National Foster Care Month

Did you know that May is National Foster Care Month? Started in 1988, National Foster Care Month aims to recognise the efforts of foster parents across our nation and put focus on the needs of foster children, especially those about to age out of the system. With approximately 12 million foster care alumni and 424,000 children currently in foster care waiting for families, it is hard to ignore the impact of child abuse and...

Debbie Schwartz Honored By The Congressional Coali...

All of us at Forever Parents are so proud of our friend Debbie Schwartz aka DebbieJFSG on our adoption forums, for being named one of this years Angels in Adoption. Congressman Jim Himes has selected Jewish Family Services Adoption Connection Program Coordinator Debbie Schwartz as a 2010 Angel in Adoption (TM) for her outstanding advocacy of adoption.  The Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI), which...

2010 National Adoption Day Spokesperson: Nia Varda...

The National Adoption Day Coalition is pleased to announce Nia Vardalos, the Academy Award and Golden Globe nominated My Big Fat Greek Wedding writer and actress, as its 2010 National Adoption Day spokesperson. “Becoming a mother is the best thing that has ever happened to me,” Vardalos said. “I am happy to once again be a part of National Adoption Day. We were matched with our daughter through the U.S....

Watch The Adoption Angles Webcast Tonight

Debbie Schwartz, program coordinator for Adoption Connection: Jewish Family Services of Greenwich, and a valued member of our adoption forums, is the guest for tonight’s Adoption Angle’s webcast at 9 pm EST /6 pm PST. Click here to watch live . You can login, watch Debbie, and type in questions and comments for her. Click here to watch the archived interview (Click on the May 19 episode to watch the 60 minute...

Event To End Florida Gay Adoption Ban

Florida’s Adoption Ban is the only law in the country that categorically prohibits gay men and lesbians from adopting children. This discriminatory law hurts thousands of children who are languishing in Florida’s foster care system by denying them a permanent home. The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida is proud to announce that Cynthia Nixon, Sex and the City star and LGBT rights advocate, will join us on...

Families For Orphans Act

Anshula has recently come into an orphanage. She is four years old and alone. Where should she spend her childhood? In an orphanage? In temporary foster care? Or in a permanent and loving family? The answer should be obvious: a safe, permanent and loving family. Unfortunately, the U.S. government and many aide organizations do not seem to agree. In fact, the U.S. sometimes spends millions of dollars, ensuring just the...

Florida Adoption Support Group

If you’re here from the adoption support group held on July 23, welcome!! It was nice to meet all of you tonight and I’m looking forward to the next meeting. This blog has lots of information for parents who’ve adopted and those who are starting the process. Take a look at the “Posts Of Interest” in the right sidebar or you can use the tags in the left sidebar. If you’re interested in...

Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption Awards $7.75 M...

DUBLIN, Ohio, July 1, 2009 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ — The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption announced today a total of $7,750,000 United States grants issued this year, including $7,223,000 from Wendy’s Wonderful Kids, the Foundation’s signature program. In addition, $594,700 was awarded to Wendy’s Wonderful Kids grantees in Canada. The remaining $480,000 in U.S. grants provided critical...

Adoption PSA

Tags: adopting a child, adopting children, Adoption, adoption options, choosing adoption, Gay Adoption, Older Child Adoption, Special Needs Adoption, Transracial Adoption Related posts Home For The Holidays: Foster/Adoption Special (1) ‘Jockey’ Adoption Services & Programs (4) The Reluctant Spouse (0) Support Adoption And Send A Free E-card For Fathers Day (2) National Adoption...

Support Adoption And Send A Free E-card For Father...

It’s no secret around here that I am a big supporter of the work The Dave Thomas Foundation For Adoption does. Now you can help and it won’t cost you a thing. Create and send a free fathers days e-card, or choose a celebrity created one through their site Frosty Card and Wendy’s will donate 25 cents to The Dave Thomas Foundation For Adoption. Father’s day is this Sunday so stop by their site and...

A Worthy Cause

A friend, who suffered from child abuse throughout her childhood, asked me to post this “shout out” to a charity called Isurvive.org. Isurvive is a message board that offers free on-line support 24/7 for people who were abused as children. Isurvive is hoping to win $1200 by being one of the Top 5 most blogged-about charities in a contest. They can now add one more blog to the tally. This blog post is part of...

Adoption Community Protest Movie “OrphanR...

Update: Debbie, one of our adoption forum members shared a sample letter. I posted it at the bottom. Update #2: A list of email addresses has been added at the bottom of this post. One of our adoption forum members brought this to our attention (thanks Debbie!) and I am passing it along to anyone who may be interested. I’m also adding my personal thoughts, which I shared on our adoption forum, at the end of this...

Forever Families Weekend

The Adoption Connection at Jewish Family Services of Greenwich in conjunction with the NJ Y Camps is thrilled to announce Forever Families Weekend, a family weekend experience for Jewish families touched by adoption. Families will have the opportunity to think consciously about their roles in both the Jewish community and the adoption community while enjoying a weekend at one of the largest Jewish summer camps in North...

Home For The Holidays: Foster/Adoption Special

Tune into CBS on Tuesday, December 23 8 p.m. EST/PST or 7 p.m. CST/MST For the 10th Annual A Home for the Holidays Special Celebrating Foster Care Adoption! Don’t miss this heartwarming one-hour television show! Celebrity performers will share the stage with extraordinary American families who share their joy and their stories of foster care adoption. This year’s show features Faith Hill and includes Tim McGraw,...

National Adoption Day 2008

National Adoption Day is a collective national effort to raise awareness of the 129,000 children in foster care waiting to find permanent, loving families. For the last eight years, National Adoption Day has made the dreams of thousands of children come true by working with courts, judges, attorneys, adoption professionals, child welfare agencies and advocates to finalize adoptions and find permanent, loving homes for...

Choosing Your Child’s Name After Adoption

At our adoption forum, I asked members who adopted an infant, how much input their child’s birth mother had in choosing the child’s first name. Here’s what they had to say; 1. She had picked out “a name. We chose a name that starts with T (we made it up). She really like that, too, and the fact that it “goes with” her son’s name. 2. We met with our girls’ birth mom a week...

Teleflora’s America’s Favorite Mom Con...

The contest is now over, but Teleflora stupidly put mothers who’ve adopted in the “non-moms” category along with grandmothers and stepmothers. Shame on them and hooray for the moms who spoke out!! An NBC Mother’s Day special was seeing to some last-minute changes after adoptive parents balked at a category honoring them as “non-moms.” “We heard the concerns from our viewers, and we...

My Daughter’s Hair

I just had to show off my youngest daughters hair. Jacqueline is nine years old and decided on this hairstyle herself. This is not the first time we’ve had extensions put in her hair, but it IS the first time she decided on using another color. We went to the beauty supply store and she looked at all the color before deciding on red. The first picture is her having them done by our friend Camoia. The next picture is...

Foster Care Video from the Dave Thomas Foundation

The Dave Thomas Foundation does wonderful work in raising awareness of the need for families for children in foster care. Related Tags: foster care, older child adoption Tags: foster care, Older Child Adoption Related posts Wendy’s Raised Over $1 Million for Adoption (2) Urge Senate To Reauthorize Adoption Incentive Program (0) Treat Dad To Frosty And Help Children In Foster Care (1) Things...

A Journalist’s Guide to Adoption

A Journalist Guide to Adoption: By Journalists For Journalists Dear Journalist: Adoption is increasingly being covered by the news media, whether it is the legislative battle to open adoption and birth records, the homecoming of a long-awaited child from overseas, the meeting of adoptees and their birth families, a custody battle, corrupt adoption practices, or an in-depth report on what makes a family. Despite the frequency...

Brittany’s Hope Foundation

Brittany’s Hope is a non-profit foundation dedicated to aiding and facilitating adoptions of special children from around the world. Each year thousands of children wait for adoption in foreign orphanages. One of our adoption forum members is taking part in a fundraiser to benefit their Walk Of Love. Take a moment to look at their fundraising page and please open your hearts and wallets. Brittany’s Hope Foundation, in...