1. ANNOUNCEMENTS
   - The Intercountry Adoption Journey: Hague-Compliant Training from the National   Council for Adoption
   - 50% off Sale Items! Come Check Them Out!
   - Our 2008 Catalog is Now Here!
   - Ask the Adoption Doctor
   
2. FEATURED ADOPTION BLOGS
3. HIGHLIGHTED ARTICLES
4. ADOPTION NEWS
5. ADOPTION LAW & POLICY NEWS
6. FEATURED ADOPTION PRODUCT
7. FEATURED WAITING CHILDREN
8. MEET NEW HOPEFUL ADOPTIVE PARENTS
9. ADOPTION GEM - inspirational thought
10. ADOPTION BUZZ - message board discussions
11. JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT - clean weekly humor
12. FEATURED ADOPTION PROFESSIONAL
13. ADOPTION POETRY
14. SPEAK OUT - contributions from our readers
15. ADOPTION CALENDAR - events, seminars, & chats

Adoption Network Law Center - We make Domestic Newborn Adoption easy for you. Our stats show most families selected by a birth mom were selected within 4 months of being marketed. Let this be the year you grow your family!
Call for a free consultation.

The Intercountry Adoption Journey
The Hague-compliant Training from the National Council for Adoption is announcing a new online training program designed to meet the needs of busy adopting parents who hope to add to their family through international adoption. Register now for the Hague-Compliant Training from NCFA. For more information click here.

50% off Sale Items! Come Check Them Out!
Adoptionshop.com is now adding items everyday to our Closeout Specials! All products are being marked down to 50% off or more. Come see if you can find the products you want for a price to die for!

Our 2008 Catalog is Now Here!
Our new Adoptionshop.com catalog is now printed and ready to be shipped. Get one by calling 877-236-7874 or print one off at: http://www.adoptionshop.com/catalog/adoptionshop_catalog08.pdf
Don’t forget the 10% off code on the front of the catalog!

Ask the Adoption Doctor
Get your questions about international adoption-related medical, psychological, social work, and legal issues answered online at no cost. Every month, the adoption medicine specialists and associates of AdoptionDoctors.com will answer your questions about your concerns in these areas. These questions and more are part of a new feature that has been added to our International Adoption site: Ask the Adoption Doctor. Visit Ask the Adoption Doctor, check out the newest questions and the archives, and submit your own question.

Adopting Again: When is it the "Right" Time?
Knowing when it’s the right time to add another child to your family is a completely personal decision, and will vary from family to family. Now that I’ve spilled the...more

Death, Dying, And Making Plans In Open Adoptions
Lately there have been several conversations online talking about some morbid stuff. The question of what happens to the children of open adoption, if something happens to...more

Recipe: Ethiopian Pumpkin Wat
We have about a dozen pumpkins all turning a lovely shade of orange in the garden right now. I've made pumpkin muffins and pumpkin pie filling. But we still have a ton of...more

Read and comment on more adoption blogs at http://www.adoptionblogs.com.

Protect Child from Abusive Grandparents - Gary Direnfeld, MSW, RSW
Q: My parents are alcoholic and used to hit me when I was a child. They fight all the time, too. They are asking to have our five-year-old daughter sleep over. What should I do?...more

The Tendency Towards Birth Mother Oppression - Michelle
When you think of oppression what do you think? Do you think of slavery back in the 19th century? Perhaps the images of the women’s liberation movement flash through...more

Lessons From My Journey - Barbara Gowan
All people are a sum of their parts-- a mix of genetics, environment and life circumstances. These are the things that make us who we are. For children who are adopted, especially...more

Read the entire text of these articles at e-Magazine.adoption.com, and submit your adoption-related articles for possible publication in this newsletter. All submissions will be subject to the applicable terms, restrictions and conditions of Adoption Media, L.L.C.

'Identical Strangers' Tells the Shocking Story of Adoption Gone Awry -- New York Magazine - Nymag.com
Paula Bernstein and Elyse Schein knew they were adopted, but not the rest of the story—they were identical twins, separated at birth, subjects of a study...more

Overseas Adoptions from India Drop to the Lowest - Indiatimes.com
Blame it on the long and complex procedures, adoptions from India to other countries have dropped to the lowest ever in the world in last two decades, a report...more

Special Birthday for a Lucky Girl - Iol.co
Baby R celebrated her third birthday with a huge chocolate cake, mounds of presents and, for the first time in her life, a family of her own. As the little...more

Read more headlines at news.adoption.com.

October 11, 2007

WEEKLY NEWS SUMMARY

FOSTER CARE/State Funding/Advocacy
CALIFORNIA: “Foster Care Pay is Called Inadequate”
Latimes.com, October 4, 2007
Click here.

FOSTER CARE/Reform
OREGON: “State will Review Decision to Send Foster Child to Mexico”
The Oregonian, October 2, 2007
Click here.

WEEKLY CASE SUMMARY

STATE LAW/Federal Qualified Immunity
ALASKA: State of Alaska, et. al. v. Doherty et. al.
The Supreme Court of Alaska vacated and remanded a superior court decision determining that a social worker was not entitled to qualified immunity from a number of claims brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and also reversed and remanded the lower...more
Cite: Nos. S-12157/S-12277, No. 6163; 2007 Alas. LEXIS 115 Alas. Sup. Ct. September 14, 2007)

Credit: National Center for Adoption Law & Policy
Link: http://www.law.capital.edu/adoption

International Waiting Child

Steven & Lanae (UT) James & Rachel (UT) Ron & Jessica (UT)

Kevin & Cari (TX) Joel & Karen (VA) Stephen & Liz (NJ)

Are you pregnant? Visit parentprofiles.com (a service of Adoption Profiles, L.L.C.) to choose who you feel will be the right adoptive parents for your baby.

Are you a hopeful adoptive parent? Explore tools to help build your profile. (Sponsored by Adoption Profiles, L.L.C., which is solely responsible for its content)

Car Privileges

The mother and father had just given their teenage daughter family-car privileges. On Saturday night she returned home very late from a party.

The next morning her father went out to the driveway to get the newspaper and came back into the house frowning. At 11:30 AM the girl sleepily walked into the kitchen, and her father asked her, “Sweetheart, what time did you get in last night?”

“Not too late, Dad.” she replied nervously.

Dead-panned, her father said, “Then, my precious one, I’ll have to talk with the paperboy about putting my paper under the front tire of the car.”

Share your family-appropriate humorous adoption story or joke for possible publication in this newsletter. All submissions will be subject to the applicable terms, restrictions and conditions of Adoption Media, L.L.C.

Family Service Agency
  Located in Phoenix, AZ
   Phone: (602) 264-9891
   Fax: (602) 234-2639
   Services: • Adoption Agencies • Home Studies

Find adoption agencies, attorneys and other adoption professionals in your area at adoptiondirectory.com. When you contact adoption professionals using our directory, please make sure to let them know how you found them.

See what your own directory ad could look like.

Each time I read one of these stories, I am both happy and sad. Happy because of the love that these adopted children have found and sad because everyone is so desperately looking for the one thing that will complete and bring closure. I am no different, in August, 1968 I handed over a precious bundle of love and joy to a wonderful social worker who had assured me that she had found the perfect home for my son. How my heart rejoiced and broke at the same time. I knew or at least felt at that time that I had made the best decision for this young life by giving him to a couple who could love him and guide him. I knew that if he were to stay with me I could love him but not really take care of him and the pain he would suffer at the hands of my aunt would have been unbearable. I have been asked by various groups to speak on behalf of adoption and I have not been able to bring myself around yet. My reason, I still cry and pray that my son is healthy and that he does not hate me because of my decision for his life. I have read many of these responses and I feel the hurt, happiness and the insecurities of the adoptees, the birth mom and dads and the parents of the adopted children. Maybe one day I will be able to stand before my son and introduce him to his half brother Chris and his aunts and uncles, cousins (his extended family) and I would love to meet the couple who gave him love, guidance and a chance. To him I want to say, “Son I truly do love you and giving you up was the hardest thing I have ever done”; to the couple who adopted him I want to say, “Thank you for giving him a chance at a wonderful life.” Arnetta

I am adopted and the biggest problem I face is with the government. I feel that every child that is adopted should have the right to their birth medical records. I had a hard time trying to tell the doctor what things I do know about my medical history. I fell that if I had known what my medical history was, I would have been better off. I have so many questions about my medical history. I have things that have come up in my children too. The doctor often asks me things I have no answers to and I cannot also afford to do genetic testing to find out the same. Help! May God bless you all the days of your life! Angelo & Mary

This has reference to “ I am a birthmother and my heart breaks ” from the July 31 issue posted by Leona. Dear Leona, I want to tell you not to give up! My adoptive mother would never tell me if my birth mother had contacted her ever. She is desperately afraid for me to meet her and thinks that I will abandon her after 40 years. Her biggest fear in life is to be alone. It amazes me that she feels this way, as I am a very spiritual person and has always been a loving soul and has always attempted to live in a very positive place. I am almost certain that my biological mother has contacted my adoptive mother and she has never shared this with me. So I continue to look and have faith that we will meet someday. We are each angels with one wing, when we embrace each other it is then we learn to fly! Chrys

I have also posted earlier and every time I read a new story my heart breaks. I am not only a birth mother who gave up a son 29 years ago, but I am also an adoptee that after 45 years has found out that I was part of a black market baby scandal in Greece in the late 40’s. My birth son is welcome to contact us anytime. He was born in Logan, UT on April 29, 1978 and his father and I have been married for 27 years. We have two other wonderful children. I have opened the files in Salt Lake City, UT where I was living at the time and hope that someday no matter how old he is he may want to make contact. As someone who will probably never know my birth family because of the strange circumstances I was born under, always remember that adopted children are a gift to those unable to conceive and carry their own babies, there lives with adoptive parents are nothing to be sad about. Be grateful that someone wanted that baby as badly as you did at the time because their fate could have been devastating. I believe things happen for a reason, I am not ashamed of giving up a baby I was not prepared to care for, and gave him up to a family who not unlike my adoptive parents now had a family they so desperately wanted. Stephanie P

I was born on July 28, 1975 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I am a female who has been searching for her birth parents for over 15 years now. I have some identifying information as well but not much. If there is anyone who can help me and/or knows of any changes in Pennsylvania State Law that would allow me to have access to my medical history that would be great. I am a mother as well and it is important for me that my children know their own lineage. Please email me.

Speak Out - share your opinion, comment, or respond to a message.

Adoption Events:

Life's Longest Bond: Sibling Relationships - Renton, WA
10-17-2007 from 08:00 PM to 09:30 PM - WACAP Office 315 South Second Street Renton, WA
WACAP - For more information, email or or visit our web site.

Waiting Families Support Group - Bethlehem, PA
10-17-2007 from 04:30 PM to 06:30 PM - Wesley United Methodist Church 2540 Center Street Bethlehem, PA
Families with Children from China - For more information, email or call 610-746-0453.

Free International Informational Meeting - Interlochen, MI
10-18-2007 from 02:00 PM to 04:00 PM - Interlochen Public Library 9700 Riley Rd Interlochen, MI 49643
Family Adoption Consultants - For more information, contact Cher Cronican-Walker by email or or visit our web site or call 231-275-6440.

Adoptive Families Support Group - Rock Island, IL
10-18-2007 from 05:00 PM to 06:30 PM - LSSI Office 4709 44th Street, Ste 1 Rock Island, IL
Lutheran Socal Services of IL - For more information, contact Lisa Goble or call 309-786-6400 ext. 228.

Baby & Toddler Care Class for Adoptive Families - Portland, OR
10-20-2007 from 09:30 AM to 05:00 PM - Legacy Meridian Park Hospital Portland, OR
NAFA - For more information, email or call 503-224-0222.

Baby and Toddler Care Class for Adoptive Parents - Portland, OR
10-20-2007 from 09:00 AM to 05:00 PM - Legacy Meridian Park Hospital Just off I-5 in Portland at the Tualatin Exit
Northwest Adoptive Families Association - For more information, visit our web site or email.

Family Outing to Crumland Farms - Frederick, MD
10-20-2007 from 11:00 AM to 02:00 PM - Crumland Farms 7612 Willow Road Frederick, MD 21702
Adoptive Families and Friends - For more information, contact Laura Frye or visit our web site or call 301-432-6624.

Tallahassee Families with Asian Children Monthly Potluck - Tallahassee, FL
10-21-2007 from 04:30 PM to 06:30 PM - East Hill Baptist Church 912 Miccosukee Road Tallahassee, FL
Tallahassee Families with Asian Children - For more information contact Janice Foley or email or call 850-915-7797.

Single Prospective Adoptive Parents - Chicago, IL
10-21-2007 from 06:30 PM to 08:00 PM - Jewish Child & Family Services 3145 W. Pratt Blvd. Chicago, IL
Jewish Child and Family Services - For more information, call 773-467-3747.

Tallahassee Families with Asian Children Monthly Potluck - Tallahassee, FL
10-22-2007 from 04:30 PM to 06:30 PM - East Hill Baptist Church 912 Miccosukee Road Tallahassee, FL
Tallahassee Families with Asian Children - For more information, contact Janice Foley or email or call 850-915-7797.

Single Prospective Adoptive Parents - Chicago, IL
10-22-2007 from 06:30 PM to 08:00 PM - Jewish Child & Family Services 3145 W. Pratt Blvd. Chicago, IL
Jewish Child and Family Services - For more information, call 773-467-3747.

PAL Meetings - West Palm Beach, FL
10-23-2007 from 05:00 PM to 07:00 PM - Jewish Community Center 3151 N. Military Trail West Palm Beach, FL
Parents Adoption Lifeline, Inc. - For more information, visit our web site or email or call 561-844-8282.

Chisago/Isanti/Pine County's Foster/Adoptive Parent Support Group - Cambridge, MN
10-23-2007 from 06:00 PM to 08:00 PM - East Central Public Library Cambridge, MN
MNASAP - For more information, contact Julie Pribyl or visit our web site or email or call 1-877-699-5937.

To view local listings, regional seminars, many other adoption events, and to list your organization's events, visit The Adoption Events Calendar.