A law that has been promoted by Uruguay's gay rights groups may not actually allow same-sex couples to adopt. According to a Sept. 15 article by Associated Press writer Raul O. Garces, thelaw -- which is currently awaiting President Tabare Vazquez's signature --does not directly address the rights of gay or lesbian couples:

[G]ay rights groups have been celebrating the prospect that Uruguay could become the first country in Latin America to give gay and lesbian couples the opportunity to adopt.

But nowhere in the law does it specifically say that homosexual couples have a right to adopt. And in some places, it suggests otherwise - for example by specifying how the child should take a mother and father's surnames.

Lawyers, judges and even the law's own authors now have doubts about how the law will be applied.

Though many are questioning the ability of the law to provide for same-sex adoption, the bill's author said that it will accomplish just that, Garces reported:

Deputy Margarita Percovich, who wrote the law, acknowledged that it doesn't directly mention same-sex adoptions, but said it would enable them because gays and lesbians already can legally form civil unions, and "the law enables couples in civil unions to adopt children without impediment."

Labels: international, same-sex couples

Montana's Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Department of Human Resources Development (CSKT DHRD) is hosting a training session for foster parents, adoptive parents and kinship caregivers September 24 at the KwaTaqNuk Resort.

The topic of the training is therapeutic parenting, and the session will be led by author and licensed clinical professional counselor Kate Cremer-Vogel. A Sept. 17 article by Lailani Upham of the Char-Koosta News provided the following information about the training:

Vogel wrote What Every Adoptive Parent Needs to Know: Healing Your Childs Wounded Heart, a compelling real-life story of a family struggling to overcome the effects of early abandonment and neglect on their adopted children. The book addresses essential therapeutic keys that ultimately brought the family hope and healing. Ms. Cremer-Vogel uses an empathic approach to help parents bond deeper with their adopted/foster child. Cremer-Vogel believes the primary parent and child relationship is vital to the childs development and complete brain growth. In her training she teaches relational therapy to lead the parent and child into a more meaningful connection and understanding, deepening their mutual trust. The parenting training is offered to foster parents but open to all parents, social workers and child care providers and teachers that would like to gain more understanding and learn how to effectively reach children.

For more information call CSKT Foster Care Licensor Shaunda Albert at (406) 675-2700, extension 1087.

Labels: foster_families, foster_care, education, recruitment, montana

Elton John has experienced a setback in his efforts to adopt an HIV-positive youngster from Ukraine. According to a Sept. 14 article in the British newspaper The Sun, Ukranian officials have cited the singer's age and sexual orientation as reasons for denying the adoption:

Elton John faces a legal battle over his dream to adopt a Ukrainian tot -- because the country bans gay couples from doing so.

The superstar [age 62] and partner David Furnish, 46, are also deemed too old under national laws.

Their only hope would be a presidential dispensation to take home 14-month-old Lev - after 62-year-old Elton declared at the weekend: "He has stolen my heart."

It was also revealed that if Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko were to grant their wish the pair would have to adopt Lev's brother as well. He too is in care -- and Ukrainian law states siblings must be adopted together.

Labels: international, same-sex couples

According to a Sept. 14 press release, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded $35 million in grant funds to 38 states and Puerto Rico for the purpose of increasing the adoption of children who are currently living with foster families:

The states that receive the funds will use the federal money to support programs that promote the adoption of abused and neglected children, the release reported:

"Adopting a child from foster care is a wonderful way to enrich any family`s life," said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. "We congratulate the states that performed so well this year and we thank the parents who are providing loving and permanent homes."

The Adoption Incentives program was created as part of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997. The original program authorized incentive funds to states that increased the number of children adopted from foster care.

In order to get payments, states had to increase the number of children adopted relative to baseline data.

Labels: foster_care, financial_assistance

The good news: A new reality show will explore the world of adoption.

The better news: The New York Times reports that the new series does not focus on "the freak factor prevalent in so much reality television concerned with domestic life."

In addition to celebrating the lack of lowbrow moments in the upcoming "Adoption Diaries," Times reviewer Ginia Belafonte also offers the following insights:

Each week the series chronicles a different couple who have suffered through multiple miscarriages or failed attempts at in-vitro fertilization, ultimately deciding to pursue open adoption. ...

Prospective parents delineate their sorrows, and the expectant women struggle with their ambivalence, even though the open process means they will be allowed a place in their childrens lives. ...

Adoption Diaries focuses on adoptions in the United States, mercifully ignoring any documentation of the famous people traveling to Ethiopia to acquire babies and toddlers later to be made into photo opportunities.

"Adoption Diaries" is scheduled to air Saturdays at 10 p.m. on WE.

Labels: television

A woman from Sioux Falls, South Dakota is accused of taking money from two different adoption agencies that found parents for her unborn child, then backing out of the adoptions. A Sept. 13 Associated Press article provided the following details:

• Documents filed in U.S. District Court say [Melisa] Bergstedt contacted About U Adoptions in Milbank in November and offered her unborn baby for adoption exclusively through that agency.
  
• A few days later, she made the same offer to An Act of Love adoption agency in Boston.
• According to court documents, Bergstedt received nearly $1,500 from the agencies; money that was supposed to be used for pregnancy expenses. She has been charged with mail fraud.

Labels: laws, adoption fraud

He's back in the minors now, but former major leaguer Shawn Chacon (a 2003 All-Star), credits his adoptive parents with giving him the opportunity to achieve his dreams -- and the ability to deal with the setbacks that often accompany the life of a professional athlete.

Chacon's adoption experience was part of an Aug. 30 feature by John Schumacher of the Sacramento Bee:

After his biological mother gave him up for adoption when he was 4, Chacon, who was born in Anchorage, Alaska, spent a year in the foster care system before being adopted by a Colorado couple.

The 31-year-old right-hander credits his adoptive parents with quickly recognizing his baseball talent, which has taken him on a roller-coaster ride through the major leagues. ...

He said he never met his biological father and lived with his single mother until he was put in the foster system.

"I don't look back and try to research or ask my biological parents why," the baseball star told the Bee. "If I hadn't been adopted, I don't know where I would have ended up."

Labels: adoptive_parents

The South African Minister of Social Development is encouraging people to consider adoption. As the number of children orphaned by AIDS continues to increase, the need for loving, permanent homes increases, too.

The website of South Africa's Bush Radio 89.5 provided the following details about the minister's adoption appeal:

• KwaZulu Natal, Eastern Cape and Gauteng have the largest number of vulnerable children and with an estimated 1.5 million orphans in South Africa
• The number of vulnerable children is expected to reach two million by 2010.
• Minister of Social Development Edna Molewa said that the economic downturn has resulted in dramatic increases in cases of child abandonment, with the majority of children becoming vulnerable to poverty.

A general lack of information, combined with lengthy court proceedings, has led to a decrease in adoption, the radio station's website reported. As of July, 2009, more than 500,000 South African children were living in foster care.

Labels: international, foster_care

When the Harrisburg Senators hit the field for their Sept. 3 season finale, team members were joined by a special group of young people: foster children in search of permanent adoptive placements.

A Sept. 3 article by Fox43 producer Jason Cowdell provided the following details about the Senators' efforts to call attention to the need for adoptive parents:

About 20 kids teamed up with the baseball players, who would play for them, and one child threw out the ceremonial first pitch of the game. The event is designed to bring awareness of child adoption in the state. Michelle Lobaugh, of Aspers, Adams County, adopted a child. She says its nice to have events like these to help children.

The event was hosted by Diakon Adoption and Foster Care.

Labels: adoptive parents, foster_care

A tribal Indian who was adopted by a white family when she was two, Susan Harness felt compelled to explore her experience. The result of this feeling was a masters thesis titled "Mixing Cultural Identities Through Transracial Adoption: Outcomes of the Indian Adoption Project."

In a review that was posted on the website of Mellen Press, Prof Fiona Nicoll of the University of Queensland (Australia) described Harness' thesis in the following terms:

In this rigorously researched and lucidly written book, Susan Harness addresses issues of historical and contemporary importance and scope.

Unlike existing psychological and sociological studies which have often approached the subjects of trans-racial adoption as victims of various pathologies, this is a pioneering cultural anthropological study of how American Indian adoptees negotiate complex issues of belonging and exclusion.

Harness's thesis is available in book form from Mellen Press.

Labels: cultures

The British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF) has announced that it will be hosting "adoption parties" in an effort to connect would-be adoptive parents with children from traditionally hard-to-place demographic groups.

Amelia Hill of The Guardian reported on the controversial effort in an Aug. 30 article:

The agency hopes that the controversial events will increase the chances of finding homes for young people repeatedly passed over by potential adoptive parents, such as those aged over five, sibling groups, children of black and minority ethnic origin, and those with mental and physical disabilities.

"This is not just about putting some jelly and ice-cream in a parish hall and inviting everyone along," [said Mo O'Reilly, director of child placement for the BAAF]. "We are going to hold these parties professionally and in the best way that we know how, and we are pretty optimistic that these parties could be a success."

About 10 families and 20 children will be invited to each event, which will take the form of a children's party, hosted in community centres by the prospective parents themselves, who will organise group games and one-to-one activities.

There will be no prior matching between children and adults, but the families invited will have expressed interest in the "type" of children present. The BAAF hopes that at least two children will find a new family at each event.

Sue Cotton, who heads the British charity Action for Children, told The Guardian that she was concerned about the effect that the parties will have on children who attend but do not end up being adopted. However, she did acknowledge that new ideas are needed in the effort to place more children in adoptive homes.

"Children who know that families are being sought for them will always risk feeling rejection, but meeting the adults at the party will make the letdown even stronger," she said. "We can't welcome this idea because we don't know the effect on the children. But it is clear that staying as we are is not an option."

Labels: international, hard-to-place youth

As the recession continues, and job losses and pay cuts loom on the horizon, some families are unable to raise the money needed for adoption, while others are thinking harder about placing their children for adoption.

An Aug. 31 article by Amy Flowers Umble of Virginia's Freelance Star newspaper provided the following details:

A June FindLaw study reported that six percent of potential adoptive parents in the United States have delayed adoption because of the recession. ...

Raising a child costs quite a bit -- the average parents spend $200,000 per child from birth through high school.

"'Unfortunate' doesn't even begin to describe it," said Adam Pertman, director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute in Boston. "It's heartbreaking to think that people could be placing their children because they lost jobs."

The decreased number of would-be adoptive parents hasn't impacted the likelihood that American children will be adopted, the Freelance Star reported, as the demand for U.S.-born children still outpaces the number of children who are available for adoption.

Labels: adoption_costs, economy