America World Adoption News

Adoption from the Inside Out

Empowered to Connect is a great website resource for adoptive families. Recently they posted an audio presentation entitled “Adoption from the Inside Out”. This presentation is focused at adoptive and foster parents and encourages parents to assess their pasts as well as looking forward to assess their motivations and expectations towards the adoption or foster process. In doing this parents can learn to be “fully present” with their child(ren) and enable healing and growth in their family.

To listen to the presentation please click here. You can also follow along with the slides and handouts for this presentation.

Expense Receipts for Adoptions Completed in 2010

America World’s finance department is currently working on receipts for families whose adoptions were finalized in 2010. These receipts will include an itemized list of all payments made to AWAA throughout the course of the adoption process.  Families who completed their adoptions in 2010 and who have not yet received their itemized expense receipts, will receive them by the end of January.

Invitation to AWAA Corporate Office

Families are  invited to visit the AWAA corporate office during our regular business hours. Our office located in McLean, Virginia within the Washington D.C. area. We welcome families to come and see our office and meet our staff. Prospective families can call our office and set up a visit with staff in the program they would like to consider. Current clients may call or email their Family Coordinator and set up a meeting to discuss paperwork, the adoption process, or to hand deliver their dossier or other documents.

Previous clients are always welcome to call and set up a visit with their Family Coordinator or other staff they worked with during their process. Many local families stop by after their adoption to introduce  their children to our staff. Families who visit the D.C. area for vacation or who may be traveling through the area, often stop in as well. We welcome families to visit us and  hope to see many of you in the future.

Oregon Family Reunion 2010

The Northwest is truly the most beautiful part of the country during the summer.  What was even more beautiful was the day AWAA-OR and WA held their annual Summer Reunion Picnic.  There is nothing better than seeing a large group of children from around the world come together and play.  It was the sight of answered prayers, years of waiting, and happy hearts.  While I helped most of these families come together, there were families present whose adoption was completed years ago.  Everyone just wanted to be a part of the group as a whole. 

This past August, we had 21 families and I lost count at the number of children.  Families came from as far north as Seattle, Washington (3.5 hours away) and as far south as Klamath Falls, Oregon (5 hours away).  I was able to connect several families with each other and many email addresses were exchanged.  Waiting families heard stories of success from families whose adoptions were completed, and finalized family had fun sharing their in country experiences.  Some families got the “adoption bug” again and I hope to see their applications soon.

The Northwest is now home to four Rwandan boys (3 in WA and 1 in OR) and they were playing together like crazy.  All the moms got together and they are doing a clothes swap for sizes and such so some of the little clothes could be worn by multiple Rwandan boys. The whole picnic group prayed for the Rwandan program and what the future holds for adoptions in that country.

Rwandan Fundraiser “Amazi” in Portland, Oregon

“If we can travel the world to bring our sons home…why can’t we plan a fundraiser!?!”  What started out as an idea for a simple dinner party turned into a full fledge evening fundraiser with over 100 guests.

The Harris family of Oregon and the Richardson family of Washington adopted their sons from Rwanda in May 2009.  They were families 4 and 5 to adopt out of Rwanda that year.  Their time in Rwanda changed their lives, not only because their families grew but because they experienced its beauty and wept for its loss.  “The hills are a stunning manifestation of God’s Creation, and the Rwandan people are truly an inspiration.  They have overcome so much tragedy with such dignity”.  These two families felt honored to have any opportunity to give back to their sons’ birth country.

What they gave back was “Amazi”.  Amazi is not just a water filtration system but a drilled water well that will provide clean water to approximately 1000 people (most of which are orphans).  Through a non-profit, Water For Life, they decided to raise funds to provide clean water for Rwanda.  With Water for Life they began working with 4-more.org where their water project would benefit the Ntarama area in Rwanda.  This area was heavily hit by the genocide.  Their water would benefit an orphan village, a medical clinic, and a maternity center.  More importantly, it was explained that because water is “sustainable giving” it means the water would be a commodity for this village.  The orphans will be able to sell their water for income. What a beautiful gift to give.

Shortly before the event they received information that a private  foundation would match dollar for dollar any donation up to $10,000.  This gave them high hopes that they would be able to fully  fund their Amazi Project with a cost of approximately $25,000.

They received donations for around Oregon and Washington to auction off.  They also had others bring back beautiful items from Rwanda such as baskets, art, and musical instruments.  They received a donation from a local primary school where the children voted to raise money for their water project. They had a Rwandan native, Enric Sifa , who is now a professional musician provide music and share his story of living through the genocide.  All together it was a beautiful evening; an evening blessed by our Heavenly Father.

By the Grace of God and the hard work of Kelly and Mandy, the Amazi Project raised $15,550.00 at their event.  With the $10,000 match they can pay for the project that they dreamed up, solely on their own.  What started as an idea has now created a way for orphans in Rwanda to walk out their home to gather clean water instead of traveling many kilometers for dirty water.

As the Harris and Richardson families wait for their daughters to come home(their dossiers are in Rwanda for adoption #2), they feel this is the best way to help the people of Rwanda while in the US.  If you would like more information about the Amazi Project you can go to www.4-more.org.  There is a video of the actual village that will receive this gift.  You can also still donate if you feel called to help.  There are several things that Water For  Life can do to make this Project better with additional funds.
It was a gift to get to be a part of the evening, and I am thankful to call these two families- AWAA Families.

Blessings,
Briana Currey
Director of WA and OR

USCIS I600 Processing Changes

Beginning July 1, 2010 all extensions and grandfathered cases of the I600A/I600 cases will be processed by NBC (National Benefits Center) instead of the local field offices. These changes are now reflected on the USCIS website.  The local (state) USCIS offices will be mailing all I6000 cases to NBC and will mail letters to families explaining the new process.

Families filing extensions without a fee can mail their application/documents directly to NBC at the following address:

NBC
Attn: Adoptions
PO Box 8025
Lee’s Summit, Missouri 64002

Families filing an extension with a fee must mail their documents/application to the lockbox location for processing.

If using U.S. Postal Service:
PO Box 660087
Dallas, TX 75266

If using Courier services (UPS, FedEx, etc.):
ATTN: Hague
2501 S. State Highway 121 Business, Suite 400
Lewisville, TX 75067

Families with questions on this process should call or email (NBC) USCIS. The contact information is as follows:

Phone Number: 877-424-8374
Email: NBC.Adoptions@DHS.gov

USCIS National Children’s Art Project

Now that school is out, looking for a fun project for your kids this summer?  The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has commissioned an art project for children ages 5 through 12 across the country, which will depict interpretations of the theme, "We Are America."  The project asks children to draw pictures that answer the question, "People have come from all over the world to become Americans.  Why does that make us great?"

All adopted children have a very special story behind how they became a U.S. citizen.  This project could be a great opportunity for them to reflect on both their heritage, and the future they have as part of a new family and new country. 

Full details on this project here: USCIS National Children’s Art Project. 

This project is open to all children, adopted or biological.  If you decide to participate, send us your submissions at blog@awaa.org in addition to the USCIS, and we will feature some of the artwork and short essays!

“Beyond Culture”- A Parent’s Guide to Promoting Healthy Identity in Adoption

America World would like to encourage all adoptive families to take part in Adoption Learning Partner’s Training Camp entitled “Beyond Culture”.  This will be a beneficial training course for both parents who have already adopted as well as parents who will be adopting. Although the registration for the live version of this training is already closed, families can sign up to be emailed the recorded version which will be released on June 29th.

Adoptive parents will not want to miss this webinar featuring a first of its kind study, Beyond Culture Camp: Promoting Healthy Identity Formation in Adoption.  More than 450 adult adoptees were surveyed to better understand the complex and inter-related impacts of being adopted and being raised by parents of a different ethnicity.  Respondents reflected back on their childhood, adolescence and adulthood, giving powerful insights as to what helped them gain a positive sense of self and what hindered that development.  
 
Adam Pertman, Executive Director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, will review key findings from the study, ending with practical recommendations for adoptive parents on how to promote a healthy sense of self in their transracially adopted children.  Following this review, webinar participants will get a unique chance to hear from transracially adopted adult adoptees, Tara Leaman and Aaron Stigger.  Tara and Aaron will give their personal perspectives on this topic as well as field as many questions from the audience as time allows.

Families can find complete registration details for this webinar by clicking the following link: http://www.adoptionlearningpartners.org/beyond_culture_camp_webinar_parents.cfm

AWAA Africa Family Reunion

Branson, MO
Labor Day weekend

We are thrilled to announce that 25 families attended the 1st annual AWAA Africa Family Reunion in Branson, MO over the Labor Day weekend!  What an incredible time of fellowship and celebrating together the miracle of adoption!  We started off the event with a special Meet & Greet at Payne Stewart Country Club.  Watching children reuniting with their friends from several Ethiopian orphanages and Transitional Home was a remarkable testimony of God's love and faithfulness.
We spent the weekend exploring the Ozarks... brunch, park fun, Branson show and a day at Silver Dollar City riding rides and connecting with new friends.

 

My personal highlight was holding again several of the children that had been waiting in Ethiopia for their new families.  At the time, they did not understand they were part of a big miracle God was preparing.  They are now home thriving, bonding, growing and loving their forever family.  Adoption is a gift from God!

We passed the reunion torch to the AWAA Nashville, TN families.  See you next year!!

Blessings,
Kari Gibson, Kelly Blackwell & Kim Gillman- Missouri hosts

Rwanda Family Home!

America World is proud to welcome home our latest Rwandan adoption!  One of America World’s families was in the process of adopting from China and decided to concurrently adopt from Rwanda because the China wait was so long.  Ten months later, they were the proud parents of a beautiful little girl!  Please keep our Rwanda Program in your prayers.