To read Executive Director Adam Pertman's latest Huffington Post commentary; Paul Ryan + Mother's Day + Gay Marriage = Doing What's Best for Children. To view past commentaries, please visit his blog: www.adampertman.com.
Expanding Resources for Children III: Research-Based Best Practices in Adoption by Gays and Lesbians
Never Too Old: Achieving Permanency and Sustaining Connections for Older Youth in Foster Care
Beyond Culture Camp: Promoting Healthy Identity Formation in Adoption
Finding Families for African American Children
Adoptive Parent Preparation: Meeting the Mental Health and Developmental Needs of Adopted Children
For the Records: Restoring a Right to Adult Adoptees
Safeguarding the Rights and Well-Being of Birthparents in the Adoption Process
Adoption in the Schools: A Lot to Learn
Intercountry Adoption in Emergencies: The Tsunami Orphans
Safeguarding Interstate Adoptions: The Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children
What’s Working for Children: A Policy Study of Adoption Stability and Termination
Unintended Consequences: 'Safe Haven' Laws Are Causing Problems, Not Solving Them
The Adoption Institute has released an educational video about our work and impact. watch
NEW: A FAMILY FOR LIFE: THE VITAL NEED TO ACHIEVE PERMANENCY FOR CHILDREN IN CARE, newly released in April 2013, based on extensive research throughout the U.S., England and Canada on 22 practices that facilitate the adoption of children from foster care. This Issue Brief is intended to provide a preview of and introduction to a book-length Compendium that the Institute plans to publish in late 2013.
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UNTANGLING THE WEB: THE INTERNET'S TRANSFORMATIVE IMPACT ON ADOPTION, released in December 2012, concludes that social media and other elements of this modern technology are having "transformative" effects – positive and negative – on adoption policy, practice and millions of people’s lives, while raising serious legal, ethical and procedural concerns that have yet to be addressed.
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THE VITAL ROLE OF ADOPTION SUBSIDIES: INCREASING PERMANENCY AND IMPROVING CHILDREN'S LIVES, released in September 2012 as part of the Institute’s "Keeping the Promise" initiative, is a nationwide effort – in partnership with the North American Council on Adoptable Children – to preserve state funding for adoption subsidies, which are an essential tool for enabling children and youth to move from foster care into permanent, loving, successful families.
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OPENNESS IN ADOPTION: FROM SECRECY AND STIGMA TO KNOWLEDGE AND CONNECTIONS, released in March 2012 as the first in a series of papers on openness, synthesizes knowledge on the outcomes of openness in infant adoptions, presents results of a new Institute survey of infant adoption programs, and offers recommendations for professionals and families. Among the study's findings is that only a tiny proportion of adoptions today are completely "closed."
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APRIL 2013 E-NEWSLETTER
The April 2013 Adoption Institute E-Newsletter is now available.To access past issues, go to our archive.
INSTITUTE NAMES NEW SENIOR FELLOW
Penelope (Penny) Maza, Ph.D., a highly respected and accomplished researcher in and out of government for over three decades, is joining the Donaldson Adoption Institute as our newest Senior Research Fellow. moreANNUAL REPORT 2012
Our sincere thanks to everyone who generously responded to our year-end appeal. To see the kind of important work your support makes possible, click hereINSTITUTE WINS AWARD
FOR SERVICE TO FAMILIES
The Adoption Institute is grateful to Voice for Adoption – a coalition of national, regional and local organizations – for its recognition of our work on post-adoption services, particularly our "Keeping the Promise" initiative. Executive Director Adam Pertman accepted the Drenda Lakin Memorial Award for Continuing Service to Adoptive Families during a ceremony on Nov. 14 in Washington, D.C.
ADOPTION BY LESBIANS AND GAY MEN – BY DAVID BRODZINSKY & ADAM PERTMAN
To learn more about the latest publication from two of our staff members click here.
WE PROUDLY ANNOUNCE ADAM'S LATEST BOOK – THE REVIEWS ARE IN!
Adoption Nation: How the Adoption Revolution is Transforming Our Families – and America has been reviewed as "the most important book ever written on the subject." For additional reviews, click here. To learn more, go to: www.adampertman.com
SIBLINGS IN ADOPTION AND FOSTER CARE: Traumatic Separations and Honored Connections – edited by Deborah N. Silverstein and Susan Livingston Smith
The topics covered in this compelling, comprehensive examination of sibling issues in adoption and foster care include: the importance of nurturing bonds and supporting relationships; the legal rights of brothers and sisters to be together; programs that maintain such connections; and sibling issues in international adoptions. To learn more or to purchase the book, click here.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR PERTMAN DISCUSSES ADOPTION ISSUES – AND HIS NEW BOOK
On Good Morning America: hereIn the Huffington Post: here
On CNN Living: here
In the Chicago Tribune: here
On National Public Radio: here
In CBS Miami: here
In Somewhere Between Documentary: here
STAFF AND BOARD MEMBER IN THE PRESS
David Brodzinsky, Research & Project Director for the Institute, in the Deseret News: hereBoard Member Leslie Pate Mackinnon on Dan Rather Reports on HDNet entitled "Adopted or Abducted?": here
BEYOND CULTURE CAMP: PROMOTING HEALTHY IDENTITY IN ADOPTION, FOR PROFESSIONALS
Designed to help professionals identify factors that support, encourage and nurture the development of healthy identity formation for transracial adoptees, programs and services that enable adoptees to develop healthy identities, and What type of education is needed for professionals, parents and the public to support health identity formation. On June 2, 2010 moreBEYOND CULTURE CAMP: A PARENT'S GUIDE TO PROMOTING HEALTHY IDENTITY IN ADOPTION
Adoptive parents will not want to miss this webinar. All parents want their children to grow up with a healthy sense of self. Yet for transracially formed adoptive families, the notion that this will naturally develop cannot be taken for granted. On June 23, 2010. moreSee our past webinars here
ADOPTIVE PARENT PREPARATION
The Institute is working to make sure that adoptive placements are successful and permanent by shaping best-practice standards and providing training materials to help professionals in the preparation and support of adoptive parents. Trainings for professionals are now available or access a free copy of our timely report. For additional information on this initiative, contact Project Director David Brodzinsky.EQUALITY FOR ADOPTEES & BIRTHPARENTS
Our groundbreaking research is expanding the understanding of key policies and practices that are most helpful to birthmothers/fathers during the adoption process and throughout their lives; for more information, contact Program Director Susan Smith; Our research and advocacy work aims to help adult adoptees gain access to their original birth certificates; for information, contact Executive Director Adam Pertman.EDUCATE THE EDUCATORS & THE MEDIA
The Institute works to improve curricula and to create a more supportive school environment for children who were adopted and/or in foster care. We also work with journalists to provide up-to-the-minute information with which to present a more accurate picture of adoption, foster care, and the millions of children and families they affect.
EVENTS AND STAFF APPEARANCES
Our Executive Director Adam Pertman and senior staff frequently have appearances throughout the country. moreOUR HONORARY BOARD INCLUDES PROMINENT ADOPTION, ENTERTAINMENT AND BUSINESS PROFESSIONALS
The Institute has formed an Honorary Board, which is composed of distinguished professionals who have committed themselves to increase the Institute's impact, resources and support. more
Our 10th Annual "Taste of Spring" Gala was a success! more.
