Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute

The below message is from the First Lady of Arkansas, Ginger Beebe.  Beebe was in and out of several foster homes before being adopted.  Her and her husband, Governor Mike Beebe, remain committed to this issue.  This Saturday, on National Adoption Day, consider making a forever difference in the life of a child in foster care.

I was adopted at the age of four by loving parents, who twelve years earlier, had also adopted a baby girl, now my older sister.  My new family accepted me and provided stability and unconditional love. They instilled in me the importance of serving and giving back to my community.

National Adoption Day raises awareness of the many children who are in need of adoption. This day is also a time to say thank you to the families who are serving as foster parents and those who have opened their homes through adoption.

I would like to encourage more families to seek out the needs in their communities to adopt or to become foster parents. The blessings you will receive through the giving of your love will only be eclipsed by the permanent impact that you will make in a child’s life.

The Way Forward Project Charts Course for Children Living Without Families

Joint learning project identifies both challenges and opportunities that lie ahead 

Washington D.C. – Today, the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI) will host a policy summit at 10:00 a.m. ET to present findings from its year-long “The Way Forward Project.”  (www.thewayforwardproject.org).

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered remarks, as did Senator Mary Landrieu, Senator Amy Klobuchar, Representative Karen Bass and Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church and author of the best selling book The Purpose Driven Life.  The Summit was attended by the Ambassadors to the United States from Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda and Ghana and by 200 other experts from development, policy, and faith-based organizations working on issues affecting orphans and vulnerable children.  Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Janice L. Jacobs along with Special Advisor for International Children’s Issues Ambassador Susan Jacobs also attended.  The Summit served as a capstone to the year-long project and aimed to bring the The Way Forward Project’s Working Groups’ findings to the attention of U.S. funders and policymakers with a vested interest in Africa.

Launched in November 2010, The Way Forward Project was a unique effort to bring together 45 African, U.S. and international child welfare policy experts, practitioners, and researchers to discuss opportunities and challenges facing governmental and non-governmental organization leaders in six African nations (Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda and Uganda) as they work to develop systems of care that serve children in and through families.  Over the past year, these experts have been engaged in a joint learning process and will release a final report on their experiences, thoughts and collective findings.

“We were motivated to do this project by one factor alone,” said Kathleen Strottman, executive director of CCAI. “Despite decades full of scientific evidence that to thrive, children need love, attention and a secure attachment with an adult, the number of children living without these things continues to rise.”

The 200 page report to be released as part of the summit identifies a series of initiatives that are already underway in the six focus countries. Members of The Way Forward Project’s four Working Groups were asked to study these efforts, as well as bring to bear research and best practices from other countries that might be of use in moving ahead.  At the core of the project was the finding that family-based care is the optimal environment for children and should therefore be the underlying goal for children who, because of things such as disease, war, violence and poverty find themselves living alone, on the streets or in institutions.

These sentiments were echoed by Senator Mary Landrieu, co-chair of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption and Senate Caucus on Foster Youth, “To achieve the goal of a family for every child will require the investment of us all.  It is not something that any one person, organization or sector can do alone.  And that is what is so exciting about efforts like The Way Forward Project, where doctors, lawyers, pastors, social workers, mothers, fathers and government leaders join hands and say, we are ready and willing to do our part to provide loving homes for children in need.”

“As we recognize November as National Adoption Month, I am pleased by the work that has already taken place to protect children on the ground in these six countries,” said U.S. Representative Karen Bass. “If further progress is to be achieved, global governments, community and church leaders must collectively pool our resources and develop a global strategy to support improving the policies that ensure welfare systems of nations around the world put children and their rights to a family first.”

“All I ever wanted was to love others, to be loved and feel a sense of belonging within a family,” said Nyanja Nzabamwita Brodin, a Rwandan orphan who also spent time in U.S. foster care. “It was not until I found those things with my own foster family that I could go on, develop and become a productive member of society.  I am excited to see such a diverse group of experts come together to try and give that permanency to other children.”

Senator Amy Klobuchar, a leading advocate for children without families, said, “Minnesota is blessed with many families who have adopted orphaned children from around the globe,” said Klobuchar.  “There are many more families who wish to do the same, and so many children are in need of loving homes.  We must work together to make the international adoption process as efficient and family-friendly as possible while also providing strong safeguards to protect children.”

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Jimmy Graham shares his story of despair and hope that led him to be adopted by Beck Vinson, who at the time was 25, taking care of her 5-year-old child and struggling to make it already. After Vinson began taking interest in Graham’s academics and began helping Graham improve his grades in school, Graham began to trust Vinson. “She was so determined,” Graham recalled. “She pushed me even though it was tough on her. She was poor, hard up for money, had a little kid and was trying to get through college. But I saw her, and I was inspired. I never had someone commit to me like that.”

Click here to read the story.  Watch the video clip here.

Jockey is marking National Adoption Day on November 19 with a special token of thanks for families who are finalizing their adoptions that day. In partnership with the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption(R), Jockey will provide 1,000 newly adoptive families across the country with a specially-designed Jockey Being Family backpacks filled with a Jockey Being Family Bear, adoption educational materials and a congratulations letter from Waller. For many of these newly adopted children, this backpack may be the first thing they can call their own.

For more information visit: Jockeybeingfamily.com