Adoption Nutrition

The Spoon Foundation and the Joint Council on International Children's Services have partnered to create a food and nutrition resource for adoptive families called Adoption Nutrition.  It provides eating and nutrition guides for various countries such as China, Vietnam, Russia, etc. It's a great resource for those families who want to prepare foods from their child's native culture.

Help for Those Families Struggling with Sleep Issues

Are You Sleeping?


Expert advice for adoptive families struggling to get a good night's sleep.
Webinar
Thursday, May 19, 2011
7:00 - 8:00 PM Central
Q & A: 8:00 - 8:30PM Central
Cost: $15

REGISTER for this webinar

Join Dr. Julian Davies for a practical, humorous, and balanced exploration of why adopted children (and their parents!) often sleep so poorly, and what to do about it!
This webinar will help adoptive families:

• Explore the reasons behind sleep problems in adopted children

• Formulate short-term and long-term sleep strategies for adoptive families

• Trouble-shoot specific sleep problems

• Add many practical sleep tips to your toolbox


Speaker:  Dr. Julian Davies
Julian Davies, MD, is a Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Washington, where he co-directs the Center for Adoption Medicine, and works at the longest-running FAS clinic in the country. His interest in foster care and adoption started in Russia, where he started a summer arts and clown camp for Russian orphans. He now has a pediatric practice where 2/3 of his patients were fostered or adopted. Dr. Davies also created an award-winning online resource for pediatrics and adoption: http://www.adoptmed.org/

Please Note: Registrants will be contacted and asked to submit questions prior to the event

Sponsored by:
Adoption Learning Partners & Joint Council on International Children's Services

Joint Council on International Children's Services' Emergency Campaign for Ethiopian Children

Because Ethiopia has decided to drastically reduce the number of international adoptions, JCIC has undertaken an emergency Ethiopia campaign.  If you would like to help, they have a petition and suggestions for other things you can do here.

China Opens Adoption to Single Women

China has changed it's policy regarding international adoption by single women!  Joint Council on International Children's Services has a full report on their blog, along with the full text of the CCAA announcement. 

Webinar for Parents Whose Internationally Adopted Children May Have Suffered From Early Poor Nutrition

 From Joint Council on International Children's Services -



Wednesday, October 20, 2010,  7:00-8:00PM Central Time
Cost: $15   CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

We all know the importance of prenatal and early nutrition. We also understand that it is likely our internationally adopted children have missed out on a fair amount of this key factor of development.

Join Dr. Dana Johnson, renowned international adoption physician, as he shares the results of his research on the common physical, cognitive and behavioral impacts of poor nutrition on international adoptees. He will give practical tips of what to look for in your child, what to ask your pediatrician to test for and how to help your child catch up and thrive both short and long term.
This webinar will share strategies and tips on:
 Understanding the impact of early nutritional deprivation
 Identifying signs of malnutrition in your child
 Having your child tested for nutritional deficiencies
 How to help your child catch up and thrive

Speaker
Dr. Dana Johnson, MD PhD


Dr. Johnson is the Director of the Division of Neonatology and the Director of the International Adoption Clinic at the University of Minnesota. He has researched, published and lectured extensively on the effects of early institutionalization on growth, development and outcomes of internationally adopted children. He is a frequent expert speaker at worldwide conferences on issues relating to institutionalized children's health.

A History of International Adoption and Adopting from Haiti

In The New Yorker John Seabrook writes an account of his Haitian adoption experience during the earthquake.  His article also provides a good history of international adoption and how Americans' attitudes about it have evolved. 
The Last Babylift
Adopting a child in Haiti.

Learn about the Challenges of International Adoption

NPR's The Diane Rehm Show devoted an hour of it's April 14, 2010 show to the challenges of international adoption.  The guests include Thomas DiFilipo, president and C.E.O. of Joint Council on International Children's Services; Janice Goldwater, founder and Executive Director of the non-profit organization Adoptions Together; and  Jane Aronson, a pediatrician who specializes in adoption medicine and orphaned children and is also the founder and C.E.O. of Worldwide Orphans Foundation (WWO).

You may link to and listen to the show here:  http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2010-04-14/international-adoption

Parents are Moving Forward with Their Russian Adoptions

From CNN:
To Russia, for love: Adoptive parents on edge as suspension threatened
By Jessica Ravitz
Valera remembered being left in the Russian snow. How he lost his lower arms and some of his toes, he wasn't always sure. At times, he said he was in a fire. The truth of what the 14-year-old experienced in his early years, no one will ever know.

The orphanage where he lives said Valera was abandoned as a small child at a hospital in St. Petersburg, Russia. He had gangrene, the result of meningitis and an infection, which forced amputations. He was released to the orphanage in Nizhny Lomov, where he's waited nine years for parents and a home to call his own.
On Saturday, Stephen Jack and his wife, Christine, will leave their Goldsboro, North Carolina, home to fly to Russia, the final step in a 15-month journey they hope will give the boy what he's always wanted.

"Having never seen him and only knowing a little bit about him, I still feel attached to that child," said Jack, 53, who already has six children, four of them adopted. "I understand he can talk his way into your heart and mind in no time. When the world is opened up for him, who knows what his capabilities and possibilities are? ... If all goes well, on the 21st he becomes my son."

It is a trip the Jacks will take with trepidation.

The actions Thursday of a Tennessee woman who put her adopted 7-year-old son on a plane and returned him to Russia, saying he was violent and that officials misled her family, puts Americans in the process of adopting from Russia on edge. Officials in Moscow have threatened to suspend all American adoptions and the Jacks face a two-week process involving a court appearance and loads of paperwork before they can fly home with Valera.

"What this woman did to us is put us on pins and needles," Jack said. "My wife has been beside herself, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned."

The adoptions of about 3,000 Russian children by Americans are in progress, according to Tom DiFilipo, president of the Joint Council on International Children's Services, an advocacy group for children in need of families. Russia is the second country this year, after Haiti, in which adoptions have been thrown into a tailspin.

No suspension has been announced, but mere talk of such a recommendation spawned a campaign on Monday by the council to galvanize the adoption community and child advocates. People are being encouraged to sign a letter to President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (which will be presented to them Wednesday morning), post blogs and share videos about adoption successes.

"Our message is this is an isolated incident. The adoption system did not fail. What failed was the decision-making process of this adoptive mother," DiFilipo said. What Torry Hansen of Tennessee did is "outrageous and indefensible, and not indicative of the average adoptive parent. One-hundred-thousand people adopt every year. I don't know of another case like this."

The case has rocked the adoption community.

"I talked to parents yesterday, and they're just devastated," said Deborah Gray, a child and family therapist, trainer and author, based in Seattle, Washington, who has 20-plus-years experience working on attachment, trauma and grief issues.

"It makes it seem like these kids are defective, that adoption itself is not a permanent status. ... It's a public embarrassment," she said. "The vast majority of families are enriched by adoption. To have this kind of approach is really off the wall. I can't understand why it would have gotten to this point."

Adoptive parents can feel overwhelmed during transition
She and other advocates said they wish Hansen had reached out for assistance and tapped services available for parents before shipping the child back to Russia after six months.

"There are so many services that were available to her. She could have contacted FRUA [Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption] which is a resource-rich place, gotten a good psychiatric assessment, including hospitalization if necessary to figure out what made this little guy tick," Gray said.

The incident may have been a wake-up call to agencies and those in the adoption community to make sure adoptive families are prepared for challenges and have resources for help lined up in advance, especially if they live in rural parts of the country, said Sue Gainor, national chair of Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption, a volunteer-led nonprofit that offers support and community.
Gainor, who adopted a son from Moscow in 2001, said there are between 600,000 and 800,000 orphans in Russia, with an additional 80,000 to 100,000 in hospitals awaiting placement in orphanages.

"When you slow adoptions, you affect a lot of children," she said. "There's lots of angst in the adoption community. The minute you see the picture of that prospective child, that kid is yours."

Being a parent, child advocates and members of the adoption community add, means helping a child adjust to change and work through challenges.

"This is just so sad because that kid had no chance whatsoever," said Larisa Mason, who directs a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, adoption agency and serves on the board of the National Council for Adoption. "A 7-year-old who changed his whole life within six months -- new language, new food, a new mother -- no question he would have issues. Even a dog would have issues."

In addition to hoping adoptions continue uninterrupted, many also want Hansen punished for her actions.

Natasha Shaginian-Needham is the founder and director of Happy Families International Center in Cold Spring, New York. The agency, established in 1992, helps orphans with special needs (including Valera), with adoptions being part of its work.

"The mother who finds somebody on the Internet, who sold his services for $200 in order to pick up and deliver [him] ... in Russia, demonstrates serious neglect and abandonment," she said. "There was a very high risk that the child could have been met by a pedophile or worse, a killer. The community in Russia is outraged by the fact that the mother may not be punished at all for her inhuman action."

Prospective adoptive mothers like Andrea Wright of Wake Forest, North Carolina, hope she, her husband, Kenneth, and the boy they want to adopt aren't punished because of Hansen's actions.

Leaving St. Petersburg, Russia, on Friday, Wright was overwhelmed with joy and anticipation. The 40-year-old fundraiser and her husband had just spent a week bonding with a little boy they are on track to soon call their own.

The hopeful first-time parents arrived armed with toys to engage little Andrei, who will turn 1 later this month. In awe and with hearts melting, they watched as the child teetered into the room, clasping the hands of an orphanage caregiver.

Of all the toys they brought him, stacking balls and cars included, his favorite item: Cheerios. Though he was a little reluctant at first, he warmed up during their stay. When they left him, he waved his arms to say goodbye.
In six to eight weeks, they have plans to return to Russia to appear in court, the next phase in their journey to become parents.

"We've been working on the process for close to a year. It's been one procedural thing after another. ... We are so prepared to be parents and have worked so hard to get to this point," she said. "We're hoping that since we've been to Russia once that we'll be allowed to continue. We're trying to go with a lot of faith and prayers at this point that it'll all work out."

http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/04/13/russian.adoption.families/index.html?hpt=C1

Adoption Tax Credit Extended and Improved

From the Be the Answer blog (http://betheanswerforchildren.wordpress.com/ ) -

Joint Council is pleased to confirm that the Adoption Tax Credit (ATC), which was scheduled to expire in 2010, was extended for one-year (through December 31, 2011). The highlights of the ATC are:

• The maximum credit was increased from $12,150 to $13,170,

• The ATC is now retroactive to January 1, 2009. This represents a potential increase of $1,000 for adoptive families.

• The ATC was made refundable. If a family has no tax liability, the IRS will refund the amount due.

The extension of the ATC through 2011, was passed as part of the health care reform bill which was signed into law by President Obama on Monday, March 22, 2010. There was some concern that the ATC would be included in the reconciliation process, however we have confirmed that it is not part of reconciliation which means the ATC is law until December 31, 2011.

Joint Council along with many other advocates and adoptive families have long advocated for making the ATC permanent. We applaud Congress and the Obama administration for the extension and continue to call for a permanent tax credit.

The ATC is a critically important element in finding permanent families for children in the U.S. foster care system and the children of our world, who live without permanent parental care. The ATC makes adoption a viable option for many families who may otherwise be unable to afford to adopt. We again applaud the extension and improvements to the Adoption Tax Credit.

Haiti Suspends Adoptions

Annoucement from JCICS:
"Since the earthquake Joint Council has received thousands of calls and emails from families wanting to help, wanting to start new adoptions from Haiti. It is for this reason we take a moment and remind everyone of the importance of speedy family reunification in times of crises.
As of January 12, 2010, the day of the devastating Haitian earthquake, governmental and legal procedures to process an adoption in Haiti have been impossible to carry out. Until further notice the best way to support the needs of the children in Haiti is to donate money to international aid organizations dealing with the disaster. Adoptions in Haiti cannot be processed according to Haitian or US law during the current emergency. Please consult Joint Council's Haiti Information page at www.jcics.org/haiti  and http://www.adoption.state.gov/ for up to date information about adoption from Haiti.
Joint Council is working with the U.S. government to determine the impact of the devastation on the adoption process. The coming days and months will be rightly focused on rescue and reunification efforts. It will take months to fully assess the impact on new adoptions from Haiti."

From CCAI:
"At this time the earthquake has put a stop to Haiti adoptions. No new adoptions are being accepted or processed by the Haitian government at this moment. We strongly support UNICEF, Saving the Children and World Vision’s position on focusing on the reunification of the homeless children with their families in the days and weeks ahead."
http://www.haitiadoption.org/

Haiti Orphanage Update from JCICS

It is JCICS"sunderstanding that there are 200+ children on the way to the U.S. Embassy in Haiti. It is our understanding that the situation at the Embassy is very chaotic with hundreds of people outside. If at all possible, we ask that orphanages do not go to the Embassy for processing.

JCICS has given a list of orphanages to the the DOS, it is our understanding that they are in the process of contacting each orphanage with instructions. JC is also providing DOS w/updates as information is given to us from families and adoption service providers.

Joint Council on International Children's Services: Haiti Call to Action

- released Jan. 19, 2010

It has come that time that we request our dear friends and family help us ensure the safety of children in Haiti. Please read the message below and contact your Senators and Representative.

To find your senators go to, http://www.senate.gov/
To find your representative go to, http://www.house.gov/

Suggested Talking Points
Hello, my name is…
I am in the process of adopting a child from Haiti…

OR

My …

OR
I am concerned about the orphan children of Hati...

I know that many Members of Congress continue to support efforts on behalf of Haiti’s orphaned children. I extend my thanks to the Congressman/Senator.
I am calling because…
* We need your help to get our adoptive child out of Haiti safely.

* Water, food and medicine are running out.

* Gangs have looted some of the orphanages and even travel is not safe for the children.

* The Department of Homeland security has granted humanitarian parole, but it is only the first step.
* The devastation from the earthquake is vast and our child’s safety - and even life - is at risk.

Joint Council on International Children’s Services, the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute, and a team of congressional offices and relief organizations are working to coordinate a staging and housing center to provide:
* Physical safety

* Medicine

* Food

* Water

* A Staging Center for USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) to process humanitarian parole

The groups working to launch the staging and housing center already have most of what the children need.

But they do not have:
* Water
* Security to protect the children and supplies from gangs
* Transportation to bring the children into this safe haven

We are asking that (name of Member of Congress) personally call:
* Secretary of State Clinton, and
* Dr. Shah, Administrator Designate at USAID

And specifically request that they authorize security forces be sent to the offered staging center and assist in the extraction and transport of these children from their orphanages to the staging center. All other pieces of a successful operation of this staging center are currently in place, but all hinge on this authorization of security and transport.

If this security does not reach the site within 24 hours, children being adopted and many other children will continue to suffer and may in fact not live long enough to be united with my family and the other 300 U.S. families.
http://www.jcics.org/

Update on Guatemala from the Joint Council on International Children's Services

There has been a lot of activity and buzz on intercountry adoption in Guatemala over the past month. Virtually all of it was related to the announcement by the Guatemalan government of a pilot program for intercountry adoption. Much was written, blogged, tweeted and Facebooked about what is yet an ill-defined program with no transparent process and just as important, no timeline for implementation.

The Guatemalan government's announcement invited other governments to submit a letter of interest in participating in the pilot program. The U.S. Department of State, along with other Western governments, submitted a letter by the deadline in December. Many families, with hopes of providing a permanent home for a Guatemalan orphan, flooded Joint Council and other advocates seeking information and hoping for a positive reply.
For these families and more importantly, for those children living in Guatemalan orphanages, there is little hope.
Guatemala, having implemented the Hague Convention two years ago and having received considerable financial and technical assistance, remains out of compliance with the Hague Convention. As a result, the U.S. government, while hoping to participate in the pilot program, cannot approve any new Guatemalan adoptions nor issue a visa. If the pilot program was to begin tomorrow, no children would be adopted by a U.S. family.

For those children whose intercountry adoption was started over two years ago, before the 2008 Guatemalan Adoption Law took effect, most have found a permanent family. But many have not. They have been referred to a family, they have adoptive parents waiting and committed, but after two years of investigations, reviews and more investigations and reviews, they remain living outside of permanent parental care. They remain in foster care or in an institution. And they remain without a transparent process to finalize their adoption and to live in a family.

It is our understanding that despite universal claims of adoption corruption, the Guatemalan government, with one of the highest impunity rates and highest corruption rankings in the world, has yet to convict a single person of child trafficking. In 2007, UNICEF claimed that up to 80% of intercountry adoptions were corrupt. If true, that computes to over 3,200 claims of abuse, yet in 24 months not one adult is serving time in jail.

The disparities between the hundreds of children waiting over 26 months to finalize their adoption, the lack of child trafficking convictions, the non-compliance with the Hague Convention, the lack of progress in national adoption and family preservation and an announced intercountry adoption pilot program, calls into question how the best interest of children and families is being served.
The Guatemalan government's solution has not been to convict the guilty or to preserve families, but to subject innocent children to the proven detrimental affects of life outside a permanent family. With only seven government run orphanages, the vast majority of children live in private orphanages - many with depleting resources. The termination, rather than true reform, of intercountry adoption may have ended corruption and made for good PR, but it was not a solution in 2007 and it remains a travesty for thousands of children in 2010.

Despite the challenges, the lack of transparency and the suffering of children and families, many individuals, families, churches, organizations and governments remain committed to the children and families of Guatemala. Their efforts, along with Joint Council, continue to serve children and families in an ethical and legal fashion. We hope that the next Guatemala Update includes the fruits of those efforts...children living in families.

Yesterday's Hope, Today's Family Photo Contest

Joint Council on International Services is sponsoring a photo contest, running from November 21, 2009 - December 31, 2009. 
Details:  http://www.jcics.org/photocontest.htm

News from China Center of Adoption Affairs

Issued by the Joint Council on International Children's Services:

"During a meeting with the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) on Tuesday, September 15, 2009, Director General Lu announced that beginning December 1, 2009, all adoptive families must be registered with a Hague Accredited Adoption Service Provider (ASP). If an adoptive family is currently registered with a non-Accredited ASP, they are required to transfer their adoption to a Hague Accredited ASP no later than December 1, 2009. Director General Lu also clarified: families currently using the I-600A and I-600 process (non-Hague) may continue with this process. Families are not required to transfer to the I-800A and I-800 process, unless deemed necessary by the United State Government."