pact Templeat

Currently 0/5 Stars.

You may use the stars on the left to rate and leave feedback for the current article. No registration is required. Waiting for 5 votes

Please note, this page is no longer being maintained and may contain old or inaccurate information. Visit the home page or select a category in the navigation for more up-to-date information.

Our neighborhood is very ethnically and culturally mixed, especially by people of Asian and Latin American origins. Even though both of us are Caucasian, a child of Latino or Asian heritage will therefore very easily fit in with the rest of the kids in our neighborhood.

Jeff spent a considerable amount of time before he met Gudrun living amongst Latinos in the Southwest. He feels at home with their culture. One of Gudrun's closest friends is Indian. Through knowing this Indian family, she has come to know and respect many of their customs. This family would be an extremely valuable resource to us if we were to adopt a child of Indian decent.

Shilpa (another close family friend) and Gudrun

Gudrun has also worked with people of Chinese, Korean and Japanese backgrounds. A fellow Icelander and colleague who lives in California is married to a Tai person and they have three sons. We mention this here because we are active participants in the Icelandic community in the Los Angeles area. Our children will be exposed to the Icelandic community and we will make every effort that they be exposed in the same way to the community of their birthparents. This will require time and effort on our part, but this is something that we are committed to doing and we believe that it will enrich our own lives as well.

We regard it as essential that adopted children be taught about their birth heritage. We have tremendous respect for the value of one's heritage. Even though we are of the same race, we have had to overcome cultural differences of our own, so we know first hand about many of the issues involved.

Jeff and Olivia (he's practicing!)

The family on this webpage is working with Pact, An Adoption Alliance, a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide the highest quality adoption services to children of color. We would be happy to give you more information about them and adoption in general - please feel free to call us (ask for Marta Barton, one of our Adoption Coordinator and a birth parent herself who placed her first son for adoption in 1991) at (800) 750-7590.

Our primary client is the child. In order to serve the child, we address the needs of all the child's parents, by advising families facing a crisis pregnancy and by offering lifelong education to adoptive families and birth families on matters of race and adoption. Our goal is for every child to feel wanted honored and loved, a cherished member of a strong family with proud connections to the rich cultural heritage that is his or her birthright. Pact was incorporated in 1991 as a non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization.

WHAT PACT BELIEVES EVERY BIRTH PARENT SHOULD KNOW