As part of Colorado State University's Oct. 10 homecoming celebration, HighCraft Builders and Alpine Lumber will host a tailgate fundraising party for the nonprofit organization Adoption Dreams Come True.

According to the Ft. Collins Coloradoan, tickets to the fundraiser are $25 and include a barbecue lunch and admission to the game.

The tailgate will begin at 1 p.m. and last until the 4 p.m. kickoff. For more information visit www.highcraft.net.

Labels: adoption costs, funding

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According to an Aug. 19 article by Meredith Thorn of the Marshfield News Herald, the biological mother of the child who is at the center of an illegal adoption investigation in Wisconsin has told officials that she didn't realize she was doing anything wrong:

Amanda M. Zblewski, 27, said she planned to put the child, now 16 months old, up for adoption through Lutheran Social Services. Zblewski testified as part of a preliminary hearing for Bobbi Jo Dolski, 32, who faces charges of abduction of another's child.

Zblewski said Dolski went with her to her final appointment in the adoption process with Lutheran Social Services.

Zblewski said Jason Dolski, 30, who is Bobbi Jo's husband, was present when the child was born. Jason Dolski put his name on the birth certificate, and Zblewski said she believed that was the legal way to adopt a child.

The Dolskis are now charged with several crimes, the News Herald reported, including abduction, neglect, and making a false statement on a birth certificate.

Labels: adoption_laws

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A bill that has been introduced in the California legislature would make it easier for Native American youth who are adopted by non-tribal parents to stay connected with tribal culture. The bill was introduced by Assemblyman Paul Cook (R-Yucca Valley), who called it his most important measure of 2009:

Current adoption rules often end up cutting ties between and adopted child and the tribe and lead to the child's total assimilation into western culture, said Assemblyman Jim Beall (D-San Jose) a co-author of the bill. Under the measure, American Indian children would be allowed to continue their relationship with the tribe ... (Source: The Press-Enterprise)

The bill received unanimous support in the Assembly and will be voted on by a Senate committee on Monday.

Labels: laws, native american

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A Chinese orphan who was born with a disfiguring growth on her face called a Hemangioma has a new home and a new life in Georgia thanks to the concerted efforts of a nurse from the U.S. and an adoptive mother.

Reporter Jaime Dailey of Savannah's WTOC 11 provided the following details about the obstacle-laden international adoption:

It all started about two years ago when a nurse from Beaufort went to work at a Chinese orphanage for a few weeks. She saw baby Emma and knew she had some medical issues that needed addressing and made it her mission to help Emma get the treatment she needed with the hopes of giving her a better life. ...

"She was being put aside as a baby that was essentially going to die if not taken care of or at least grown up in an orphanage being kind of the rejected one," said Beaufort nurse, Mariah ByWater. ...

"She was deemed unadoptable because of her Hemangioma and so her paperwork was not even processed. She wasn't even in the system, adoption system," said [Emma's eventual adoptive mother, Colleen] Brant.

Emma officially became a member of the Brant family in May.

Labels: international

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A couple whose adoption hopes had been dashed when the company they were working with went bankrupt is headed to Ethiopia to pick up their adopted son. Jodi and Joel Thurmeier leave this week, thanks to help from immigration officials and a lawyer.

"Ontario-based Kids Link, which operates Imagine Adoption, went belly-up last month when the Thurmeiers were close to the end of their process," The Calgary Sun reported. "The couple, who also have a five-year-old daughter and four-year-old son, are scheduled to fly home Aug. 25 with their new baby in their arms."

The Thurmeiers told the Sun that they are excited, but are trying to prepare themselves for any outcome. They are told that their babys visa could be ready by the time they arrive in Ethiopia on Wednesday. "Its going to be a whirlwind," Jodi Thurmeier said.

Labels: international

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Most family reunions look and sound very similar  relatives who haven't seen each other in a year exchange hugs and marvel at how big the kids have gotten. But Camp Abrazo is a different kind of reunion that includes children, adoptive and biological parents.

This years reunion is taking place at the Mayan Dude Ranch in Bandera [TX], and participants are coming from all over Texas as well as New Jersey, Tennessee, Georgia, Illinois, Virginia, Minnesota, Arkansas, Indiana and Mississippi. (Source: PR Inside)

Many families make the reunion an annual event, because it helps their children feel secure in the love felt by both the birth and adoptive parents.

Labels: adoptive parents, adopted children, birth_parents, texas

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A new directive from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has angered proponents of international adoption. The directive requires all immigrants from Ethiopia and China who are over the age of two to be tested for tuberculosis.

According to an Aug. 10 Associated Press article, "adoption advocates say the required testing procedures  and treatment in the case of positive tests  could cause delays ranging from several weeks to 12 months for obtaining a visa to bring adopted children back to the U.S."

A petition is being circulated among several major adoption organizations, asking the CDC to exempt adopted children from its TB test requirement. Many argue that children who test positive would receive better medical treatment in the United States than they would in their countries of origin.

Labels: international, health

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Adoption seems like one of those industries that, by nature, would only be populated by good people. However, adoption is not just good business, its also big business that is loosely regulated. Hopeful, prospective adoptive parents can be easy targets if theyre not careful.

In an article entitled "Ten Things Adoption Agencies Won't Say," on the website SmartMoney, writer Michelle Marchetti offered the following tips:

• Avoid searching the Web blindly. The Internet is replete with agencies that lack a physical location, which should be a major red flag.
• Instead, check out the National Foster Care & Adoption Directory, a database funded by the Department of Health and Human Services that lists licensed agencies by state.
• When agencies estimate time frames, they typically dont include the duration of a home study in their estimates, so be sure to factor in the four months it often takes.
• Ask prospective agencies for an itemized list of charges, and consider dropping any firm that wont cooperate
• To weed out the lesser agencies, ask for the names and phone numbers of three clients whose adoptions were completed at least three years ago. Contact those adoptive parents and inquire about how the agency handled both post-adoption services and the adoption process itself.

Marchetti's article also lists licensing specialists for each state, which can tell you how many complaints, if any, have been filed against an adoption agency.

Labels: tips, agencies

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Marshall and Cheryl Goff's first son was born when they were both still in high school. He was adopted by a family in Indiana and they haven't seen him in 32 years -- but according to an Aug. 5 article in the Charleston (W.Va.) Daily Mail,that's about to change.

The Goffs have two more children, Nathen Clarence and Kristen Rae. But they never forgot about their first child or the desire they had to see him again. ...

The Goffs searched the Internet and found forms that could be completed and sent to the courthouse in Indiana. They also completed a waiver form for the adoption agency in case their son ever looked for them. ...

They will make the nearly 400-mile trip to Indianapolis, Ind., on Aug. 7 to see the son they had to give up for adoption at birth. Jon Christopher Hutsell, 31, is now married with three children of his own, with the newest addition, Bryson, arriving July 9.

Adoption laws in the 1970s required that all adoptions be closed. But recent changes to those laws made it possible for Marshall and Cheryl to at least begin the process of searching for their son. Now that theyve found each other, the families have made plans to spend several days together in Indianapolis.

Labels: adopted children, reunions

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Would-be adoptive parents in Canada are hopeful that their adoption plans will be finalized now that a group of families have agreed to help rescue an adoption agency from bankruptcy. The move comes after nearly 200 people met to discuss the fate of the agency, and their pending adoptions.

After the meeting, Christine Starr, chairwoman of Families of Imagine Adoption, told the Winnipeg Free Press that it was "a moving moment ... to see all 189 people present vote in favour of working towards taking the agency out of bankruptcy."

Kids Link International Adoption Agency, which operated under the name Imagine Adoption, went into receivership on July 14, sending hundreds of pending adoptions into limbo. A group of adoptive parents quickly joined forces to find out what their options were and determine their response.

Labels: international, Canada

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On July 24, Warner Brothers released a film titled Orphan, which tells the fictional story of a young, adopted girl who terrorizes her new family. Many adoption advocates in the United States, Canada, and other nations have expressed their concerns about the effect the film will have on those considering adoption.

The Adoption Council of Canada released a statement saying they were "deeply concerned" the film could hurt their efforts to find homes for 78,000 kids in the welfare system, 30,000 of whom are legally ready for adoption.

Eleven adoption groups in the United States sent a letter to Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. chairman and CEO Barry Meyer complaining that the movie "stereotypes adoptive children." (Source: The Globe and Mail)

In addition to worrying about the movie's effect on potential adoptive parents, several adoption advocates say that they fear adopted children will be subjected to more ridicule as a result of the film.

Labels: advocacy, stereotypes

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A Massachusetts mother recently learned a lesson about the potential dangers of the online world when she discovered that her seven-month-old son's photo was being used as part of an online adoption scam.

An article on the website of WCVB - The Boston Channel provided the following details:

"Out of the blue, some girl e-mailed us and said, 'I think you should know someone's using Jake's picture in an adoption scam'," said [Jenni] Brennan, who said she found the message hard to believe.

Brennan followed the link included in the email and found an ad on the Craigslist Web site. The ad promised that a 'cute baby boy' was available for adoption, but did not include a picture. Brennan decided to play detective and sent an e-mail to the address listed. She quickly received a picture in her inbox.

The e-mail indicated that her son was living in an orphanage in Cameroon -- and informed her that she could begin the adoption process for a fee of $30. Brennan alerted Craigslist, which removed the ad, and law enforcement authorities, who launched an investigation.

She has also restricted access to her family blog, which is where she thinks her son's picture was taken from.

Labels: scams

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