.org

 

07/20/2009

In the current economic and political climate, knowing how to identify and select evidence-based programs adds value to any organization seeking to improve outcomes for children and youth.  A new Child Trends brief, Online Resources for Identifying Evidence-Based, Out-of-School Time Programs: A User's Guide, can help funders, administrators, and practitioners find evidence-based programs that may be appropriate for their target populations and communities.  The Guide provides an overview of 22 resources -- 12 searchable online databases, two online interactive summaries, and eight online documents -- that offer information on a range of evidence-based intervention programs.  It also includes recommendations and questions to consider when searching for evidence-based programs, and what level of evaluation evidence or rigor is available -- ranging from evidence-informed programs to experimentally-evaluated programs.  
See also: Presentation 



07/16/2009
Safe Haven Television Commercial Begins Statewide Run Ad reminding parents of law will air through Labor Day

The commercials reiterate that, through the Safe Haven law, parents who choose not to use an adoption agency and feel they can care for their newborn can relinquish the baby up to 31-days-old at any hospital, police or fire station with no questions asked.
To read the entire article please click here.



07/07/2009
Siblings find each other after 53 years

Little Rickie Webb was barely out of diapers when his entire world turned upside down. Up until then, he had a pretty idyllic life. He lived with his seven older brothers and mom and dad on an Army base in Northern California. His dad wasn’t home very much because he ran transport missions for the military during World War II — before Rickie was even born  — up through the Korean War.
Rickie’s oldest brother, Larry, remembers having the run of the grounds at Fort Ord and playing sports and going fishing with their mom. Betty Webb was from Grass Valley, a small town north and a little east of Sacramento, nestled in the foothills of the Sierras. Larry says she was quite the outdoorswoman. She enjoyed deer hunting, fishing and riding horses and instilled in him an appreciation for nature. Overall, life was going pretty well for the young family.
To read the entire article please click here



06/30/2009
Closely Supervised Foster Care Linked With Reduced Pregnancy Rates For Delinquent Teens, Study Says

Teenage girls with a history of delinquency who were placed in individualized foster care programs were less likely than their peers to become pregnant, according to a study in the June issue of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, HealthDay/Forbes reports. Teen girls in foster care have an elevated risk for pregnancy, according to HealthDay/Forbes. For example, an earlier survey of teens in three states found that nearly half of girls in the foster care system reported a pregnancy by age 19, according to David Kerr, an assistant professor of psychology at Oregon State University and lead author of the new study.
To read the entire article please click here.


 

06/30/2009

State Practices for Assessing Health Needs, Facilitating Service Delivery, and Monitoring Children’s Care

Providing health care services for foster children, who often have significant health care needs, can be challenging. The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) oversees foster care, but state child welfare agencies are responsible for ensuring that these children receive health care services, which are often financed by Medicaid. In light of concerns about the health care needs of foster children, GAO was asked to study states’ efforts to improve foster children’s receipt of health services. This report has four objectives. It describes specific actions that some states have taken to (1) identify health care needs, (2) ensure delivery of appropriate health services, and (3) document and monitor the health care of children in foster care. It also describes the related technical assistance ACF offers to states.
To read the entire article please click here.

 

06/30/2009

Fragile Tanzanian Orphans Get Help After Mothers Die
 

 The Berega Orphanage, a cluster of neat stucco cottages in this village of red dirt roads and maize plots, is a far cry from what the name suggests. The 20 infants and toddlers here are not put up for adoption, nor kept on indefinitely without hope of ever living with a family.

Most of their mothers died giving birth or soon after — something that, in poor countries, leaves newborns at great risk of dying, too. The children are here just temporarily, to get a start in life so they can return to their villages and their extended families when they are 2 or 3 years old, well past the fragile days of infancy and big enough to digest cow’s milk and eat regular food.

And, in an innovative program designed to meet the infants’ emotional as well as physical needs, many have teenage girls from their extended families living with them at the orphanage.
To read the entire article please click here.

06/29/2009
Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI) June/July Newsletter

To read the letter please click here



06/29/2009
Bill on adoptees' access to birth records to be heard

There are at least eight states that currently allow open such information to adoptees: Maine, New Hampshire, Alabama, Alaska, Delaware, Kansas, Oregon and Tennessee. But under Rhode Island law, adoption records are sealed once a child is adopted and can only be opened by a court.
To read the entire article please click here.

 

06/29/2009

06/11/2009
Happy to be called the 'birth mother's husband'

In all of my 40 years of living, I've been called a lot of things. Over the past 10 years, however, I've had one title only a few people hold - the "birth mother's husband." I was referred to as the "birth mother's husband" this past April while attending a wedding for my wife Bobbi's "birth" daughter, Chrystal Chartier-Wittenmyer. The reference normally comes whenever she introduces my wife: "This is my birth mother...," and then me: "This is my birth mother's..." You get the idea. To read the entire article please click here.

 

06/10/2009
Application for Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Youth Program for the year 2009

To print the application please click here.



06/08/09
Ruling Open Up Doors to Past.

Bort has spent a lot of time trying to get more than just the handful of adoption papers her parents saved. It's more than just curiosity. She and her youngest son Cody have osteogenesis imperfecta, which is caused by an error called a mutation on a gene that affects the body's production of the collagen found in bones, and other tissues. It is not caused by too little calcium or poor nutrition. Bort wonders whether her adoption documents would reveal anything else.
To read the entire article please click here.



06/01/2009
Raising Katie
What adopting a white girl taught a black family about race in the Obama era.

Several pairs of eyes follow the girl as she pedals around the playground in an affluent suburb of Baltimore. But it isn't the redheaded fourth grader who seems to have moms and dads of the jungle gym nervous on this recent Saturday morning. It's the African-American man—six feet tall, bearded and wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt—watching the girl's every move. Approaching from behind, he grabs the back of her bicycle seat as she wobbles to a stop. "Nice riding," he says, as the fair-skinned girl turns to him, beaming. "Thanks, Daddy," she replies. The onlookers are clearly flummoxed.
to read the entire article please click here. 

05/25/2009

Harvard Study Raises BPA Concerns
Study finds chemical leaches from plastic water bottles                   

Bisphenol A, a chemical found in plastic water bottles, leaches from the bottle and ends up in the urine of people who drink from them, say researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health.
The researchers found that study participants who drank for a week from polycarbonate bottles, the popular, hard-plastic drinking bottles and baby bottles, showed a two-thirds increase in their urine of the chemical, also known as BPA.
to read the entire article please click here.

05/20/2009
Income Eligibility Schedules for Publically Subsidized Child Care Assistance or Services 2009

To see the schedules please click here.



05/19/2009
Suddenly, siblings
 

How would you like to welcome a new sister or brother into your family -- at the age of 45? As laws change and stigmas soften, more adults who were adopted are seeking and finding their birth parents. The meeting of birth mother and newly found "child" is often, if not always, joyous. For children born later who now must adjust to having a new and older half-sibling, feelings can be more complicated. We talked with several Twin Cities families about their experiences, and some (nonscientific) patterns emerged.
To read the entire article please click here.

 

05/19/2009

Advice for new adult siblings

Susan Thompson Underdahl is a clinical neuropsychologist in Grand Forks, N.D., who recently wrote a chapter on adult sibling reunions for the book "Siblings in Adoption and Foster Care." She has also written a young-adult novel on the topic.
At age 25, Underdahl searched for and found her birth parents, who had placed her for adoption when they were in high school, and they had since married and had two boys and a girl, teenagers at the time.
"It was probably hardest on my sister," Underdahl said. "She wanted to be a psychologist, too, and here I show up with my Ph.D. I think it messed with her identity."
She said their relationship has been "up and down" in the 17 years since then. Her advice for adoptees hoping to become part of a birth-parent family:
to read the entire article please click here.

05/13/2009
NRCFCPPP’s Complete Listing of State Foster Care Contacts

The National Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice and Permanency Planning has compiled a complete listing of State foster care contacts (updated 5/09) as part of the 2009 National Foster Care Month campaign. For each State and the District of Columbia, the listing offers the appropriate organization/agency name, telephone number (when available), and website for those seeking to learn more about foster care or how to become a foster parent. Access the document online at:
http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/socwork/nrcfcpp/info_services/fact-sheets.html
To access the PDF document directly, visit:
http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/socwork/nrcfcpp/downloads/fact-sheets/Foster Care Contact List NFCM09.pdf



05/12/2009
"In Honor of Mothers" By Joyce Maguire Pavao

To see the poem please click here


 

05/12/2009
Vaccine records of internationally adopted children may not reflect protection against disease

U.S. families have adopted almost 250,000 foreign-born children in the last 15 years, according to background information in the article. Many of these children were living in orphanages or other institutional settings with few resources and are likely to have incomplete immunization records or none at all. When valid written records do exist, the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Disease advises that they could be considered as evidence of previous vaccination. However, there are reasons to suspect that these records may not accurately reflect immunity, including "documentation inaccuracies, lack of vaccine potency and impaired immune response, possibly due to stress or malnutrition."
To read the entire article please click here

 

05/06/2009
Create a Lifebook : Free Course 'til June 1st
 

 

05/05/2009
State-Level Differences in Child and Family Well-Being
 

Research studies based on national statistics for the United States as a whole have documented differences in child and family well-being between children in low-income and higher-income families and between children in single-parent and two-parent families.  However, researchers have not explored differences in well-being in these families at the state level because of a general lack of comparable state-level data.

Two new Child Trends research briefs examine child and family well-being in two states by analyzing data from the National Survey of Children's Health.  In addition to supplying national-level data, this survey offers select state-level data that is important to understanding the health and well-being of children and families in a particular state.

1) Disparities in Health and Access to Insurance in Washington State 

A new Child Trends brief, Children's Access to Health Insurance and Health Status in Washington State: Influential Factors, finds that most children in Washington State are healthy and are covered by health insurance, but children from lower-income and lower-education households are disproportionately uninsured and disproportionately rely on public insurance.  

2) Differences in Child and Family Well-Being in Maryland

A second new Child Trends brief, The Well-Being of Maryland Parents and Their Children: Differences by Income Status and Family Structure, finds that most children and their parents in Maryland are functioning well in most areas, but there are significant differences in child and family well-being between children in low-income and higher-income families and between children in single-parent and two-parent families.

04/24/2009
H.A.P.S. Achieved Full Hague Accreditation

HAPS (Homestudies & Adoption Placement Services) is pleased to announce that we have received our FULL Accreditation as an approved Hague Adoption Service Provider (ASP).
To read the entire article please click here

04/20/2009

Youth Benefit From Strong Families Regardless of Income

 

When families make the news, it is often for negative reasons such as violence or abuse.  However, families are critical to the positive development of children and youth, as well as to problems that may affect development.  A new Child Trends brief, Exploring The Links Between Family Strengths and Adolescent Outcomes, finds that family strengths are associated with significantly better outcomes for adolescents in both lower-income and higher-income families.   Family strengths include emotional/subjective strengths (such as close and caring parents); behavioral/concrete strengths (for example, parental monitoring and parent involvement); and passive parenting strengths (for instance, positive parental role modeling).  

 Among the findings: 
- Adolescents who reported having close and caring parents are significantly more likely to perform well in school.  Higher parental monitoring and parent involvement are also associated with better school performance.
- These patterns were found in both lower- and higher-income families.
- Adolescents in families with higher parental monitoring are more likely to avoid risky behaviors.  Also, risky behaviors are significantly lower when parents are more close and caring and more involved. 
- These patterns were found for both lower- and higher-income families.
Focusing on family strengths identifies what we value and seek in families.  It also clarifies the behaviors and supports families can provide -- building close and caring relationships, monitoring, being involved, and setting a good example.  Moreover, it provides insights for funders, policymakers and service providers on ways that the strengths of families can be leveraged to improve services and, subsequently, outcomes for youth. 

This brief is based on data for adolescents ages 12-17 from the 2005 Every Child Every Promise Study conducted by America's Promise Alliance.

04/20/2009
The latest “Intercountry Adoption A- Z”

The latest “Intercountry Adoption A- Z” is now available form the State Department. Please click here to download.



04/15/2009
Chinese Hunger for Sons Fuels Boy's Abductions
 

These and thousands of other children stolen from the teeming industrial hubs of China’s Pearl River Delta have never been recovered by their parents or by the police. But anecdotal evidence suggests the children do not travel far. Although some are sold to buyers in Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam, most of the boys are purchased domestically by families desperate for a male heir, parents of abducted children and some law enforcement officials who have investigated the matter say.
To read the entire article please click here.

04/14/2009
NACAC offers Advocacy Training in Washington DC.

04/13/2009
Singing and Rapping for Their Rights as adoptees

Two musicians have written and recorded a song they hope will revive a bill that would open private adoption records. It has languished in the State Legislature for six years.
The song, by Darryl McDaniels and Zara H. Phillips, is called “I’m Legit,” and it mixes the rap of Mr. McDaniels — also known as DMC of the pioneering hip-hop group Run-DMC — with the rock of Ms. Phillips in support of legislation that would give adult adoptees access to their original birth records. Similar legislation is being considered in nine other states.
To read the entire article please click here



04/13/2009
A life or death search for her family ties

Carol Barbieri, a resident here, and her twin sister, Kathi, were told they were adopted around the third grade by their parents. Not having much interest in finding her birth parents, Barbieri said, “There was a part of me, as some adoptees will tell you that had a chip on my shoulder — ‘Well, she left me. Why should I look for her?”
That is until 1991, when Barbieri’s then 14-year-old son, Jonathan, now 31, was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome — a cardiac condition that causes the disruption of the heart’s normal rhythm. During one of Jonathon’s episodes, he presented with an excessive heart rate of 320 beats per minute.
When the cardiologist asked the Barbieris if there was a history of the illness or sudden death on either side of the family, she recognized that obtaining her husband’s medical history was as simple as making a phone call to his mother. But, being adopted, Barbieri had no way of knowing — or any easy means of finding out — about the health history of her biological family.
To read the entire article please click here



04/07/2009
A different mid-life crisis: Man learns he's adopted

For 40 years, Patrick Callahan lived a relatively uncomplicated life, believing among other things that he was the only son of Eleanor and Arthur Callahan. His mother died in 1978. His father died in 1994. That's what he believed.

Only, Eleanor and Artie Callahan were not actually Patrick's parents. They had raised him from the time he was five days old, but technically they had never adopted him. An Essex County lawyer, operating outside the law as an adoption broker, had arranged for the infant to be handed over to Eleanor and Artie by orchestrating what amounted to a black-market deal.
To read the entire article please click here.

04/01/2009

03/26/2009
Allocation of Title IV-E stimulus funds may help forestall cuts in foster care and adoption assistance that some states are currently considering

On Monday, March 16, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released the first allocation of Title IV-E funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Under ARRA, Title IV-E foster care maintenance, adoption assistance, and kinship guardianship assistance will benefit from an increased federal match of 6.2% for all 50 states <http://www.cwla.org/advocacy/arrainstructions.pdf> . The increased match, similar to the increased match for Medicaid, is retroactive to October 1, 2008, and will last through December 31, 2010.
To read the entire article please click here


03/19/2009
White House Internship Program

President Obama today launched the White House Internship Program for his administration and announced that applications are currently being accepted for the summer of 2009. Those selected to participate in the program will gain valuable job experience and an inside look at the life of White House staff while building leadership skills.
For more information please click here