Category: Adoption

Adoption Could Be In Kristin Chenoweth’s Future

The beginning of this month, CCAI awarded Kristin Chenoweth as a 2010 National Angel in Adoption for her work enriching the lives of children in need of families.  Earlier this year, Kristin partnered with the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, and to announce the partnership, Kristin spent time with a group of foster youth and took them to her Broadway theater.

Kristin has also appeared on various news outlets to raise awareness about adoption.  This summer she told FOX News, “I have been blessed with great parents, and they gave me such a great life.”   Ultimately, it is only through raising public awareness about the need for adoption and joys of adoption that children will finally have their dream of a family realized.

People Magazine recently included a story about her on their celebrity blog.  When People asked her if she would take in a foster child herself, Kristin shared, “I could easily be that person.”

Her work as a national adoption advocate continues as she prepares for the launch of a shoe she designed for shoedazzle.com.  The shoe will be available next month during National Adoption Month, and proceeds will go to benefit children and youth in foster care waiting to be adopted.

You know what I love…that’s right, my hair!

Sesame Street is giving women of all ages and races a reason to put away the extensions, curling irons, hot combs, and chemicals in order to embrace their natural hair. The new skit features a young African-American puppet who is stylishly wearing an afro. With pride, enthusiasm, and confidence she sings “I Love My Hair!”

ABC News highlighted the song during an interview with the show’s Head Writer, Joey Mazzarino after the October 4th airing led to “I Love My Hair” going viral on YouTube. Mazzarino says he was inspired to address the issue of African-American hair on the show because of his daughter.  Adopted from Ethiopia, she used to play with Barbie dolls with long, blonde hair and make comments about wanting the same.

Lyrics to the song include “Don’t need a trip to the beauty shop. ‘Cause I love what I got on top. It’s curly and it’s brown and it’s right up there! You know what I love? That’s right, my hair! I really love my hair.” When mothers tell their daughters “You are beautiful just the way you are,” it’s now supported by a fabulous girl who boldly proclaims “I Love My Hair,” giving confidence to all girls!  Be sure to also check out the full video of the song.

This video is helping to erase self-esteem issues for women within the African American community. The “I Love My Hair” video brings to light an issue that has plagued African women for centuries: the standard of beauty and colorism. These topics have been heavily discussed in the 1939 Clark Doll experiment and more recently in the documentary “Good Hair” starring Chris Rock and the music video for India Arie’s “I Am Not My Hair.”

Freddie Mac Foundation’s Adoption Expo on Nov. 6th in DC

On Saturday, November 6th, the Freddie Mac Foundation, in partnership with NBC4 and Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, will once again host an Adoption Expo to showcase local and national adoption organizations.

This free event will offer information from A to Z about the adoption experience and the resources available if you’re considering adoption. You will also have the opportunity to learn firsthand from experts in the field and families who have adopted. Information and resources will also be available for those who have already adopted.

WHEN: Saturday, November 6, 2010, from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

WHERE: Grand Hyatt Hotel, 1000 H Street, NW, Washington, D.C. Metro accessible (Metro Center – exit into hotel)

WHO IT’S FOR:

  • Anyone considering or currently pursuing adoption
  • Adoptive parents interested in learning about post-adoption resources

WHAT YOU WILL FIND:

  • More than 30 public and private adoption agencies and service providers specializing in:
    • Domestic Adoption
    • International Adoption
    • Special Needs Adoption
    • Post-Adoption Services
    • Information and Resources
  • Workshops [PDF 144K] for prospective and current adoptive parents, highlighting the adoption process and available support systems and resources
  • Parent-to-parent discussion groups featuring families who will share their experiences in adoption, both domestic and international
  • Information about children available for adoption in the Washington metropolitan area and beyond
  • Renowned adoption authors and a wide array of resource materials
  • Entertainment for children throughout the afternoon.

Click here to visit their website.

Webcast on the Adoption Tax Credit and Affordable Care Act

Last week, the White House hosted a webcast titled, “Helping American Families:  The Adoption Tax Credit and the Affordable Care Act.” Senior members of the Administration and leading advocates discussed the importance of the Adoption Tax Credit, and the key improvements made to the Credit under the Affordable Care Act.   The webcast features two families who are benefitting from the Adoption Tax Credit and who will share their stories about what adoption has meant for their family.  They were joined by leading advocates on the Credit: Bill Blacquiere, Bethany Christian Services; Barbara Collura, RESOLVE; and Chuck Johnson, National Council for Adoption.

During the webcast, Joshua Dubois, Executive Director of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, congratulates CCAI’s Angels in Adoption and announced the reception held at the White House in their honor the evening of October 5th.

To view the webcast, visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpHxyoHpu8Y or watch below:

Oct 3rd: Kristin Chenoweth, adoptive family on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

This Sunday, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition will feature an adoptive family along with Emmy Award winning actress and adoptee Kristin Chenoweth.  Even more special, both Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and Kristin Chenoweth will be honored by CCAI on October 6 as National Angels in Adoption during our annual gala in Washington, DC.  The show has featured numerous adoptive and foster families and has been instrumental in raising awareness about the needs of children and families.  Adopted as a child, Kristin is outspoken about the important role her adoption has played in her life and shaping who she is today.  She recently joined forces with the Dave Thomas Foundation for adoption as their spokesperson for foster care adoption.

Be sure to tune in to ABC at 8/7c this Sunday to see these National Angels unite to raise awareness about adoption!

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition has featured 3 Angel in Adoption families!  Read below to learn about these families:

  • George and Barbara Kadzis opened their hearts and home to special-needs children adopted from orphanages in China, but the family faced major challenges in their cramped, hurricane-damaged home.
  • Felicia Jackson’s sister passed away with complications of cancer, she told Felicia that she did not  want her children split up. Felicia went from being the mother of 4 to a single mother of 14. Unable to afford and find permanent housing, this family of 15 had been living in a hotel.
  • Billy Jack and Anne Barrett adopted four children, however, in addition to their two biological kids, their small farmhouse was too tight for eight people.

New data on children in foster care released

Just the other week, the Children’s Bureau released new AFCARS data.  The below chart taken from their website shows the data trends from FY2002- FY2009.


I was looking over the data with my colleague, and being a numbers guy (our finance director to be exact) David and I decided to look a little closer at the numbers.  We noticed two significant trends:

1) Why are so many more children being adopted out of foster care than ever before?

Between 2002-2009, the number of children waiting to be adopted decreased from 134,000 to 115,000.  However, the number of children adopted with public child welfare agency involvement actually increased from 51,000 to 57,000 over the same time period.

This represents a substantial increase in the percentage of children waiting to be adopted who were actually adopted.  In 2002, only 34% of waiting children were adopted but by 2009 that had increased to over 49% of waiting children who were adopted.  The AFCARS data also shows that the percentage of children in care whose parental rights have been terminated and were then adopted increased from 68% to 81% between 2002 and 2009.

The problem is that no real answer exists for this question.  Several factors may be influencing this decrease in the number of waiting children and the spike in adoptions out of foster care:

  • Policies continue to improve to promote more efficient processing of adoptions.  This is in response to efforts to minimize time in care or prevent placement in foster care.
  • Over the past few years, adopting internationally has increasingly become more difficult due to changes in foreign country’s own adoption practices.  According to the State Department, international adoption is down from a high of almost 23,000 in 2004 to under 13,000 in 2009.
  • Campaigns such as National Adoption Day , AdoptUsKids/Ad Council PSAs, Wendy’s Wonderful Kids, and many others to encourage foster care adoption and recruit adoptive parents have increased over the years

2) Why are there so many less children in foster care now?

Between 2002-2009, the number of children in foster care decreased by almost 100,000 from 523,000 to 424,000.  The number of children entering care has decreased by as little as 7% or as much as 17% each year.  This is due in part to increasing programs and funding to assist families and keep children out of the system.

In an Associated Press article examining this topic, Richard Wexler of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform shares, “Now, finally, it’s sinking in that most cases labeled ‘neglect’ — the single largest category of maltreatment — are really poverty, and it makes more sense to try to deal with the poverty than destroy the family.”