At this adoption workshop, Nightlight Christian Adoptions will present basic information about international adoption, domestic adoption, and embryo adoption. Topics will include understanding the advantages of different adoption programs, preparing for the adoption home study, and educating yourself about adoption.

Rocky and his wife, Suzanne, adopted from Ethiopia through the SC office of Nightlight Christian Adoptions. In this testimony, Rocky reflects on the adoption.

A few days ago the L.A. Times published an article entitled Thanking her for opening my eyes. The author, Corina Knoll, is ethnically Korean and was adopted as a child by a white family in the U.S.
In the article Knoll reflects on racism in America and how an Iowa school teacher made racism come alive [...]

Carolina Hope is offering a live online course this Tuesday (Mar. 10) about Domesticating an International Adoption in South Carolina. Participation requires a phone and an internet connection.
Please pay and register before Thursday if you would like to participate. More information on the course contents and on registering is available at the course page.

Tomorrow, March 5, at 9 pm (ET).
From our course page (which is where you can get info about signing up)
In this approximately 90-minutes webinar, we will discuss the practical aspects of traveling to Ethiopia fro adoption, the required paperwork and forms to submit to the U.S. Embassy and how to complete them, and bringing your [...]

Reported by AP on February 25, 2009. (I can’t find the actual recommendation online — if you do, please let me know, and I’ll post it.)
ATLANTA (AP) – A federal advisory panel is recommending hepatitis A vaccinations for everyone who has close contact with children adopted from countries where hepatitis A is common.
That includes Guatemala, [...]

Cindy over at Our Adoption Journey has written about the Federal Adoption Tax Credit, which will expire in December 2010. I encourage you read her post and then contact your legislators asking them to support legislation that will extend the tax credit beyond 2010.
(At present, H.R. 213 is about one sentence long: it [...]

Carolina Hope is offering a live online course this Thursday (Feb. 19) about Domesticating an International Adoption in South Carolina. Participation requires a phone and an internet connection.
Please pay and register before Thursday if you would like to participate. More information on the course contents and on registering is available at the course page.

This year’s Guatoberfest is an adoptive families cruise October 5-9. More details at Guatoberfest.

Laura Godwin responds to “The Orphan Manufacturing Chain”, by E.J. Graff. Graff’s article makes untrue claims in an attempt to undermine International Adoption.

Lisa Prather, Carolina Hope’s Assistant Director, sent the following note out this morning:
Dear Ethiopia Families and Carolina Hope Staff,
I am pleased to announce that last week we were able to match 4 families who were waiting for referrals from Ethiopia. The following children have been matched:
One boy: age 10 months old
Twin girls: age 4 [...]

Carolina Hope is offering a live online course tomorrow (Dec. 9) about Domesticating an International Adoption in South Carolina. Participation requires a phone and an internet connection.
Please pay and register today if you would like to participate. More information on the course contents and on registering is available at the course page.

Carolina Hope is offering a live online course this Thursday (Nov. 6) about Domesticating an International Adoption in South Carolina. Participation requires a phone and an internet connection.
Please pay and register today or Wednesday if you would like to participate. More information on the course contents and on registering is available at the course page.

On October 22 the Joint Council on International Children’s Services (of which Carolina Hope is a member) issued a policy recommendation about cultural sensitivity for U.S. families traveling to Ethiopia to complete an adoption. Here’s the policy recommendation (PDF).
Carolina Hope supports these recommendations and plans to implement them for our Ethiopia Adoption Program.

On October 7, I posted a call to action from JCICS. JCICS’s advocacy — in conjunction with the advocacy of other stakeholders and concerned Americans — has resulted in at least limited success. Here is JCICS’s announcement.

Dear Colleagues,
After advocating on behalf of adoptive families for the past 6 months, Joint Council is very pleased to [...]

JCICS is urging all adoption stakeholders to actively participate immediately in encouraging USCIS to implement a policy that’s good for families and children regarding I-600A Renewals.

Tomorrow evening (Tuesday, October 7), Carolina Hope Christian Adoption Agency will hold its monthly Adoption Education workshop entitled “Introducing Domestic and International Adoption.” The workshop is free of charge and will be held at Carolina Hope’s office in Greenville, SC. More details at our Adoption Workshops page.

Joint Council and others in our field have great concern regarding the one-time renewal of I-600A approvals and the impact on Potential Adoptive Parents (PAPs). It is very clear that the authors of the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 intended to ‘grandfather’ all I-600A petitions filed prior to the date on which the Hague Convention went into force in the United States (April 1, 2007). At the time the legislation was drafted, the authors did not foresee the lengthy processing time now associated with adoptions from countries such as China and Haiti.

From JCICS: The Government of Vietnam has issued a formal diplomatic note to the United States Government naming a high ranking Vietnamese official as Vietnam’s lead negotiator and also requesting that both governments begin negotiations towards a new Memorandum of Agreement regarding intercountry adoption.

When we started our adoption, I found myself answering questions that really irritated me deeply. And what I recognized were my own prior assumptions about adoptions.