Wednesday, September 27, 2017

September 2017 | News and updates

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Foundation Announces 2017 Top 100 Best Adoption-Friendly Workplaces

For the 11th year, the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption surveyed the nation's employers in search of those with the best adoption benefits. The Foundation compares financial reimbursement and paid leave given to adoptive parents. This year, there is a new company topping the list.
American Express ranked number one, moving up 30 spots on the list from 2016. The company offers U.S.-based, regular, full-time and part-time employees up to $35,000 to aid with the cost of an adoption (up to a maximum of two events per employee). The company also offers up to 20 weeks of paid parental leave to women and men welcoming a child through adoption.

Click here to view the complete Top 100 Best Adoption-Friendly Workplace list. The Foundation also recognizes employers by size, industry, best leave and foster care benefits. The 2018 survey will open in January.

The Wendy's Company was the original advocate of the Adoption-Friendly Workplace program. The company put in place robust workplace adoption benefits more than 25 years ago. In 2016, The Wendy's Company was awarded Forever Family status, which is an emeritus position on the Top 100 Best Adoption-Friendly Workplace list that recognizes their continued commitment to these crucial benefits.

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Survey: More Americans are considering children in foster care when looking to adopt
By the time Olivia was 10 years old, she'd spent more than half her life in foster care. "It was painful because I never knew what was going to happen," she said. "I never knew if I was going to get to stay or if I would have to move again."

Unfortunately for Olivia, she was forced to move from house to house for seven years while living in foster care. Just as she was getting settled, she'd have to pick up and leave. Until the day she met Dwain and Lorie Hargis.

"I had never even imagined adoption, not at any point in my life," said Lorie. "But this felt absolutely natural, like she belonged here and was meant to be a part of our family."

The transformation that took place in the Hargis home in Cecilia, Kentucky, reflects a shift in attitudes across the country. According to a new national survey conducted by Nielsen on behalf of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, 25 percent of those who have not adopted in the United States have considered adoption. Of those individuals, nearly 80 percent have considered foster care adoption, which is up 7 percent from 2012 and an all-time high.

Click here to view the press release and full survey results.

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Joe and Cathy TurnerSupporter Spotlight: "We want the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption to be part of our legacy."

The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption is grateful to be supported by so many generous donors. This month we are highlighting Joe and Cathy Turner, Wendy's franchisees who choose to give back to the Foundation through personal giving in addition to in-restaurant campaigns.

How did you first get involved with the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption?
When the Foundation began 25 years ago, we were early adopters of every fundraising program that we could do in our local Wendy's to make people aware of the Foundation and its work. It is with great pride that our franchise, First Sun Management, has been one of the major contributors to the Foundation over the years. It is because of our belief in its mission and our personal commitment to this cause that we recently included a gift to the Foundation in our estate plans. We want the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption to be part of our legacy.

Why do you support foster care adoption and the Foundation's mission? We support foster care adoption because of what Dave Thomas said - that everybody deserves a good home. What Dave experienced as a child led him to create an organization that could help children nationwide, and today the work of the Foundation is doing exactly that.

What would you tell someone who is thinking about making a donation to the Foundation? We want everyone in our communities to understand that foster care adoption is about changing lives. If any one of us just changes one child's life, the impact that person can have as an adult can be unbelievably positive. Now, imagine that impact as the Foundation works to change the lives of thousands of chilidren by increasing the number of adoptions from foster care across the country. The Foundation has done a phenomenal job so far. It is true - everyone deserves a good home.



frosty.pngThank you Wendy's and Frosty 5k Participants!

Thank you to the 750 runners and walkers, supported by The Wendy's Company and other sponsors, who helped to raise more than $100,000 for the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. We are so grateful for your continued support of our mission: to find a loving, permanent home for
every child waiting in foster care to be adopted.




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Foundation Partners with New Foster to Adopt Web Series

The Foundation is proud to partner with "The F Word," a new web series documenting one couple's journey through foster care adoption.

Check out the current episodes here and follow us on Twitter (@DTFA) to participate in our live Twitter chat with the series' stars at 2 p.m. ET on Thursday, October 19.

NOTICE FOR LATVIA ADOPTIVE FAMILIES: Post Adoption Reports





NOTICE: Latvia – Post Adoption Reports

This Alert Supersedes the Alert Issued on November 17, 2016

The Ministry of Welfare has informed the Department that they are still missing post-adoption reports from U.S. families who adopted children from Latvia. The Ministry has urged the Department to stress the importance of post-adoption report submission to adoption service providers and adoptive families. For this reason, the Department strongly urges you to comply with Latvia’s post-adoption requirements. Compliance with Latvia’s post-adoption reporting requirements would also contribute to an understanding of the positive impact that intercountry adoption has for children from Latvia who are living in the United States.

Latvian law requires that two post-adoption reports be submitted: one after the first year following the adoption and one after the second year. Reports should be notarized and contain an Apostille certification. Two extra months are allowed for translation and submission of the report. Post-adoption reports must be submitted with a translation in Latvian. The reports can be conducted by the adoptive family’s adoption service provider or the appropriate child welfare officials in the state where the child resides.

The reports must be submitted to the Latvian Ministry of Welfare by mail:
Latvian Adoption Authority
Children and Family Policy Department
Ministry of Welfare
28 Skolas St.
Riga, Latvia, LV-1331

If your report will not arrive by November 1, please also send an electronic version to the following email address, while the hard copy is in route: lm@lm.gov.lv.

Please continue to monitor travel.state.gov for updated information on adoption in Latvia

Friday, September 15, 2017

The Importance of Obtaining Certificates of Citizenship


citizenship1Nobody enjoys filing paperwork or paying filing fees, and for families that have completed an international adoption, they often think they have had more than enough of both. Fortunately, most international adoptions now result in a certificate of citizenship (COC) being issued without any additional process or fees. That has not always been the case, and still is not always so, especially in cases where the child was issued an IR-4/HR-4 visa. In these situations, the child does not automatically become a U.S. citizen, and the placement requires finalization here in the United States.
Obtaining a COC for any child adopted internationally is an important way to definitively establish and demonstrate citizenship. When the cost of COCs was significantly increasing last year, NCFA hosted a webinar led by McLane Layton and Christine Poarch. NCFA also made available a printable factsheet addressing FAQs about certificates of citizenship. These resources continue to be helpful to better understand this issue.

Adoptive families may ask, “Why would I pay for this if I already have proof of citizenship with a U.S. passport or state issued birth certificate?” Although there may be other ways and options to prove citizenship, the Certificate of Citizenship remains the most permanent and definitive way of doing so. Unlike passports, the certificate of citizenship never expires. State issued birth certificates are not always accepted as proof of citizenship, with issues raised if the name has changed or if the birth certificate lists a foreign place of birth.

Adoption professionals who have worked in this field for a number of years strongly advise a family to obtain a COC on behalf of their internationally adopted child. Sue Hollar, the Executive Director & CEO of The Barker Adoption Foundation, is a strong advocate of agencies working to ensure families have obtained COCs. She says, “Adoption agencies and adoptive families have an ethical and moral responsibility to these kids. At Barker, we hold a financial deposit from families and return it upon receiving a copy of the COC… No kid/adult should suffer the consequences of not having the documentation.”

NCFA strongly encourages adoption agencies to obtain copies of the certificate of citizenship as part of their post-adoption reporting. This practice will ensure that families are obtaining their COCs within a reasonable timeframe upon returning, instead of many years later when it may be more difficult for the adoptive family to locate required documentation.

The application for a COC is called the N-600 and can be accessed through USCIS’s website here.
For more family-oriented intercountry adoption resources, visit the Global Adoption section of NCFA’s blog.

Friday, September 8, 2017

Research Study Participants Sought Regarding Transracial Adoption

16972215_s-sizedAs many of you know, NCFA is committed to, and passionate about, research regarding adoption.  Some of that research is assembled and published by NCFA, including our Adoption: By the Numbers, where they report the most comprehensive statistics on adoption in the United States.   In addition to the research they conduct, they also promote the research done by others to further our understanding of adoption and issues related to adoption.  Toward that end, NCFA is sending along information about a research project being conducted regarding transracial adoption and foster care.

A researcher at Florida State University is interested in connecting with parents who are fostering or have adopted transracially.  If you think this description is a good fit for your clients or network, please consider passing this information along to them.

Parents who are currently fostering or have adopted transracially are needed for a research study.  Interested participants will take a pre-course measure, be randomly assigned a treatment or control course, and then complete a post-course measure.  All participation in the study is completed online, and the fosterparentcollege.com course login id and password will be assigned to each participant by the researcher.  Participants will have 30 days to complete the course.  Total time to complete the surveys and course online takes 3 hours, and participants can come and go as they please. 

Participants who complete the study will receive a $20 Visa gift card.  Interested participants should e-mail or contact Jordan Montgomery at jem14e@my.fsu.edu or 850-661-6454.

Sincerely,
Ryan Hanlon, MA, MS, MSW Vice President of Education, Research, and Constituent Services
National Council For Adoption

Monday, September 4, 2017

8 Crucial Tips For Kinship Adoption

Source: https://creatingafamily.org/

By Dawn Davenport

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Here are our top eight tips for smoothly integrating children adopted through kinship adoption into your family.
  1. Get Educated. Adoptive parenting is different from parenting kids from birth. Not worse, not better, but different. Parents who adopt a niece, nephew, or grandchild need the same preparation as other adoptive parents. We have a ton of resources at Adoption A-Z Resource Guide.
  2. Seek Expertise. You will need to find an adoption attorney or adoption agency to help you navigate through a kinship adoption. We have a great free multimedia guide to help you-Creating a Family’s Multimedia Guide on Choosing an Adoption Agency or Attorney. Make sure to ask whomever you hire how many kinship adoptions they do each year in your state.
  3. Keep the focus on the child and what is in the child’s best interest as you navigate the post adoption relationships in your family. This is sometimes easier said than done, so spend time pre-adoption talking with your extended family members about what you think is best for the child.
Continue reading.

The Scariest Special Need of All—Would You Adopt This Child?

Source: https://creatingafamily.org

By Dawn Davenport


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In my experience there is one special need that scares prospective adoptive parents the most. The one where even parents who have a wide range of acceptance for special needs will often say “no”. The special need that is preventing thousands of children from being adopted. That special need is being the victim of sexual abuse. Yes, that special need is actually being the victim of abuse!

Through no fault of their own these children have been sexually abused and are now being victimized again by the near universal fear of raising a child that has been sexually abused. Irony anyone?

I have been told by countless social worker that if the child has a record of sexual abuse in their file or a record of showing the symptoms of having been sexually abused, the chances of finding an adoptive family becomes infinitely harder. This breaks my heart.

Continue reading.