Colombia Blog

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A long awaited study on adoption identity formation was recently published by the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute.  A New York Times article about the study can be found here. A full study summary can be found on the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute website by clicking here.  We encourage every adoptive parent to check out this excellent study.  Also, adoption workers are encouraged to study the findings and consider how best to prepare families for the unique issues of identity formation their adopted child will face.  We greatly appreciate the time and effort spent on this wonderful resource.

Posted by Susan M. Dykema At 08:51:44 AM Location | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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Did you know that NOVEMBER is "National Adoption Month" in the United States?

The History of Adoption Month (taken from "NACAC:" North American Council on Adoptable Children) Formalized, time-specific adoption awareness campaigns originated more than 20 years ago. In May 1976, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis issued the first state Adoption Week proclamation, and President Ford then officially proclaimed the week in a letter to the North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC) conference held later that year. As years went on, Adoption Week came to be observed during the week of Thanksgiving in November.

In 1986, NACAC helped coordinate a national "Calling Out" event based on an idea from Larry Gellerstein, then president of the Adoptive Parent Committee of New York. That year groups across North America braved late November weather and simultaneously assembled on state and provincial capitol steps to read statements about waiting children, and call out the names of waiting children in their state or province.

In 1990, NACAC decided to expand opportunities for raising awareness, and began advertising Adoption Week as National Adoption Awareness Month (November). The idea has quickly caught on, and Adoption Month has celebrated ever since.

In 2005, a Presidential Proclamation of November 19 marked "National Adoption Day" where thousands of children across the United States have their adoption finalized in court!  

CELEBRATE ADOPTION !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As an adoptive family, what can you do to celebrate National Adoption Month?  

-contact your local schools and help them celebrate too!  
-contact your local child care facilities and ask them to celebrate adoption too!
-connect with your employer/HR and start an adoption benefit!
 -start an adoptive family support group in your area!
-plan a community gathering with your local adoptive families support groups!
-write a letter (and send a photo) to your congress person to help encourage their support!
-write a letter to your child's birth/first parents, expressing your emotions!
-write a letter to your child telling them how much you love them!
-work on or look at your child's  Lifebook!
-plan a family outing!
-sponsor an orphan in your child's birth-country
-start an adoption ministry at your church
-have a fundraiser/garage sale/bake-off/silent auction at church... to benefit your child's orphanage/adoption expenses!
-have siblings in the home write about "what adoption means to them"!
-look into culture camps and homeland tours for your family!
-learn something fun about your child's birth-country or birth-culture!
-go out to eat or cook ethnic food!
-make a tradition of having a family photo taken every November... then send it out with Christmas cards!
-write a letter/story to your local newspaper educating about adoption!
-pray for birth/first families, foster families, orphanage caretakers, adoptive families, and orphaned children around the world... that they may celebrate the Blessings of adoption too!

CELEBRATE ADOPTION !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by Susan M. Dykema At 12:00:00 AM Location | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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What motivates you to think about adoption? If you're in the process of adopting, or have already adopted, you can probably fairly easily identify why you chose this path. Perhaps you've dealt with infertility or difficulties having a child by birth.  Perhaps you feel a sense of responsibility to care for children who are without parents or relatives to care for them.  Maybe you came to adoption as a result of several factors.  Whatever your motivation, you probably feel strongly that adoption is the right decision for you and your family.  At BCS we are fortunate to play a small part in the formation of families through adoption, and as you can see in a recent news article (Faith moves families to adopt children from overseas) to adopt as an expression of one's faith is often motivation enough.  We are also excited to see the work that's being done within the Church in bringing awareness of the needs of orphaned children throughout the world.  An informative new website you may be interested in checking out is 143million.org. You'll see that adoption is just one of many ways that your own faith may be motivating you to do something for children throughout the world.

Posted by Susan M. Dykema At 01:43:59 PM Location | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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The month of September has been an exciting month for many families. Three families traveled to Colombia to receive their children. All three families were adopting older and special needs children. We are thrilled that these precious children are united with their forever families. Four additional families are currently waiting to travel to Colombia to receive their children. All four families are accepting special needs children, older children or larger sibling groups - a total of 8 children. We look forward to these children being united with their forever families. There are many other children in Colombia in need of forever families. Please contact us if you are interested in learning more about the Colombia adoption process and the children who wait.

Posted by Susan M. Dykema At 09:37:43 AM Location | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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Similar to last year at this time, the courts in Colombia are discussing going on strike. When this happened last year, the adoption process in Colombia within the courts came to a complete stop for several weeks. At this point, the discussion in Colombia is that this may happen on October 14. Last year the strike affected the court process, but ICBF is not part of the court and was not involved in the strike and therefore they were able to continue to review dossiers.

Posted by Susan M. Dykema At 09:59:50 AM Location | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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In the month of August Bethany Christian Services saw three families receive referrals of children. Increasingly families are choosing to parent sibling groups and older children from Colombia and that is true for these three referrals. Of the three families two are adopting children over 12 years of age and one family is adopting a sibling group of two.

Bethany also welcomed two adoptive families and their children home during the month of August.  One three year old joined her forever family and one child with special needs found a family that will love and provide for her.

Posted by Bruce W. Mossburg At 01:35:32 PM Location | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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According to the American Heritage dictionary, the only correct spelling for the South America country located between Ecuador and Venezuela is "Colombia."   It is common to see "Colombia" misspelled as "Columbia" as in the "District of Columbia" or the "Columbia River" or "Columbia, South Carolina."  Both "Colombia" and "Columbia" are named after Christopher Columbus. The Spanish translation for Christopher Columbus is Cristóbal Colón or sometimes Cristobal Colombo. The variations occur because of disagreements regarding Columbus' origins.  

Though Colombian officials understand that we in the US often are confused about the name of their country, out of respect and professionalism we try and make sure it is spelled correctly in the documents we send.  

Posted by Bruce W. Mossburg At 03:45:51 PM Location | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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Posted by Susan M. Dykema At 10:57:18 AM Location | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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Pete and Gayle are currently in Colombia adopting a precious little girl named Daniella. You can follow their adoption story on their webiste:

https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/daniellaknibbe

Posted by Susan M. Dykema At 10:28:44 AM Location | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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As we have now past the middle of 2009, we want to give you a quick update on the Colombia program. To date we have hand only 1 family return to the US with their older child adopted through ICBF. There are two families currently in Colombia adopting children with different special needs - one family has completed the court process and will be returning home soon. There are two additional families who have received referrals and are waiting for presentation dates. For families who are considering adopting older children or children with special needs, Colombia is a great option. Referrals are being presented to families. Referrals of younger children are also being presented to families, but the wait for referral is longer.

Posted by Susan M. Dykema At 07:51:28 AM Location | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)