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IAI Publishes Journalist's Guide to Adoption - Press Release

IAI Publishes Journalist's Guide to Adoption

For More Information Contact: Kathryn Creedy
Institute for Adoption Information
Tel: 802-442-7135
email: kcreedy@adoptioninformationinstitute.org

IAI PUBLISHES JOURNALIST'S GUIDE TO ADOPTION

Bennington, VT, July 9, 2003 -- A Journalist's Guide to Adoption, the first, web-based guide covering adoption-related topics and news, has been published by the Institute for Adoption Information (IAI), which designs guides for professionals who encounter adoption in their work. Written by journalists, the new guide is available on the Internet at www.adoptioninformationinstitute.org.

"With this new tool, agencies and adoption support organizations can introduce themselves to their local media and work with them to enhance both the understanding of adoption and the quality of reporting on adoption," said IAI Executive Director Kathryn Creedy. "Adoption is no longer a rarity in the modern family. Indeed, one third of the nation is touched by adoption within their immediate families. In any week, there are hundreds of adoption stories whether it is a legislative battle to open adoption records, the homecoming of a long-awaited child, the meeting of adoptees and their birth families, corrupt adoption practices, or an in-depth report on what makes a family. Despite the frequency with which these stories appear, adoption is little understood, and coverage often inadvertently perpetuates myths and stereotypes. This guide helps journalists understand adoption and provide better coverage."

A Journalist's Guide to Adoption gives journalists a basic familiarity with a variety of adoption-related subjects and provides links to the best unbiased resources and research. In addition, it includes a list of reliable experts and offers links to organizations working on specific agendas. It helps journalists:

• Understand the adoption process and ethical adoption practices;
• Provide balanced information that does not perpetuate myths and stereotypes;
• Use more accurate and appropriate language;
• Determine when adoption is germane to coverage;
• Put adoptive and birth families into context with the changing modern family; and
• Understand how adoption holds lessons for other non-traditional families especially for the million-plus children resulting from assisted reproduction and surrogacy.

The guide recounts how adoption is changing the modern family as well as the serious social implications of not understanding adoption including the crisis in foster care, teen parenting, and infant homicide. It also addresses the implications of baby-abandonment laws and explores how public prejudice toward adoption hampers adoption planning for children who still await permanent homes.

The project includes contributions from Adam Pertman, author of Adoption Nation and executive director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute. It has also been reviewed for accuracy by some of the top adoption professionals including Ada White, director of adoptions, Child Welfare League of America; Brenda Romanchik, executive director of Insight, a birth parent advocacy group; Marilyn Waugh, president of American Adoption Congress, one of the largest adoptee resources in the country; Marley Greiner of Bastard Nation, The Adoption Rights Organization; and the National Adoption Information Clearinghouse.

The guide is the third in a series of guides published by IAI. "An Educator's Guide" to Adoption, designed for teachers, was published in 1999 and "A Guide to Adoption for Health Care & Counseling Professionals," designed for the pre-natal medical and counseling communities, was published in January. IAI plans several more guides for both consumers and professionals.

IAI is a nationwide, non-profit organization of adoptees, birth parents, adoptive parents and adoption professionals who have united to enhance the understanding of adoption through education.

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Kathryn Creedy
Institute for Adoption Information
PO Box 4405
Bennington, VT 05201
802-442-7135
www.adoptioninformationinstitute.org

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