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I'm heading to the Mount Hermon (CA) Christian Writers' Conference for a week of hobnobbing with my writing buddies.
I'll be teaching two workshops:
Boggled By Blogging: Weblog Basics for Novices and Non-Techies
Meet the Press: Cooking up a Delectable Press Release
I'm testing out a new feature on my blog -- audio comments! Give me a jingle and leave your voice comments. Just click on the button below, call 1(641) 985-7878 and enter *369-8796.
Because Angelina Jolie’s latest adoption has received so much media attention, people naturally wonder whether the adoption was fast-tracked.
Nope, says Angelina and her adoption agency.
Heidi Gonzalez, coordinator of the Vietnam program at Adoptions From the Heart, a private, non-profit, non-sectarian agency located in Wynnewood, PA,
says that Jolie proceeded through the adoption process in the same time-frame as other applicants.
The Vietnam government, however, decided to fast-track the paperwork when Jolie was in Vietnam because the press was so aggressive that they feared for the child’s safety. “They just felt that the faster she got out of there, the better for everyone,” said Gonzalez in an interview with KYW newsradio.
Source:
KYW Newsradio, “Angelina Jolie Used Local Adoption Agency,” by Suzanne Monaghan
For more news and information about adoption, visit www.laurachristianson.com, and
check out my Exploring
Adoption bookstore.
Today’s Ministry Monday features His Heart For Orphans Adoption Ministry at Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In this post, you’ll find key information about the ministry and an interview with founder, Aimeé Poché.
Mission: “Embracing orphans around the world with His hands, His words, His love, His heart.”
Description: “His Heart for Orphans” Adoption Ministry connects families to adoption resources, supports couples who want to adopt or are going through the domestic or international adoption process, and teaches the biblical perspective on adoption.
Resources: Adoption Workshops, Adoption Support Group, and eNewsletters. Provides financial grants to qualified couples to help with the costs of adoption.
Fun Facts: We have recently added a Scrapbook Corner to give couples who have adopted ideas about documenting their adoption journey in a life book. We also help other churches start their own orphan/adoption ministries.
“His Heart for Orphans” Adoption Ministry does not operate as an adoption agency.
Laura Christianson: What inspired you and your husband Tommy to start an adoption ministry in your church?
Aimeé Poché: Four years into our marriage, Tommy and I found out that we had both wanted to adopt when we were younger. So adoption had been on our hearts, individually, for a very long time. However, when we got married we never mentioned adoption until we experienced five years of infertility.
After stopping fertility treatments and trusting God to multiply our family, we adopted our first son about a year later—with no adoption support. We adopted our first daughter two months after that, again, with no adoption support. During that time, we really needed and wanted to be around and talk to couples who had adopted. We had so many questions and concerns.
One Sunday after church Tommy and I and our two children were walking down our church hall along with one of our pastors. He nonchalantly looked at us and said, “Y’all should start an orphan adoption ministry.” Period. Nothing else came out of his mouth.
My heart started beating faster and my mind started thinking in a hundred different directions. I researched orphan adoption ministries in churches on the internet and I could not find one! I could not believe it.
However, I did come across Shaohannah's Hope and contacted Scott Hasenbalg. I poured my heart out to Scott and told him my desire to start an orphan adoption ministry. He immediately gave me Paul Pennington’s number (director of FamilyLife’s Hope for Orphans) and told me to call him. Paul was excited because God had laid on their heart to start equipping local churches to start orphan adoption ministries.
Paul suggested we attend the next If You Were Mine adoption seminar because they were going to have a breakout session about starting an orphan adoption ministry at your church. In November, 2003, Tommy and I went and absorbed everything Paul and the others told us to do. After the conference, Tommy and I made a portfolio about starting an orphan adoption ministry, set up a meeting with our pastors, and were immediately embraced and supported by our church.
LC: What have you learned during your four years of adoption ministry?
AP: Not everybody is going to want to adopt. This was a shock to me in the beginning. I assumed that after I poured my heart out to our church that they would be overjoyed, excited, and come running to us to find out how to adopt immediately. Wrong!
We found out that people were just not informed about adoption, nor were they aware of the great need for adoption. Many, many people believe adoption is way too expensive.
LC: What advice would you give to someone considering starting an adoption ministry?
AP: Try not to get disappointed or discouraged when the whole church does not share your enthusiasm about adoption or come running forward to adopt. This is not a ministry that will bring in bunches of people, and that should not be the focus.
Not everybody needs to adopt. Adoption is a calling, not a command. I find this way of thinking releases people to fully pray and ask God if He is calling them to adopt.
LC: What should the focus of an adoption ministry be, in your opinion?
AP: Our ministry’s focus is on getting children out of orphanages and into loving Christian homes so they can have a family to call their own, a hope and a future.
We first focused on adoption awareness, getting the word “adoption” in front of our church family, being available to couples who are thinking about adoption, supporting couples who are going through the adoption process or who have adopted. Through perseverance and prayer, we have seen couples adopt that probably would not have adopted without having the support and information this ministry has provided for them.
LC: Other than attending FamilyLife’s If You Were Mine adoption seminar, did you and Tommy have any special training for staring an adoption ministry?
AP: You do not have to be a pastor or member of a church staff to start an orphan adoption ministry. Tommy and I are just plain old “pew people.” God laid a desire on our heart and we accepted the call.
I get many e-mails from people who have a desire to start an orphan adoption ministry but tell me they do not have a degree or that they are just a “stay-at-home mom.”
I tell them: You do not need a degree to start this kind of ministry. What you do need is a willing heart and the courage to do it! God loves doing extraordinary things through ordinary people!
For more information about His Heart for Orphans, contact Tommy and/or Aimeé Poché at ephesians1five@cox.net. www.healingplacechurch.org, Keyword: adoption
Check out the new "His Heart for Orphans" blog: www.HisHeartForOrphans.blogspot.com.
This article is permanently archived in The Adoption Support Center at www.laurachristianson.com.
Tell us about your adoption ministry! E-mail details to Laura Christianson.
Check out my Exploring Adoption bookstore.
It’s Research Paper Season. High school and college students everywhere are emerging from their winter stupor and realizing that they have to get a really, really good grade on their final research paper in order to pass their English/Social Studies/Sociology/Journalism/Health class.
They are converging on my blog in droves, asking some variation of the following question:
I'm doing a project on the pros and cons of adoption. Can you help me?
OK students, here’s the deal. In my former life, I was a high school English/journalism teacher. So I know every trick in the book that students use to weasel out of doing their own research and convince some poor, hapless blogger to do it for them.
I will not write your paper for you! My blog has this amazing little invention on it called a search engine (check the righthand sidebar). You’ll notice that the term “adoption pros and cons” is printed in great big letters in the Search engine since so many people search for that term. Click on that term and you’ll be magically transported to a page that lists all kinds of articles that explain the pros and cons of adoption.
You can then read those articles, take notes on your handy dandy note cards and insert those notes directly into your report (summarize your findings in your own words, of course; do not plagiarize or I will hunt you down and hang you from your classroom ceiling by your toes).
“But…but…but…”
No buts. JUST DO IT!
Two final helpful hints:
Because I love you so much, students, I’ve grouped all my articles about the pros and cons of adoption on my Web site, in one central location.
You’ll find:
Here’s a sample bibliography entry that I give you permission to copy and use:
Christianson, Laura. “The Pros and Cons of Open Adoption,” www.laurachristianson.com/
Best of luck on your papers and projects, students!
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: To look after orphans…in their distress…”
-James 1:27 (NIV)
Colorado’s Project 1.27 is a faith-based program in which churches and counties work together to find permanent homes for the 800+ Colorado children who are legally free for adoption.
This unique ministry, which partners with several Colorado churches, is designed to motivate Christians and churches to adopt in their local communities.
Impetus for the ministry originated with Pastor Robert Gelinas of Colorado Community Church in Aurora. An adoptive dad, Pastor Gelinas spurred members of his congregation to adopt from foster care. He met with state officials, who became excited about the possibilities of the church and government working together to make a difference with kids.
Chris Padbury, Executive Director of Project 1.27 (and an adoptive dad of five), overviewed the project’s multi-faceted mission:
One of Padbury’s top priorities is to “recruit pastors to catch the vision” for adoption ministry. Project 1.27 supports each new adoption ministry and provides churches with resources to help them launch their ministry.
“A church in town asked us to partner with them,” said Padbury. “They told us that they were planning to preach a sermon on adoption and they invited the state director of Human Services and me.”
During the service, the pastor explained God’s calling for us to adopt. The director of Human Services explained the need for Colorado families to adopt from foster care. And Padbury explained how it was possible for families to adopt.
“That church started an adoption ministry, and they have a regular attendance of 20-to-30 pre-adoptive and adoptive parents. That ministry was non-existent until they had the call from the pulpit.”
In addition to partnering with churches, Project 1.27 also partners with businesses, who donate equipment, cater events, offer their employees volunteer opportunities, and provide matching financial gifts, auction items, and employee adoption benefits.
120,000 children in U.S. foster care are legally free for adoption. For many of these children, the State serves as a pseudo-parent for years, until they age our of foster care. It’s estimated that 60 percent of the children who age out of foster care become homeless or end up in prison; 70 percent of the prison population has spent time in foster care.
The state of Colorado spends $30,000-$70,000 every year to support each child in the foster care system. Project 1.27, on the other hand, spends a one-time $5,000 to help place a child in an adoptive family.
As of March 8, 2007, Project 1.27 has helped place 46 children (20 of those adoptions are finalized). Five churches formally partner with Project 1.27, and the 162 families involved with the project attend 73 different churches.
Wouldn’t it be fantastic if Christians living in every U.S. state and every Canadian province caught the vision of Project 1.27?
To learn more about Project 1.27, to request a DVD about the ministry (suggested donation $15) or to financially support the non-profit ministry, visit www.Project127.com.
Contact:
2220 S. Chambers Road
Aurora, CO 80014
303-256-1225
info@project127.com
Tell the world about your adoption ministry! Click here for details on how to submit information about your ministry.
A permanent copy of this article is archived in the Adoption Resource Center at www.laurachristianson.com.
Related Posts:
Colorado Opens Post-Adoption Resource Center
For a great selection of adoption books, check out my Exploring Adoption bookstore.
This week I finally got around to joining Shoutlife, a new social networking site for Christians. It's a faith-based version of MySpace, I've been told.
Shoutlife is good marketing tool for authors/writers, music groups/solo artists, and people in general who want to interact with one another.
It's pretty much a no-brainer to join. You just create your profile, pop a photo of yourself in your profile (beware; it posts a GIGANTIC photo), and begin making "friends." You can browse others' profiles and invite like-minded people to be your "friend." You'll also receive many requests from others to be a "friend."
Once you have some friends (and believe me, you'll get a bunch of them the day you join), you can post comments on their profile page, e-mail them via their Shoutlife e-mail, or comment on their blog posts.
Shoutlife gives you a free blog. My Shoutlife blog is my "random thoughts" blog, because I post whatever random thoughts occur to me (rather than mainly sticking with adoption-related themes, as I do here).
Shoutlife also allows you to subscribe to a wide range of discussion groups (there are several adoption groups) and to post bulletins about upcoming events you're involved with.
There's lots to see and do at Shoutlife. Stop by and say hello!
For more news and information about adoption, visit www.laurachristianson.com, and check out my Exploring Adoption bookstore.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released a report, “Adjustment of the Immigration and Naturalization Benefit Application and Petition Fee Schedule,” which outlines some fee changes related to adoption:
I-600A fees will increase from $545 to $670 (page 100)
Form I-600. For filing a petition to classify an orphan as an immediate relative for
issuance of an immigrant visa under section 204(a) of the Act. (When more than one
petition is submitted by the same petitioner on behalf of orphans who are brothers or
sisters, only one fee will be required.)--$670.Form I-600A. For filing an application for advance processing of orphan petition.
(When more than one petition is submitted by the same petitioner on behalf of orphans
who are brothers or sisters, only one fee will be required.)--$670.
I-600A average processing time is 3.39 months (page21)
I-600A average completion rate time is 1.53 hours (this figure reflects only time spent actually working on petition) (page 78)
Biometric fees (digital fingerprinting) to be increased from $70/person to $80/person (page 84)
29,500 I-600A applications were filed in 2006.
This figure is expected to increase to about 29,601 by Fiscal Year 2008/2009 (page 66)
For more news and information about adoption,
visit www.laurachristianson.com,
and check out my Exploring
Adoption bookstore
Angelina Jolie officially adopted her new son, 3-year-old Pax Thien Jolie, yesterday in Vietnam.
The boy's name means “Peaceful Sky.” Pax is Latin for peaceful and Thien means sky in Vietnamese.
Angelina will remain in Vietnam for a week until Pax’s American passport is processed.
Vietnamese law prohibits unmarried couples from adopting, so Angelina is adopting Pax. It’s speculated that Brad Pitt will later adopt the boy. Pax joins brother Maddox (5, adopted from Cambodia), sister Zahara (2, adopted from Ethiopia), and sister Shiloh, born to Angelina and Brad in May 2006.
More on the Brangelina Adoption
For more adoption information, visit www.laurachristianson.com or my Exploring Adoption Bookstore.
I got this link from Pattie and thought it would be a fun way to end the workweek:
Look at the list of books
below:
* Bold the ones you’ve read
* Italicize the ones you want to read
* Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in.
If you are reading this: tag; you’re it! Post this on your blog and link back to me.
1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding) I’ve seen the movie. Doe that count?
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)
My favorite five (in no particular order):
What are your favorites?
What books from the list do you recommend I read?
A growing concern among adoptive parents (and those who plan to adopt) is how to deal with the difficult issues that may accompany adopting a “damaged” child.
Just this week, I’ve had several conversations with people who are grief-stricken, angry, and at a loss as to what to do when the older child they adopted (either from foster care or internationally) begins acting out the same abuses he/she received. Most frequently, I hear about an adopted child sexually “grooming” or abusing siblings and/or being sexually aggressive toward parents of the opposite sex.
Some therapists recommend dissolving the adoption (returning the child to foster care or finding a new adoptive home for him/her) when these behaviors occur. I’ve heard of several instances in which parents discover they are unable to cope with the behaviors (or their other children are in danger because of the behaviors) and a new family who is specially trained to deal with these particular challenges is found.
Most adoptive parents find the thought of dissolving an adoption appalling, especially after they’ve put so much effort into bringing the child into their family. A huge amount of guilt accompanies the decision to dissolve an adoption. Parents feel guilty that they were unable to cope with the challenges and they grieve for their child, feeling that yet another person has failed the child.
When an adoption is dissolved, parents receive conflicting opinions from those around them. Some accuse them, saying that they made the decision to adopt so they should put up with what they get, no matter what. Others assure them they did the right thing. It’s a gray area of adoption, to be sure.
Let’s discuss this important topic, folks. I invite those of you who have lived through extremely difficult situations to share your views.
If you want to remain anonymous, please e-mail me and I’ll post your comment without your e-mail address attached.
For more news and information about adoption, visit www.laurachristianson.com, and check out my Exploring Adoption bookstore.
