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This week at my adoption.com blog, I've posted a 3-part series of reflections on adopting from Haiti.
Part 1, posted April 25, 2006, discusses adopting special needs children from Haiti.
Part 2, posted April 26, 2006, reflects on my own visits to Haitian orphanages.
Part 3, posted April 27, 2006, provides some statistics about Haiti.
Four California siblings, ages 4, 12, 15 and 16, are participating in what may be the first international adoption of foster children from San Bernardino County.
The children were removed from their mother’s care in October 2003 and have been awaiting an adoptive family since December 2004. The children are visiting their prospective family (who have other children) two siblings at a time.
After the children settle into their new home, a social worker will continue to make monthly visits until the adoptions are finalized. Once the adoption is finalized, the children will have the option of choosing dual citizenship.
This case is somewhat unusual and intriguing on several fronts:
Source: Daily Bulletin
For more information and articles about adoption, please visit my Web site, www.laurachristianson.com.
A friend alerted me to an adoption agency called Christian Homes and Special Kids (CHASK). The agency specializes in placing newborn children with the following special needs:
Down Syndrome
Spina Bifida
Drug and Alcohol Effects
Blindness
HIV Positive or AIDS
Fragile X
Reactive Attachment Disorder - RAD
Multiple Handicaps
I am not endorsing this agency and frankly, I know nothing about it other than what I've read on their Web site. If nothing else, the links on the site provide some interesting information about parenting children with special needs.
If anyone has had experience with this agency, please chime in!
For more articles about adoption, please visit my Web site, www.laurachristianson.com
In January 2005, concerned about baby trafficking in Romania, the Romanian government passed a law permanently banning the adoption of Romanian children by foreigners. The law essentially says that Romanian families get priority in adoptions, and international adoptions will be considered only as a last resort and when those adoptions are done by close relatives of the child.
Over 200 pending requests to adopt Romanian children by Americans living in more than 40 states have been declared ineligible. Jeb Bradley, a New Hampshire congressman, says that there aren’t enough families in Romania to adopt children, and is lobbying members of the European Parliament to take action in processing more than 1,100 international adoption applications that were filed before the law took effect.
The U.S. House of Representatives is also pressuring Romania to reinstate international adoptions, stressing that there are close to 37,000 orphaned or abandoned children in Romania and that the poverty, corruption and mismanagement of adoptions will hinder reform efforts.
On April 6, the House unanimously passed HR 578, which calls for Romania to “amend its child welfare and adoption laws to decrease barriers to adoption, both domestically and intercountry, including by allowing intercountry adoption by persons other than biological grandparents.”
Sources:
TVNZ
Boston.com
U.S. State Dept.
For more articles about adoption, please visit my Web site, www.laurachristianson.com.
He is risen!
A blessed Easter to everyone.
Today, in honor of our Lord’s death and resurrection, I’d like to reflect on our spiritual adoption. In the Bible, those who wished to atone for their sins did so through a sacrificial ritual. Worshipers shed the blood of a perfect sacrificial animal (often a lamb, goat, turtledove, bull or pigeon, depending on the person’s financial resources) and offered it to God as an expression of their penitence and devotion.
In the New Testament, when Jesus speaks of himself as the sacrificial lamb, he’s explaining that his own death and resurrection will create a new covenant – one that takes the place of the sacrificial system – a covenant in which God freely extends forgiveness to all who seek it, once for all.
On the last full day of his life (a day Christians now call Good Friday), as Jesus shared the Passover meal with his disciples, he passed them bread and wine, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me…this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you” (Luke 22:18-20).
Christians remember Jesus’ broken body and shed blood whenever we partake of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper (known by many as Holy Communion). As we do so, God reaffirms His covenant to unify all believers as His adopted children.
1 Corinthians 10:16-17 says:
Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.
Jesus invites us to become his adopted child when we confess that we've blown it and ask for his forgiveness. When we accept Jesus as our savior, he breaks the bonds our sin holds over us and introduces us to a new life in which he claims possession of our heart. We are "reborn" as his adopted child.
He then instills in us a true sense of belonging – to Him and to each other. This sense of belonging to God's family isn't passed down through bloodlines, but through the blood Jesus shed to provide us permanent release from our sins.
Today, Christians throughout the world celebrate the new life we have because of Jesus' sacrifice. We celebrate our adoption day.
May 13 is a day set aside specially to honor birth mothers. In 1990, a group of Seattle birthmothers gathered on the Saturday before Mother's Day to honor their motherhood of the children they gave life to. Thus, Birthmother's Day was born. Now Birthmother's Day is a widespread holiday in the adoption community with many groups holding special events and services to honor birthmothers on this day.
On May 13th,
2006, a group of birthmothers will be holding a celebration
at Lifepoint Community Church in Greenville, SC. Registration is from 9:30-10 a.m.
This free event is for any and all birthmothers, young or old. Limited seating is available so you must RSVP by May 7 th. There will be fun, fellowship, crafts, lunch, a small ceremony, door prizes, and more!
Turns out that Coley Strickland, co-founder of BirthMom Buds (who I've been featuring in the last couple of posts), also has a birth mother card business.
The site, called Heartmark Designs, sells cards that adoptive parents can send to their child's birth mother.
They also offer cards that people can send to birth moms in honor of their child's birthday, as well as a selection of "anytime" cards.
For more information about cards or the Greenville Birthmother's Day event, e-mail Coley (program coordinator) at birthmombuds@gmail.com.
Do you have a Birthmother's Day event you'd like to publicize? If so, e-mail me and I'll post it on my blog.
When a woman places her child for adoption, others in her immediate family – particularly her parents – are directly impacted by her decision. Birth grandparents experience a sense of helplessness and grief in an adoption because their grandchild is being raised by parents they don’t know, and they may never get the chance to see their grandchild again.
Several Internet resources address issues specific to birth grandparents. Here are a few links, courtesy of the founders of BirthMom Buds:
Harvest House Publishers authors (left to right): Laura Christianson, Nick Harrison (senior editor), Grace Fox, Cec Murphey, Phil Callaway, Susan Meissner, Jenn Doucette, Susie Larson.
I’ve just returned from a week at my favorite writers’ conference, Mt. Hermon’s Christian Writers Conference in California (near Santa Cruz and San Jose).
Mt. Hermon is considered the premier Christian writers’ conference on the West Coast, and the 400 registrants came from all over the U.S. and Canada. From novices eager to learn the craft of writing to well-known authors who’ve published hundreds of books, this conference offered something special for everyone.
What a difference a year makes
My experience at Mt. Hermon this year was quite different from last year’s. A year ago, I attended with the goal of pitching my adoption book proposal to as many agents and editors as possible. I gutted it out through rejection after rejection and spent some time crying on my roommate’s shoulder.
A few editors expressed interest in my proposal, and I went home infused with a sense of determination, eager to beef up my proposal and submit it to the editors who had requested it.
This year, I had the honor of teaching workshops on blogging and press release writing. While teaching represents a different kind of stress, it wasn’t nearly as stomach-churning as facing the dreaded editors. I’d like to welcome all my blogging groupies who will be checking out my site in the next days and weeks!
I didn’t feel compelled to pitch projects to editors this year. A few days before the conference, I was offered a contract for my adoption book! I still can’t believe it. But the contract is sitting right in front of me, in living black and white. All I have to do is negotiate a few points, sign that baby, and I’m off and running on my new career as an “author.”
Adoption writers, unite
The conference was a great place to meet other adoption writers. I met the following people, whose writing I’ll be featuring in upcoming posts:
Mardie Caldwell, host of the popular radio show, “Let’s Talk Adoption,” and author of AdoptingOnline.com and Adoption: Your Step-by-Step Guide.
Sherry Kyle, author of the children’s books: My Special Someone: A Child’s Perspective of Adoption and Adoption Stories from the Bible.
Joseph Bentz, author of Cradle of Dreams, a fiction novel about adoption.
Schmoozing and name-dropping
My favorite thing about writers’ conferences is the friendships that form when dozens upon dozens of people who love writing as much as I do spend a week together.
Here are several people who impacted my life this week:
Jenn Doucette, my dear friend, Mt. Hermon roommate, people magnet, and author of The Velveteen Mommy. At this very minute, Jenn is stressing over the manuscript of her second humorous book for moms, which is due at her publisher’s May 1. Either that, or she’s sleeping because we stayed up so late gabbing every night!
My new friends and dining companions, James/Jim Rubart (future fiction author, magician and ‘Jack Bauer’ wannabe); Karen Kennedy (teacher, speaker, and reality show junkie), and Chip MacGregor (magician, funny guy and publisher at Time Warner, now known as Hachette Livre Book Group, which Chip says Americans pronounce “Hatchet Livers”).
Ellie Kay, aka, America’s Family Financial Expert® and author of Heroes at Home: Help and Hope for America’s Military Families (among others). Ellie taught the “Media Mania” class I took all week. Her media training ranks among the best classes I have EVER taken. Ellie took 20 media-shy writers, and in nine hours, trained us to do radio and television interviews without throwing up on-camera. She’s the best…if you ever have a chance to take a workshop from her, I highly recommend it.
John Vonhof, footcare expert, writer of Happy Feet blog, and author of the best-selling book, Fixing Your Feet: Prevention and Treatments for Athletes. I consider John my blogging mentor. He’s provided me with loads of great resources over the past year and was my friendly assistant and cheerleader during the workshops I taught. If we ever get bored discussing blogging, John is a wealth of information about intriguing subjects such as toe fungus.
Camy Tang, who just contracted with Zondervan to write a three-book chick-lit series called Single Sushi. The heroine in Camy’s novels is an Asian American single living in San Jose. Camy and I shared lively chats about our passion for blogging (her blog is called Camy’s Loft). She and I are on the same publication schedule and we’re both first-time authors, so it will be fun to compare notes as we write.
Cecil Murphey, my shuttle bus seatmate, author of nearly 100 books (wow, did I hit the jackpot by getting to sit next to him!), and all-around nice guy. Cec is the ghostwriter for Don Piper’s 90 Minutes in Heaven and he just finished ghostwriting the biography of Shaun Alexander, Seattle Seahawks running back and NFL Most Valuable Player. I love Cec’s ready smile, encouraging spirit and willingness to share his wealth of writing experience with those of us who are less experienced (in other words, just about everybody).
Phil Callaway, our keynote speaker, humorist, and best-selling author. Phil had us falling off our seats with laughter one minute and crying the next. He’s a gifted entertainer and writer who took the time to tell me, “Let me know how things are going with your book.” Okay, I admit that when he told me that, we were stuck at the gate at the San Jose airport, waiting for our delayed flight to Seattle, and he had nothing better to do, but it still made me feel special.
Danny Ray, master illusionist and future blogger. What was with all the magicians/illusionists at Mt. Hermon this year, anyway? They were everywhere! In addition to entertaining all 400 of us with his mind-boggling sleight-of-hand, Danny did a private encore presentation for six of us who enjoy socializing until the wee hours of the morning. Danny and I brainstormed ideas for his future blog and he gave me a copy of “Amazed,” a DVD of his best illusions, to pass along to my sons.
It's the Small Stuff
It was the encounters with these folks and many, many others that reaffirmed a critical lesson I’m learning: It’s the little things that matter. A smile, a friendly wave, a word of encouragement, a shoulder to cry on, a friend to laugh with and pray with – that’s what really matters in life.
It feels so good, not just to be on the receiving end, but especially, to give these gifts to others. A friendly smile requires little energy. A word of encouragement demands little of me. But the results of giving and receiving those gifts can last a lifetime.
The Internet offers some wonderful Christian groups for all
those touched by adoption.
Another division of this program is their care packages. “We collect items and send care packages to mentees about 2-3 weeks after placement. We include things such as a journal, an inspirational book, bookmark, picture frame, candle, bath stuff, photo album and more,” says Coley.
For more articles about adoption, please visit www.laurachristianson.com or my Christian Adoption Blog.
As a followup to the 5-part series on closed adoption that I posted this
week at my Christian Adoption
blog, I'm overviewing one of my favorite adoption books, Telling
the Truth to Your Adopted or Foster Child: Making Sense of the Past, by
Betsy Keefer and Jayne Schooler.
Here's what I'll be posting during the next four days:
For more articles on adoption, please visit www.laurachristianson.com.
