"The first time the adoptive father-to-be saw little Job, he said 'He stood out because [the other kids] always want to be in pictures but he would always stand in the corner. I told Kara it was my goal to make that little boy laugh.'"

Labels: Africa, connections, relationships

"'Without adoption or sponsorship, Africa's children face a grim future,' said Dr. Tsegaye Berhe, WHFC's Director for African Programs. 'Being able to give hundreds of Ethiopian children a hopeful future makes me truly happy, but the need extends beyond Ethiopia. I am hopeful we can soon make an impact on the lives of many needy children throughout Africa.'"

Labels: Africa, agencies, non-profit

"Diplomatic officials said the move left plans by some 358 foreign families to adopt children from the Himalayan country up in the air. 'It's a very emotional problem and it's becoming a humanitarian issue for these families,' French Ambassador Gilles-Henry Garault told AFP."

Labels: adoption_policy, adoption_procedures, international

"Today, she giggles on her Delta Township family's trampoline, waiting for her new father to bounce her and her new sister with one mighty jump. She counts in English "one, two, three, four" to describe how many more times she'd like her dad to catapult her into the air."

Labels: birth_defects, unadoptable

"She'll look first at foster families who have grown close to a child in their home. Maybe adoption is a possibility? She'll also determine which adults may have been significant in a child's life at one point or another. Perhaps those adults are able to commit to adopting the child. Actively recruiting families, she hopes, will result in more stable situations for those 89 children who desperately need stability and permanency in their lives."

Labels: foster_care, foster_families, permanent_adoptive_homes

"The organization acts as liaison between source agencies that identify children with HIV abroad and families in the United States looking to adopt. So far, 27 kids in Asia, Africa and Central America have received approval from their governments to be adopted..."

Labels: AIDS, health, HIV

"Read directions carefully, and whenever possible, use example letters. Some agencies send you example letters or specific recommended wordings for your documents. If your agency does this, use the examples they give. This will help get things right the first time."

Labels: agencies, paperwork, references

"Get an understanding for which parts of the process you have control over and which parts you do not. For example, how long it takes to prepare the dossier is very much in the hands of the adoptive parents. Some take weeks. Some even take months. We accomplished ours in a matter of hours (less than a weekend). That is a part of the process we could control. Other things, such as court closures and other nuances of the legal systems in our country and others, are completely out of our hands. Figure out which parts you have some control over and get them done as fast as possible."

Labels: adoption_process, experience, support

"TB rates among the children in the American study ranged from nearly 15 percent in adoptees from Eastern Europe, 14 percent from Russian and 12 percent from Korea to between 12.5 percent and 11 percent in India, China and South America, 8.3 percent in Central America and the Caribbean and 2.8 percent in Southeast Asia."

Labels: health, international, tuberculosis

"'They need to understand that race and ethnicity still matter,' [Judy] Stigger says. 'Love is not going to be enough. Where your child came from is part of them, whether that's a neighborhood in Chicago or an orphanage in China.'"

Labels: cultures, international, parenting

"The authors... define it as a 'book of memories about a child's life prior to adoption... a story book that acknowledges, celebrates, explains, and honors the life of an adoptee prior to adoption. It gathers the bits and pieces of our adopted children's lives before they joined our families and gracefully organizes it all - words, pictures, documents, and photos - in the form of a story.'"

Labels: birth_story, memories, stories

"Parents know the good stuff. They know the tricks of the trade. They know how to get a homestudy and dossier done in record time and they know tricks to help survive the wait. They know what to do, how to react, what to say, where to go, how you feel, what is normal, how to prepare and how to handle the ins and outs of adoption."

Labels: advice, support, trans-racial

"Often people say that they do not think they can afford to adopt. Initially the cost seems a bit overwhelming to many folks, but once it is broken down into manageable parts, it is doable for most working families..."

Labels: adoption costs, options, tax_deductions