Adoption Grant Updates and Deadlines, Post-Adoption Financial Resources and More

Grant Updates: 

Hope Grafted In – This program will be suspended until they can raise more funds.

One Less Ministry This program no longer accepts adoption grant applications. Instead will be redirecting funds to human trafficking prevention and no longer offering adoption grants.

A Child Waits Foundation just published its brand new website! Families are now able to get both the grant and loan applications from their website and there is no longer a pre-qualification step in their process. Anyone who believes that they meet their general criteria as stated on their website can send in an application. A Child Waits Foundation grant and loans are for international adoptions only. They do NOT have any marital or religious criteria to apply. Check out their new website today and see if you qualify to apply!

Grant Deadlines:

March 2016 Grant Deadlines:

 

JSC Foundation – March 31

National Adoption Foundation – March 15 (Please note that we cannot recommend this grant organization.)

Ibsen Adoption Network – March 31

Love Has Come – March 31

Muskogee Church of Christ – March 31

April 2016 Grant Deadlines:

 

Salvation International – April 1

Elijah’s Truth – April 15

Help Us Adopt – April 17

Show Hope – April 30

God’s Grace Adoption Ministries – April 30


Find more updates on our Facebook Page

Improvements, Upgrades and Expansion:

 

Over the next several months we are working to improve our services to you. We value your feedback and it is very helpful so we can take the needed steps to make sure your needs are met. If at any time you have any questions, concerns or suggestions, please contact Cherri Walrod at cherri.walrod@gmail.com

We are working on a series of upgrades to our website. This will involve three phases:

1. Upgrade the technology which supports the website: This will improve the overall function and speed of the website.

2. Upgrade and expand the current database of grants and loans: This will improve the sort, filter and search feature allowing you expanded opportunities to fine tune your search even more.

3. Fundraising Search Tools: This feature should help you narrow down fundraising options which will work best for you.

Post-Adoption Financial Resources Database

One of our original goals for Resources4adoption has always been to support adoptive and foster families throughout every phase of their adoption journey. For the last five years we have been dreaming of a way to expand our database to include POST-ADOPTION FINANCIAL RESOURCES Searchable DATABASE. With the new upgrades to the website, this dream can now become a reality. This will be an expensive and time consuming project, but it will be totally worth it!

We are asking for your help with this project. If you are an adoptive family it is not a matter of if you will need these resources, it is a matter of when. There are several ways we need for you to get involved:

1. Ask your adoption placing agency to contact us about ways they can support this project.

2. Consider making a small monthly contribution. If everyone who subscribes to this newsletter would pledge $2 – $5 a month, we would be well on our way to having this new project fully funded! Here is the link to set up monthly donation. This is such a small investment when you consider how quickly you will be able to find what you need when you need it. Your gifts are also TAX Deductible!

3. Share with others about this crucial benefit for adoptive families. If you know of post-adoption financial resources, please be sure to send the info to us. We already have a lot of information, but we know there’s still more out there. Post-Adoption Financial Resources includes but is not limited to: free or reduced cost of therapies, counseling, medical equipment, medical assistance or treatments, modifications to home, transportation assistance, scholarships, grants, parental training or retreats and so on. Email: cherri@resources4adoption.com or cherri.walrod@gmail.com
Welcome to our New Sponsors!

We are so excited to begin a collaborative partnership with Madison Adoption Associates and Building Arizona Families. These two outstanding organizations realize just how important it is to support their adoptive families. By partnering with Resources4adoption, each of their families’ adoption funding needs and concerns are now being addressed. Their families have free access to our database of adoption grants and loans along with personalized coaching they need to successfully fund their adoption.

Bonfire Funds – We are also excited about bringing you more information about this great T-shirt fundraising tool in the near future. They have one of the best T-shirt fundraising operations around!

Gift of Adoption Fund – We will soon be highlighting some new adoption grant funding opportunities through the Gift of Adoption Fund. They have been around for quite awhile, and now they have some exciting expansions they want you to be aware of.

Are you an adoption agency or adoption related business? Want to position your services and brand in front of adoptive hopefuls nationwide? Help us reach more adoptive families with the hope and help they need to fund their adoptions. Contact Cherri Walrod for more information on becoming a sponsor today. Email: cherri@resources4adoption.com or cherri.walrod@gmail.com

Talking to Adopted Children About Birth Parents and Families of Origin: How to Answer the Hard Questions

By: Rhonda Jarema

Over the years, I’ve had a number of parents question me about what they should say to their child when that child asks about his or her biological parents. Adoptive families may have been provided with varying amounts of information, from an extensive background that includes APGAR scores to just a birthdate. Sometimes there is a vague family history, or the child might even have some memories of their birth family if placed as an older child. Most families have something in between: usually a very basic history of parental death, abandonment, voluntary placement, or removal from parental care. This leaves a hole that is often difficult for both child and parents, as they attempt to fill in the blanks from the past.

It is the responsibility of adoption professionals to try to guide the parents in this area. Adoptive parents often expect that professionals have some hidden store of information that was not provided with the referral, or that the information expanded while in the file and will provide the magical answers to their child’s questions. Sometimes parents become anxious when they receive questions from their child about their past prior to adoption. It is important for parents to give information appropriate to the child’s level of development; offering all the specifics at a young age may increase anxiety for all involved.

Just as it is important to share the information the parent has on the child’s family, so it is important not to fill in blanks when the answer really isn’t known. Sometimes the adoptive parent may not have any information, and the answer might be “I’m sorry, but I don’t know.” Another option would be to ask the child, “What do you think?” As a parent, these are not always easy discussions, but they are important to have.

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Is Anyone Out There?: Finding Support as a Birth Mother

By: Nicole Strickland

Thirteen years ago, I left the hospital as a proud new mom. Unlike most new moms, though, I also left the hospital with empty arms and a broken heart, as I had just placed my newborn baby boy into the arms of his adoptive mom and dad.

I went home and, for weeks, just tried desperately to navigate this “new normal.” Having a baby is always a life-changing event, but most new parents are overwhelmed by around-the-clock feedings, diaper changes, and sleep deprivation. In my case, I was overwhelmed with grief, sadness, and solitude. Although my family and friends were supportive of my decision to place my child for adoption and sympathetic to what I was going through, most had no idea what I was really experiencing. I felt so alone, and for many weeks was struggling just to make it through my day-to-day activities.

Unlike many birth mothers, I did not place my child through an adoption agency. Instead, I placed through a private adoption attorney, who only provided me legal services. This meant I did not have a social worker or counselor at the agency to whom I could reach out.

Continue Reading.

You're Invited!! Kybele, Inc and Novant Present the Global Health Symposium, Saturday March 5th

Kybele, Inc. in partnership with Novant Health's Maya Angelou Women's Health & Wellness Center invites you to join us for the inaugural.

Novant Global Health Symposium, Saturday March 5th from 8am - 4pm in the Novant Health Conference Center. The event is FREE with the donation of a first-aid item or items.

The objective of the conference is to inform local healthcare providers and the general public about global health opportunities, how best to prepare, how international service builds cultural competency, and why global health is important to the local community. The keynote speaker from a Center for Disease Control will focus on the issues of fighting Ebola from the front lines, the cultural implications for the local communities and the logistics/strategies involved with coordinating multiple organizations/agencies to prevent the spread of the disease.

Also attending, physicians from three countries (Ghana, Armenia, Serbia), which have benefited from the global health involvement of Piedmont Triad based physician and nursing staff. In addition, there will be a "Marketplace" of local organizations, faith-based groups, and service organizations dedicated to serving vulnerable populations domestically and abroad.

To register, click here.

To learn more, click here.

What's Next for Adoption Advocates?

By: Chuck Johnson

Adoption has shaped my entire life, personally and professionally. As the son of an adopted person, I watched my father move from feeling a sense of quiet shame about his adoption to a place where at last – late in his life – he could celebrate it and recognize the good it had done for him. As a father by adoption, I’ve walked with my children through both joy and struggle, including the occasional struggle linked to adoption.

As a social worker and a longtime advocate for adoption, I do my best to serve all those impacted by adoption. I love the institution of adoption and feel called to do this work, and I have been blessed throughout my career to serve children who need safe, loving, permanent families.

Every year during National Adoption Month, all those who are touched by adoption have much to celebrate. At home with my family – and with my “work family” at National Council For Adoption – we celebrate adoption every day, not just during the month of November. Adoption is a time-tested institution that has undoubtedly benefited countless children. But as we celebrate its positives, its accomplishments, and its great potential, we must also consider the ways in which we can make adoption work better for all – for the young birth mother or birth father facing an unintended pregnancy who decides adoption is the right choice, for the foster and adoptive families hoping to provide loving homes for children, and for the infants and children who will be adopted and grow to adulthood with adoption as part of their history and identity.

Continue Reading.

The Whole World Loves You! Your friends from Hopscotch

You're Invited!! Kybele, Inc and Novant Present the Global Health Symposium, Saturday March 5th

Kybele, Inc. in partnership with Novant Health's Maya Angelou Women's Health & Wellness Center invites you to join us for the inaugural.

Novant Global Health Symposium, Saturday March 5th from 8am - 4pm in the Novant Health Conference Center. The event is FREE with the donation of a first-aid item or items.

The objective of the conference is to inform local healthcare providers and the general public about global health opportunities, how best to prepare, how international service builds cultural competency, and why global health is important to the local community. The keynote speaker from a Center for Disease Control will focus on the issues of fighting Ebola from the front lines, the cultural implications for the local communities and the logistics/strategies involved with coordinating multiple organizations/agencies to prevent the spread of the disease.

Also attending, physicians from three countries (Ghana, Armenia, Serbia), which have benefited from the global health involvement of Piedmont Triad based physician and nursing staff. In addition, there will be a "Marketplace" of local organizations, faith-based groups, and service organizations dedicated to serving vulnerable populations domestically and abroad.

To register, click here.

To learn more, click here.

International Search and Reunion: A Conversation with Susan Soonkeum Cox

By Susan Soonkeum Cox

Every adoptee has their own personal and unique adoption story. That history is a part of who they are, and remains a part of them as they move from childhood through adolescence and into adulthood.

As intercountry adoption has changed over the years, more international adoptees have become interested in searching for information and trying to learn more about their families, countries, and cultures of origin. An adoption search and/or reunion for an intercountry adoptee may look very different from one undertaken by a person adopted in the U.S. Typically an international adoption search will require working with officials in another country and dealing with complex legal issues, language translation, and cultural differences. To better understand the international search and reunion process, NCFA asked Susan Soonkeum Cox, Vice President of Policy and External Affairs at Holt International and a Korean adoptee, to share some of her own personal experiences.

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Building Attachment From Day One In Country: by Melissa Nichols and Todd Nichol

Do you have a game plan for building attachment when you travel to meet your future child? The Family Attachment Center of Minnesota has some great games and resources for families just beginning and those that are already home. Whether your child is at risk for attachment disorder or not, these are great games to reinforce intimacy between the parent and child relationship. Be sure to print this and take it with you when you travel!

Download PDF.

Fostering Successful Attachment in Intercountry Adoption

By: Madison Howard

 

Introduction

Attachment is the glue that establishes the connection between a child and a parent. When a child is born and remains with a biological parent, bonding and attachment begin immediately. With adoption, however, that is not always the case. In intercountry adoption children often face multiple broken attachments, causing them to lack the foundation on which to build healthy relationships later in life. In cases of adoption, early attachments are too often disrupted or broken. Positive, consistent relationships with early childhood caregivers and, later, adoptive parents can help reestablish a child's healthy attachment abilities.

The Basics of Attachment

To understand how to foster healthy attachment for children adopted internationally, it is important to understand the heart of the subject at hand: attachment theory. According to Bowlby, a pioneer in attachment theory, attachment is a biological, motivational system that develops within humans during our early years of life. This system is what stimulates children to try and find security, support, and care from specific "attachment figures" in their lives. In her first year, when the child becomes selective about which person she seeks out to provide these things, "selective attachment" occurs. This person the child has selected becomes a "secure base," meaning that she will use this person as a "home base" of sorts to venture out from and return to at any sight of "danger." When parents cultivate healthy and secure attachment relationships within their children as infants, they in turn cultivate an "internal felt sense of safety and trust, and an emerging sense of the self." Attachment, then, is not only important to relationships with parents and family members, it is also essential to children's forming relationships in the world around them.

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