Book Review
For those of you who are interested in Foster Care, I highly recommend reading Another Place At The Table. Kathy Harrison gives an honest, real life experience perspective on what it is like to be a foster parent. She talks about the financial aspect, dealing with birth parents, DSS and numerous other situations. I have a lot of respect for her and her family. It was a book that I could not put down. It was heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. If you have ever read it, please feel free to leave a comment and share your thoughts.
Ethiopia Update
Adoption Alert
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Bureau of Consular Affairs
Office of Children’s Issues
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May 13, 2009
Adoptions of Abandoned Children Halted by Ethiopian Court:
The Ethiopian First Instance Court has temporarily stopped accepting cases involving abandoned children from orphanages in Addis Ababa, citing concern over a recent increase in the number of abandoned children being brought for adoption. The number of abandoned children from orphanages in Addis Ababa has grown dramatically in recent months and Ethiopian authorities have become aware of possible cases of unethical practices associated with some of them.
Currently neither MOWA nor the First Instance Court are accepting any abandonment case from any orphanages in Addis Ababa pending an inquiry.
Please continue to monitor adoption.state.gov for updated information on Ethiopia.
Oklahoma Makes Some Changes
I came across this posting on an adoption forum and wanted to pass it along. It comes from Oklahoma where some changes are taking place in their legal system to help protect adoptive parents, adopted children, biological parents, attorneys and judges from being taken advantage of. Please read below:
“HB 2174 requires public reporting of adoption expenses to allow judges and the public to see the actual costs attorneys charge in adoptions. It also requires that only one prospective adoptive family at a time be billed for a birth mother’s expenses and that all adoptions must be conducted in one of four locations – the home county of the birth mother; the home county of the adoptive parents; or in Oklahoma or Tulsa counties.
It takes effect Nov. 1.
The bill is designed to stop attorneys from shopping for judges who don’t ask too many questions about the fees attorneys charge for adoptions and to prevent attorneys from having families bid against each other to adopt a child, said Rep. Jason Nelson, the author of the measure.
“For too long, Oklahoma has been known as a state that does not protect adoptive parents, adoptive children or birth mothers,” Nelson, R-Oklahoma City, said when the bill cleared the Legislature and was sent to the governor.
Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater has said it is difficult to file charges against attorneys who charge excessive fees. Adoptive parents and those who seek to adopt a child are embarrassed to file complaints or don’t want to hurt their chance of adopting another child, he said.
The Department of Human Services has a code that adoption agencies must follow, but there has been no oversight of attorneys involved in adoptions.
A May 2006 multicounty grand jury report found that some adoptive parents have been forced to pay for vehicles, car parts, traffic tickets, television sets and other items which were masked as adoption costs.
The haphazard regulation of adoption expenses has created an atmosphere in which some women and their attorneys effectively sold children, the report states.”
Lynne
http://www.americanadoptioncongress.org
Midwest Regional Director
Adoption Tax Credit
As we all know, the adoption tax credit is set to expire in December 2010. Now is the time to act! Unless Congress votes to continue the tax credit, we will loose the tax credit altogether, except for those adopting a special needs child. The tax credit has made it possible for thousands of families to adopt and we want to continue this for as long as possible. There are still 16 states that do not support this bill! Hard to believe. Rainbow Kids recently posted an article that address what you can do to help support this bill. It also lists the states that currently do not support this bill. Click here to read the article. I encourage you to pass this on to all your friends and family so that they too can help keep the adoption tax credit alive!
Foster Care Adoptions
With the downslide of the economy, adoption is suffering. The need for adoptive parents still remains. But it is no secret that adoption can be an expensive process. However, there still remains over 129,000 children in foster care who are in need of loving families. Adopting from the foster care system is a wonderful option and also very realistic financially. The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption reports that more than 129,000 children in foster care are now available for adoption. Most foster care adoptions are completed for less than $2,500 – considerably less than most private adoptions. If a family qualifies, the entire adoption could be paid for with grants or state adoption subsidies. Perhaps this is an option you could consider if you are wanting to adopt a child.
Read more: Domestic Adoption in Struggling Economy: Potential Parents Finding More Opportunities to Adopt -http://adoption.suite101.com/article.cfm/domestic_adoption_in_struggling_economy#ixzz0BubMPHMp
This information is taken from here.
Scrapbook Your Adoption
A reader shared with me her scrap booking website which specializes in adoption! It is called Scrap Book My Adoption. After checking it out, I was really impressed with all the different theme pages that she has to offer as well her very reasonable prices. I love the idea of just purchasing one unique page to add to your own scrapbook or better yet, let her custom design your entire adoption scrapbook! She has choices for every type adoption imaginable. This could be a great gift for adoptive parents or for your child. If you like her site and her product, leave a comment here!!!
A Classic Way To Capture Your Adoption Story
Since I began our adoption journey, I knew that one day I would turn our daughter’s story into a book for her to keep forever. To help explain her story and reflect on the excitement we felt as we waited to meet her. Yesterday I received our hardback, image wrapped book in the mail and I am so happy with it! We used Blurb to create our book. It was so quick and easy and the final product is very clean lined and professional. The prices are reasonable and we plan to order a 2nd copy to keep for ourselves as the first copy will be given to our daughter for her to keep forever. If you are looking for a special gift, a way to make someone feel extra special or to publish your own book, I highly recommend using Blurb. I was able to upload every post and photo from my blog into their software and then design my own layout, text, colors and fonts. If anyone has ever used Blurb, please leave a comment and share your experience!
Financial Risk in Domestic Adoption
Often times when an adoptive parent or couple is adopting domestically, there is great financial risk. Should you be matched with a child and proceed to pay the necessary fees, usually 10K or more your mind and heart wait anxiously for the bio-mom to continue with the adoption. However, there are those instances when the bio-mom decides to parent her child and you are left with no child and no money. Your money is gone and your heart is hurting.
American Adoptions announced a new program for 2009 that helps to limit the financial risk for adoptive parents who find themselves in this situation. Click here to read about it. The goal is to protect adoptive parents from loosing any money for items such as living expenses and medical expenses should the bio-mom change her mind. From the research that I have done, I have found that this program claims to refund all money in the case of a failed placement. The program is for the placement of African American and biracial babies and the wait is approximately 0-6 months. Like always, I encourage you to do your own research to verify that this information is correct.
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