Adoption News

A great adoption resource, Adoptive Families Magazine, has announced their second annual photo contest. The contest is searching for the best photographs adoptive parents have snapped of their kids simply being the fun and adorable kids they are! The pictures that win the photo contest will be published in the November/December 2007 issue of the Adoptive Families Magazine or on the Adoptive Families website.

World Vision, a well-known Christian humanitarian organization, has been deeply involved in working with the AIDS crisis since 1990. Their involvement began by creating a program to help children orphaned by AIDS in Rakai, Uganda. Currently, World Vision is in more than 60 countries operating compassionate and effective AIDS prevention and care programs.
AIDS is the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time. Entire generations of children have been orphaned due to AIDS.

Due to concerns about the Guatemalan adoption process the United States government is choosing to apply a high level of scrutiny to intercountry adoption cases between Guatemala and the United States. Currently, the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala requires one DNA match between the prospective adoptive child and the relinquishing parent.

The Center for Disease Control has issued an official CDC Health Advisory regarding reports of hepatitis A in children and adults linked to adoptees in Ethiopia. Traveling families are highly encouraged to consult with their health care provider at least 4-6 weeks prior to travel to determine what immunizations and medications may be in order. The CDC recommends

Congratulations to the adoption agencies that have worked to receive accreditation from Russia! As of last week, Russia granted accreditation to several United States based adoption agencies. These agencies may begin submitting dossiers and continuing with adoptions through Russia.

On July 30, 2007 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will be raising the fee for petitions and applications. The new fee schedule will affect all applications and petitions that are postmarked or otherwise filed on or after July 30, 2007. The new fee schedule was announced last month.
The forms I-600 (Orphan Petition) and 600A(Advanced Processing for Orphan Petition) will be the following:

The Dave Thomas Foundation has a signature program called “The Adoption-Friendly Workplace”. This program celebrates employers who offer adoption benefit to their employees.
The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption has listed the Top 100 Adoption-Friendly workplaces in the United States.

Fraud Warning: If you receive an email from a person claiming to be the parent of a child that they would like for you to adopt please be on alert. This type of activity is fraudulent. We advise you to report the sender to your local FBI and DO NOT send money to the sender!

If you are an adoptive parent traveling to Guatemala during the week of July 2- July 7 please be aware that the Central Adoption Authority in the United States has issued a notice regarding lodging.

On May 22, 2007 the U.S. Central Authority Department of State announced that the Congress of Guatemala has passed legislation that confirms the country’s membership into the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption. Guatemala is now committed to creating standards that will protect children during the adoption process.