Home
Starting 10/4/95 the Adoption mailing list can send you this FAQ immediately if you send a message to listserv@sjuvm.stjohns.edu with the words "get aparents faq" (no quotes) in the body of the message. You can even subscribe so that you receive each new update of the FAQ. To do this, first get a password and subsribe by sending a message to listserv@sjuvm.stjohns.edu with the first line being "pw add xxxxxxxx" and the second line being "afd add aparents faq pw=xxxxxxxx" (no quotes). Replace "xxxxxxxx" with the password you want to be your personal password. Both lines need the same password.
Lastly, you can get this FAQ by emailing me, Annette Thompson, at annette@acm.org.
My thanks to Jamie Berke (sberke@netcom.com) who has helped with the FAQ. Usenet Newgroups
There are 2 Usenet Newsgroups about adoption, both of which are unmoderated. The first is alt.adoption which discusses a wide range of issues. Warning: If you are an adoptive parent or prospective adoptive parent that posts here, beware of some of the adoptees and birthparents who are bitter and angry and may verbally attack you because they see you as (the enemy". It seems that there are many nice people who lurk and post here, but the mean ones are the most vocal.
The second Usenet Newsgroup is alt.adoption.agency which is geared less towards adoptees and more toward adoptive parents. Some domestic and international adoption agencies post child listings here. Lois Paul (HTC1@delphi.com) with Help the Children started this newsgroup. Not all internet providers carry these newsgroups, so you may have to request them from your provider. As of 10/1/95 I was also able to still read recent alt.adoption.agency messages via gopher at gopher://news.csie.nctu.edu.tw:70/11/news/spool/alt/adoption/agency.
A third Usenet Newsgroup that may be of interest to adoptive parents is alt.support.foster-parents. This group is dedicated to the exchange of ideas and experiences regarding foster parenting. It also provides a forum to foster parents, prospective foster parents, and anyone else who is interested, to allow them to exchange comments on the current foster care system, provide a "relief valve" for vexing foster care problems, and allow for the discussion of ways that the foster care system can be improved.Some adoptive parents are also foster parents and foster parenting sometimes leads to adoption. This is a new group so you may have to specifically request that it be carried by your Internet provider. Robert D. Vanderslice II (rdvii@netcom.com) started this newsgroup.
Other newsgroups that may be of interest are alt.infertility, misc.health.infertility, misc.kids, and misc.kids.pregnancy.
Mailing Lists
The adoption mailing list consists of about 650 adoptees, adoptive parents, and birthparents. It is moving to a new address starting 10/4/95. Archives of the list are available via Listserv commands. To subscribe to the adoption mailing list you need to send a message to listserv@sjuvm.stjohns.edu with this line as the body of your message "subscribe adoption firstname lastname" (no quotes) replacing "firstname" with your first name and "lastname" with your last name. You will be asked to confirm your subscription. Reply to the confirmation request putting the word "OK" (no quotes) as the body of your message back to LISTSERV and you will be subscribed to the adoption list. To set your subscription to receive daily digests send a message to listserv@sjuvm.stjohns.edu with this one line as the body of your message "set adoption digest" (no quotes). To send a request for personal help to both Diane Hillman and Roger Myers (list owners) send the message to: adoption-request@sjuvm.stjohns.edu. Various FAQs will be made available via email from the adoption list at St. Johns University. To get a list of the files available, send a message to listserv@sjuvm.stjohns.edu with this line as the body of your message "index adoption" (no quotes).
To subscribe to the Deaf Adoption News Service (DANS) which is a text based email mailing list of deaf/hard of hearing foreign children that are available for adoption, contact Jamie Berke at sberke@netcom.com. DANS is now on the Web too. See the WWW section of this FAQ for details.
To subscribe to the Infertility Mailing List send a request to majordomo@acpub.duke.edu with the body of the text saying SUBSCRIBE ILIST (your name). This mailing list offers a more private forum for those wanting to give and receive emotional and informational support. Lara Nolan started this list but if you need help with the list, contact Lori at levans@acpub.duke.edu.
E-Mail Help
OASIS - Overseas Adoption Support and Information Service is a new helpline set up by adoptive parents (Rupert Robin & Julia Fleming) who wish to assist other couples/singles in adopting from overseas and to support and assist orphans wherever they might be. They offer the following services however most of it is geared toward UK adoption.
+ general information and advice on how to choose a country from which to adopt
+ factsheets on many countries regarding local requirements and costs
+ information on UK Government requirements vis-a-vis Home-Studies etc.
+ information regarding local UK variations on Social Services Departments'
approaches to overseas adoptions and an indication of their current charges ( if applicable)
+ resource lists for publications concerning the issues raised by overseas and trans-racial adoption
+ advice and support during your adoption and beyond.
They attempt to put you in touch with other parents who have adopted from your chosen country, and parents who live in your area and have adopted through your local social services department Much of their information is relevant to prospective adoptive parents from all over the world and they are pleased to help wherever you might live. They do make a nominal charge for factsheets to cover photocopying and postage. Half of these charges goes to an Orphanage Fund to support a fostering program in Nanchang, China. They make no other charges. OASIS is hoping to soon be registered as a charity in the UK. OASIS is NOT an agency. OASIS can be contacted on tel 44-1273-382601, fax 44-1273-413355, email rupertr@pavilion.co.uk, or by post at OASIS: Dan Y Craig Cottage, Balaclave Rd, Glais, Swansea, SA7 9HJ, UK.
Globe Adopt is a service provided by The Adoption Exchange in Colorado and Voices for International Aid and Development (VIDA). They work to help place special needs American children from 7 states with families world wide. You can contact them at globeadopt@aol.com.
I'd like to add a list of agency and adoption organization email addresses to the FAQ so please contact me if you know of any who aren't already listed under the Web sites.
World Wide Web, Gopher, and FTP Sites Sorted by Topic
Available Child Photolistings and Text Listings
The Precious in HIS Sight - Internet Adoption Photolisting
(http://nysernet.org/cyber/adoption/) hosts a photolisting of children available for international adoption by any licensed US or Canadian adoption agency that would like to participate. Also included are a multimedia story about a trip to an Ethiopian orphanage with pictures, sound clips and video clips; this FAQ in hypertext form, lists of all the international adoption agencies in the US sorted by name and by state, and general adoption information. Also included are adoption articles by adoption expert, Pat Johnston. There is no cost to agencies or people who view the photolisting. For those without WWW access, this info can also be requested in HTML form by emailing the author Annette Thompson (annette@acm.org). She is also the maintainer of this FAQ. The address of this site may be changing soon so contact Annette if you can't find it.
Faces of Adoption: America's Waiting Children (http://www.inetcom.net:80/adopt/) is a service of the National Adoption Center (NAC) and Children Awaiting Parents (CAP) that photolists special needs American children who are available for adoption. Faces of Adoption also offers information about adoption. They just have a few children listed right now but plan to add a lot more within the next few months. Susan Flaxman (nac@inetcom.net) can be contacted for more information.
The Texas Adoption Resource Exchange (http://www.dhs.state.tx.us./tdprs/adoption/tare.html) is the first state to put their waiting child photolisting on the Internet. It makes me proud to be a Texan and I hope more states follow their lead! They have pictures and descriptions of children in custody of the state who available for adoption. This means that the cost of adopting these children is virtually nothing. Contact stewart.davis@libra.dhs.state.tx.us for more information.
The Association of American Nonprofit Adoption Agencies has a Web site at http://www.america.net/~amrex1/aanaa.htm. There are photos and descriptions of children available for adoption through any of their 7 member agencies. Parents simply contact the agency closest to them. Connie Foster (73143.205@compuserve.com) is in charge of this site.
The Little Friends (http://www.webstreet.com/cs/orphans ) website contains information on foreign adoption, orphan statistics, and activities of Little Friends, along with an expanding photo-listing of foreign orphans (especially special needs children) in need of homes. Little Friends maintains the website as a free service, and the photo-listing service is available to any adoption agencies. Little Friends mission is to promote the welfare of orphans around the world.
Adoption Agencies, Facilitators, Attorneys, and Exchanges
Alliance For Children (http://www.adoption.com/alliance) is an adoption agency helping find permanent homes for children from Ecuador, China and Romania. AFC's web site provides valuable information to prospective adoptive parents interested in adopting a child from any of these countries such as a list of qualifications, personal adoption stories, and links to other Web sites. Dragos Vranceanu (alliance@adoption.com) is in charge of this Web site.
CFAS Child and Family Adoption Services Society (http://www.maple.net/ads-online/CFAS/cfas.html) places both domestic and international children with Canadian families. There web site contains information about their parenting preparation course and some basic information about their international adoption program. Email Michaele-Sue Goldblatt for more information.
Christian World Adoption (info@cwa.org) has its own Web site at http://www.sims.net/organizations/cwa/cwa.html. There is a lot of information about international adoption here and they redid their site in May. Lynn Rathbun (rathbun@nnf.cornell.edu) is in charge of this site.
Bethany Christian Services
(http://www.bethany.org/bethany/adoption.html) offers both domestic and international adoption services and they have their own Web site (the first adoption agency to do this). They also have an interesting page on what the Bible says about adoption. Judi Hengeveld (judith@bethany.org) is in charge of their Web site.
Holt International Children's Services
(http://www.thesphere.com/~holtbear/index.html) opened a Web Site and offers information about their international adoption and child sponsorship programs. Holt also has descriptions on the several books on adoption that they offer. Barry Stater-West (holtbear@efn.org) is in charge of this site.
Growing Families Inc. (http://www.thesphere.com/~gfi/gfi2.html) is an adoption agency that just opened a Web site about their domestic and international adoption services. Their international programs include the coutries of Guatemala, Paraguay, Chile, Brazil, Honduras, and Colombia. I couldn't find an email address for them.
Alliance Adoption Services in Pennsylvania has a Web site at http://www.adoptions.org/adoption/. They are a service that works with an attorney rather than an agency. They do adoptions of Eastern European and Russian children. Contact Stevan Karanovich at adoption@usaor.net for more information.
Jewish Family and Children's Service at http://www.voicenet.com/~adoption/ has a basic Web page about their services. Their email address is adoption@omni.voicenet.com.
Rainbow House International at http://www.rhi.org/ is an adoption agency licensed in New Mexico and Colorado. They have information online about their most of their programs in Bangladesh, China, Brazil, Ecuador, Guatemala, India, Korea, Latvia, Moldova, Paraguay, Perú, Russia, Thailand, Vietnam.
Life Adoption Services at http://www2.psyber.com/~tpssoft/adoption.html lists information on their children available from Russia, Romania, Vietnam, and Yugoslavia. Contact LifeAdopt@aol.com for more information.
Heart International Adoption Services at http://www.ioweb.com/heart4kids/ has an extensive web site covering their programs in Eastern Europe, Bolivia, China, and Armenia. Contact MKWM39A@prodigy.com for more information.
adoptionHelp (http://www.webcom.com/~nfediac/) is a new Web site by the National Federation for Open Adoption Education. They provide tons of information about open adoption for both adoptive parents, birthparents, and agencies. There is a reading list on open adoption, birthmother stories, adoptive parent stories, some great articles such as "Getting Off the Medical Treadmill" and "Loving and Bonding with an Adopted Baby". how to write a "Dear Birthmother" letter, and much more. Send comments and questions to brappapo@lanminds.com.
The Rocky Mountain Adoption Exchange is at http://bishop.dcb.du.edu/~drichard/RMAE/rmae.html. The Rocky Mountain Adoption Exchange provides the connection between families who adopt and children who wait. The Exchange is not an adoption agency. It is, rather, a place for the exchange of resources on behalf of dozens of adoption agencies. When an agency is unable to locate a family for a waiting child, the agency uses The Exchange services fo find a family. The page is maintained by br357@freenet.uchsc.edu.
Children with Aids Project is a wonderful site at http://www.aidskids.org/index.html.They recruit families to adopt HIV children, AIDS Orphans and drug addicted infants and refer them to private homes and public adoption agencies around the United States. Additionally, they locate HIV infants and children as well as AIDS Orphans, who need homes, from all over the United States. Jim Jenkins can be contacted for more information at jjenkins@indirect.com. Make sure to read the heartwarming story about their own experiences adopting two infants who tested postive for HIV at birth!
The Jewish Adoption Information Exchange (http://cnj.digex.net/~elliot/) is a project of Stars of David International, a support network for Jewish and partly-Jewish adoptive families. Their site has information on several national adoption organizations, personal adoption stories, contact info for Jewish Family Service agencies nationwide, and much more. Contact Susan Katz for more information at StarsDavid@aol.com.
O'Neil and Widelock are adoption attorneys in California with a web site at http://www.lightspeed.net/~thestork/main.html. They handle open adoptions for adoptive couples throughout the United States. You can contact them at OANDW@BAK2.LIGHTSPEED.NET.
Adoption Law Center of Beverly Hills at http://www.adopting.org/adoption.html is a site about domestic independent adoptions done by attorney, David Keene Leavitt. His adoption-only law practice helps families wishing to adopt and birth parents wishing to make an adoption plan for their child.
Americans for African Adoptions has a Web site at http://www.cyberspacepr.com/outreach2.html. They place African children worldwide. Cheryl Shotts can be contacted for more information at amfaa@aol.com.
Country Specific Help
Latin American Adoptive Families (LAAF) sponsors the Internet Resource Project WWW site at http://nysernet.org/cyber/adoption/laaf/. The Internet Resource Project has been started by Paul Flaherty (pjflahe@clipper.ssb.com ), Marilyn Rowland (Mrowland@aol.com), and Sherry Varraso (flavar@ix.netcom.com). The purpose of this project is two fold.
1. To provide information to people considering adopting a child from Latin America, including information compiled by and from individuals who have recently adopted a child from these countries and links to other useful information on the Internet.
2. To provide a starting point for those interested in Latin American culture, particularly all members of a family which have enriched their lives by adopting a child from Latin America. The Culture Resource page is under design, and scheduled for July 1995.
Families with Children from China just put up a great Web site at http://www.catalog.com/fwcfc/. They are an adoptive parent organization. There is a list of agencies that have China adoption programs, infomation on who can adopt from China, links to info on China, and much more. If you're interested in adopting from China this is THE place to go! Chuck Bouldin (bouldin@enh.nist.gov) is in charge of this site.
Travel Tips for Those Adopting from China at http://homepage.interaccess.com/~ksloan/triplist.html is a wonderful Web page done by Marie Bartlett-Sloan (mariebs@aol.com. She and her husband adopted from China. She covers topics such as Interacting with China and the Chinese, Baby clothes and supplies, Adult clothes and supplies, Luggage, Eats, Cameras, Money Matters, Insurance, Health & General Maintenance, What we brought that we did NOT need, and What we didn't bring that we wish we had.
The Dying Room Trust, is a Web page at http://www.delphi.co.uk/delphi/stories/9506/14.Dying_Rooms/facts.html. It was set up in response to the reaction to the British Documentary, "The Dying Rooms" which was also shown in pieces on "Eye to Eye" in the US. The Dying Rooms Trust has been set up in order to try to improve conditions and alleviate the suffering of the children in orphanages in the Peoples Republic of China. They have some statistics on abandoned babies in China and addresses of people to write.
Info on Indian Adoption
(http://spiderman.bu.edu/misc/india/info/sci/india-adoption) from an adoptive parent is posted by Regina Mackiewicz (wrong email address given). She also mentions some good books on adoption.
Books
Tapestry Books' online Adoption Book Catalog is at http://www.webcom.com/~tapestry. It contains all the books listed in the printed catalog plus new books as they are published. The catalog contains adult books on "how to adopt", "international adoption", "emotional aspects of infertility", "attachment disorder", "raising adopted children", "alternative infertility therapies", "birthparents", "gift books", and much more. Among the books for kids are on "younger child adoption", "understanding adoption", "attention deficit disorder", and "foster care". Online ordering is available. Any questions, contact Laurie Wallmark at tapestry@webcom.com.
A list of some books on international adoption can be found at http://www.phantom.com:80/~fairrosa/cl.list.html#adopt. Fairrosa (fairrosa@phantom.com) manages this site which also has other lists of children's literature.
The Encyclopedia of Adoption by Christine Adamec (71216.105@compuserve.com) and William L. Pierce, Ph.D.can be read about and a fax order form copied online at gopher://infx.infor.com:4600/1exec%3AR1856814-1858871-/.text/Main%3A/.bin/views.
General Adoption Information
The Adoption Network Home Page (http://www.adoption.org/adopt) is a WWW site that includes the names and phone numbers of local government and private adoption agencies, attorneys, support groups, national adoption organizations and various publications. They have a wonderful collection of online documents by the National Adoption Information Clearinghouse. Philip Schulte, Editor (schulte@adoption.org) and Christopher "C.G." Moore, Developer (cgmoore@adoption.org) maintain this site.
The Ohio Right to Life Web site
(http://www.ee.net:80/ohiortl/adopt.htm) is now posting on the Internet "Dear Birthmother" letters from prospective adoptive parents who want to adopt. Contact Jay Johansen at ohiortl@ee.net for more details on how to post your letter if you're looking for a birthmother.
Adoption Online Connection (http://www.clark.net/pub/crc/open.html) is a web site registry of waiting adoptive families. The intent of this site is to provide a forum for prospective adoptive parents hoping to connect with birthparents. For families/individuals searching for an infant/child to adopt, AOC presents an alternative to newspaper advertising. There is a charge for them to post your "Dear Birthparent(s)" letter. This site is administered by Charles Chidekel at crc@clark.net.
The Yahoo Internet directory has a section linking to adoption classified advertisements on the Internet at http://www.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Classifieds/Adoption/.
Minnesota Children Youth & Family Consortium ADOPTINFO (http://www.fsci.umn.edu/cyfc/AdoptINFO.html) is an electronic, computer accessible collection of information, research opinion and policy documents related to issues facing adoptive families. AdoptINFO was created to provide current and future adoptive families, policy makers and professionals in the field with ongoing electronic access to the latest information resources. It offers information on many topics related to adoption such as policy issues, child development, search and reunion, adoption subsidy, special needs children, legal issues, parent support groups, Adoption Month, how to adopt, and race and adoption. It can be accessed through both dial-up computer modem connections and through the Internet. The National Adoption Information Clearinghouse Publications and Services Catalog is housed here. You can also telnet to ADOPTINFO (telnet://gopher-cec.mes.umn.edu). At the login prompt type: cec, then choose Resources by Subject and then ADOPTINFO from the menus. You can gopher into this site at gopher://gopher-cec.mes.umn.edu:1300/11/Resources/AdoptINFO. See those sections of this FAQ for details. Contact Lori Block (cyfcec@maroon.tc.umn.edu) for more information.
Adopting Resources (http://www.adopting.org/) is a source of information and support for adoption (agency, attorney, intercountry, independent, open) including how to get started, books & magazines, personal stories by birth families, adoptive families, and adoptees; articles by professionals, a family forum, a support forum and a look on the light side. This site is maintained by Sandra Lenington at webweave@webcom.com.
The Adoption Information Exchange
(http://www.halcyon.com/adoption/exchange.html) has a WWW page that lists adoption education and resources available in the state of Washington. The Adoption Information Exchange (ftp://ftp.halcyon.com/local/adoption/exchange.txt) WWW page is also available via ftp. Sandy and Dennis Barnes (sbarnes@halcyon.com) maintain the files.
Roots and Wings, a wonderful adoption magazine has a Web site at http://www.adopting.org/rw.html. Included are articles from past issues and previews of upcoming issues. Contact Cindy Peck at 76262.354@compuserve.com for more information.
The Foster Parent Home Page at http://www.worldaccess.com/~clg46/ is a very attractive web site and contains the most extensive listing of foster parenting resources on the Net. It should also be of interest to adoptive parents who have adopted children out of foster care. Contact clg46@worldaccess.com for more information.
]The Adopted Child web site
(http://www.moscow.com/Resources/Adoption/Adoption.html) contains adoption information by Lois Melina (lmelina@moscow.com) including some very good articles. I especially enjoyed her article titled "What Children Understand About Adoption At Different Ages". There is also info on ordering her books (such as Raising Adopted Children and Making Sense of Adoption), tapes, and newsletter.
How and When to Tell Your Child He's Adopted
(http://www.psych.med.umich.edu/web/aacap/factsFam/adopted.htm) is a Web page part of the Facts for Families articles by The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Questions and comments can be directed to norman.alessi@med.umich.edu.
The New York State Adoptive Parents Committee is at http://www.wp.com/apc/ and has some articles from Adoptalk magazine such as A Long and Winding Road by Jody T. Sterling detailing her and her husbands experience in adopting their daughter from Russia. Charles Sanzone at 73054.1132@compuserve.com can be contacted for more information.
The Health Professional's "Rainbow Guide" to Community Resources in the Midpeninsula Area in Palo Alto, California, has a basic page listing the adoption and foster care services in their area at http://none.coolware.com/health/pamf/rg/rg_adoption.html.
Citations on 350 magazine and journal articles on the subject of adoption can be found at http://psy.ucsd.edu/jhartung/articles.list. This is on the Adoptees Mailing List Home Page by Jeff Hartung (hartung@crl.ucsd.edu). He also includes the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child at http://psy.ucsd.edu/jhartung/89CRIGHT.TXT and information on the Uniform Adoption Act (he+s against it) at http://psy.ucsd.edu/jhartung/legal.html.
The Institute for the Prevention of Child Abuse can be found at http://www.interlog.com/~ipca/ipca.html. They have a catalog of publications to help adults handle the needs of abused children. Questions and comments can be directed to ipca@interlog.com.
[The Palo Alto Medical Foundation in California lists adoption related services in the Palo Alto area (http://none.coolware.com/health/pamf/rg/rg_adoption.html) on Web site called The Health Professional's "Rainbow Guide" to Community Resources in the Midpeninsula Area.
Steve Hosier, an adoptive father, has written a wonderful article called Birth Father? at http://www.parentsplace.com/readroom/frc/fal94bir.html. He discusses how adopted children seldom ask questions about their birth fathers. This article is on the Father's Resource Center and email comments can be directed to stafford@winternet.com.
Oncolink by the University of Pennsylvania has info on infertility and adoption especially relevant to chemotherapy patients at http://oncolink.upenn.edu/chemo/bmt/bmt_11.html. Contact editors@oncolink.upenn.edu for more information. This same information can also be found at the New York State Breast Cancer Info Clearinghouse at http://nysernet.org/bcic/bmt/bmt.book/chapter.11.html. Contact kennett@nysernet.org for more information on this site.
Finding Homes for Hard-to-Place Children
(http://www.prairienet.org/~jenifer/adoption.html) is an article about an agency, Adoption Options, which works to find homes for hard-to-place children. This article was posted by a prolife site not affiliated with the agency. Send comments to respect-life@uiuc.edu.
Organ Trafficking Myths
(gopher://info.med.yale.edu:70/11/Disciplines/Disease/Transplant/Myths) is a gopher directory in Yale biomedical gopher transplantation information directory that has several very good articles on this myth. Todd Leventhal (tleventh@usia.gov) with the U.S. Information Agency wrote several of the articles including one called The Child Organ Trafficking Rumor: A Modern "Urban Legend' (>137K).
The Youngstown Freenet Gopher Adoption Bulletin Board (gopher://news.ysu.edu:2070/1ls%20yfn.adopt.qa) has some old questions and answers about adoption posted on this gopher server. Ronald Chambers (ab548@yfn.ysu.edu) is The Adoption Sig SysOp.
The National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect has a gopher server at gopher://gopher.ndacan.cornell.edu/. This site mainly contains professional research on child abuse but some it may be helpful to adoptive parents or foster parents of abused children. Comments can be directed to DataCAN@cornell.edu.
Law and Government
Adoption Information, Laws and Reforms is a Web site by Kevin McCarty at http://www.webcom.com/~kmc/. There are links to the adoption FAQs, descriptions of the adoption newsgroups, and links to California's adoption laws and pending legislation. You can even do text searches on these laws. Kevin McCarty's ftp site is at
ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/km/kmc/adoption/. Kevin (kmc@netcom.com) has files on adoption that may be of interest to both adoptive parents and adoptees. If ftp.netcom.com (used in these links) is unavailable, try
ftp://ftp.webcom.com/pub/kmc/adoption/ instead. This is an alternative machine which should be less heavily loaded. Read README for a description of the files. This FAQ for Adoptive Parents is kept there in the the file faq.a-parents. Rosemarie Ventura's (ah241@freenet.carleton.ca) adoption FAQ's (this link is the zipped file) are here too but are geared mainly toward adoptees.
Adoption Advocates (http://www.fpsol.com/adoption/advocates.html) is a Web site offering legislative news and analysis such as summaries of pending federal legislation on adoption and adoption assistance (subsidy) information resources. Email ohanlont@aol.com for more information.
Foster Kids and the Law
(http://www.ai.mit.edu/people/ellens/NCRA/foster.html) is about Jane Harlan, an Iowa attorney, who represented the five Cooper children as they battled with the Iowa State Department of Human Services in an attempt to remain in the care of the foster parents they had come to love and recognize as their true parents. Excerpts from her address of the court are posted by by Jim Senter (JIMSENTER@delphi.com) with the National Child Rights Alliance (http://www.ai.mit.edu/people/ellens/NCRA/ncra.html). "Hillary Horton": Sorting Truth from Fiction in file horton.html is another of several great articles at this site regarding foster children's rights.
Orphanages with a Twist is an interesting article on the Web at http://theforecast.com/forecast/twist.html. It is part of The Forecast, a monthly journal of law and public policy. Tegen J. Titus, Esq. is the author and founding dean of Regent University's Schools of Law and Public Policy. His email address couldn't be found.
Wrongful Adoption: Fraud by Adoption Agencies is an interesting article at http://tsw.ingress.com/tsw/talf/txt/adopt.html. It is about legal issues involved in adoption agencies being required to disclose all of a child's history. The article is by Richard Alexander with The Alexander Law Firm (talf@netcom.com).
The Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law School has a Web site with adoption law information at http://www.law.cornell.edu/topics/adoption.html. Send comments and suggestions to lii@lii.law.cornell.edu.
Thomas Legislative Information on the Internet at http://thomas.loc.gov/ is a service of the U.S. Congress It includes the full text of legislation; the full text of all versions of House and Senate bills searchable by keyword(s) or by bill number for the 103rd and 104th Congresses and the Congressional Record's full text of the daily account of proceedings on the House and Senate floors searchable by keyword(s). This is a great resource for looking up adoption legislation. There are also links to email addresses for Senators and Representatives but their is another list at
gopher://una.hh.lib.umich.edu:70/00/socsci/poliscilaw/uslegi/conemail that may be more thorough.
The U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act is at
http://www.fourmilab.ch/uscode/8usc/8usc.html. This document allows you to access the complete text of the United States Immigration and Nationality Act, Title 8 of the U.S. Code (8 USC) in a variety of ways. This may be of help to parents interested in international adoption. It is made available by John Walker (kelvin@fourmilab.ch).
More information on the U.S. Immigration And Naturalization Service is at http://gopher.usdoj.gov/offices/ins.html. This is on the U.S. Department of Justice Web site.
The U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child can be found on the Web at http://www.traveller.com/~hrweb/legal/child.html. It is posted by Catherine Hampton (ariel@best.com) on her Human Rights Web page.
Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption) can be found at
gopher://wings.network.com:70/00/gopher/adoption/resources/un.declaration. This is on the Adoption Gopher (mainly for adoptees and birthparents) run by Bob Alberti (alberti@wings.network.com).
he US government's Administration on Children, Youth and Families has basic info on its Foster Care and Adoption Assistance programs at http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/ACFPrograms/FosterCare/foster.txt.
Information on the federal adoption assistance program which offers financial assistance in domestic special needs adoption can be found on the Children Youth Family Education Research Network (CYFERNet) gopher at gopher://cyfer.esusda.gov:70/00/CYFER-net/funding/faprs/f209. Questions or comments can be sent to gopher@boombox.micro.umn.edu.
For families travelling overseas to adopt their children, the U.S. State Department Travel Warnings and Consular Information Sheets can be found at http://www.stolaf.edu/network/travel-advisories.html. Contact Craig Rice at cdr@stolaf.edu for more details.
New York State Abandons Victims of Institutional Child Abuse is an article at http://www.ocsny.com/~mdm/leichter.html. It is a report prepared by New York State Senator Franz S. Leichter. It is about how the Dept. of Social Services in NY is not meeting the needs of children who live apart from their parents, in foster group homes, detention facilities, or in other such institutions. These children are very vulnerable to abuse, maltreatment, and neglect while in the care of the state. The laws of New York state regarding children are also kept at this site at http://www.ocsny.com/~mdm/nylaws.html. There is also a page on the Children's Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union at http://www.ocsny.com/~mdm/crp/crp1.html. This site is maintained by Mitchell D. Miller (mdm@combox.ocsny.com).
adoption can be also be found in hypertext form at http://www.law.indiana.edu/codes/ca/fam/fam.html.
Cyn's Adoption Stuff
(http://odin.mda.uth.tmc.edu/~cyn/Adoption.HTML) is a page primarity directed toward adult adoptees but it has some great information on adoption related legislative issues in Texas. Cyndi Smith is the creator of this page. Her email address is cyn@odin.mda.uth.tmc.edu.
The State of Texas' laws on adoption and foster care as well as bills currently being considered can be found on the Texas Family Law Home Page at http://www.realtime.com/~matroid/f_leg.html. The specific location of the adoption laws is http://www.realtime.com/~matroid/f_fc2.html about half way down the page in Chapter 16.
The State of Texas lists current bills in its legislature pertaining to the Department of Human Services at gopher://capitol.tlc.texas.gov/11/tlli/mbl/bbs/H/I0895.
The State of Utah's laws on adoption can be found at gopher://gopher.utah.edu:70/00/Off%20Campus%20Information/State%20of%20Utah/Utah%20State%20Code/Utah%20State%20Code%3A%20Chapters/TITLE78/T78C30..
The State of Wyoming's laws on adoption can be found at gopher://ferret.state.wy.us:70/11/wgov/eb/sos/arr/familysrvc/adoption.
The State of Oregon list current bills in its legislature at
gopher://gopher.leg.state.or.us:70/11/measure.dir. The text of the bills can be searched. Try using the search term (adoption and child+.
The State of Washington lists its topical index of bills (including adoption) at
gopher://leginfo.leg.wa.gov:70/00/pub/billinfo/top_index_full_report.
Adoption Leave Policies
Marilee Bell (mbb2@cornell.edu) with the Office of Work and Family Services at Cornell University distributed a survey to assess the needs of adoptive and prospective adoptive parents at Cornell. This adoption survey can be found at gopher://gopher1.cit.cornell.edu:70/00/.files/ADOPT. Hopefully more employers will become attentive to the needs of adoptive families as they use surveys such as this one.
The University of Maryland has their adoption leave policy at gopher://inform.umd.edu:7070/0gopher%3A//inform.umd.edu%3A7070/0gopher%3A//umdacc..umd..edu%3A70/0FILE-50129X0..LISTING..E1..
Margaret Spark (srscn05@uvvm.uvic.ca) has posted the adoption leave policy for the University of Victoria in Canada at
gopher://www.uvic.ca:70/00/general/uvpolicy/1000/1535_maternity_adoption_and_parental_leave_policy..
Infertility
Mark Perloe, M.D. (mperloe@ivf.com) with the Atlanta Reproductive Health Centre has a very detailed Web page at http://www.ivf.com/ for those of you looking for infertility information. You can even send him questions via email. There are several infertility sites that could be listed in this FAQ for Adoptive Parents but this site seems to link to all of them.
RESOLVE at http://www.ihr.com/resolve/ is a national organization that assists people to resolve their infertility by providing information and support. Online is a list of their literature available, a list of local chapters, and membership information. Email howland@hooked.net for more information.
Telnet
The Youngstown Freenet (telnet://yfn2.ysu.edu) has a moderated adoption group available to members of the Freenet. The focus is on Ohio adoptions and searches. You must be a member of the freenet to participate [send messages] but I believe guest accounts do have read only access. To sign on as a guest, login as "visitor". The command "go adopt" will take you to the adoption area from the main prompt. To become a member of the Youngstown freenet, use the "go admin" command to get the administration area and select the choices for registration. Ronald Chambers (ab548@yfn.ysu.edu) is The Adoption Sig SysOp.
Toronto Free-Net hosts (telnet://torfree.net) online adoption information provided by Adoption Helper, Canada's national adoption magazine. The adoption area holds about 1 MB of information in 60 files, updated quarterly. To reach Toronto Free-Net, telnet to torfree.net, and log on as guest. To reach the adoption area, type go adopt. The adoption area covers all aspects of adoption: how to adopt; post-adoption issues; research; and searching for birthparents or adopted children. The emphasis is on information, resources and research in Canada. There is, however, coverage of United States publications which is unavailable elsewhere online. There is also infertility information. The online Adoption Helper magazine contains all the text of the printed magazine plus items that would not fit in print and late-breaking news. Robin Hilborn (aa124@torfree.net) is the adoption area helper.
Other Online Services
Adoption section on Prodigy (see the social issues bulletin board),
Adoption section on Compuserve
Adoption Section on America On-line
Delphi Custom Forum 304 - Future Adoptive Families and 328 -
Adoptees & Adoptive Parents --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 1995 by Precious in HIS Sight
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