Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Support Sele Enat!

Javier and Christen Reyes, an IAN family adopting an eight year old girl from Ethiopia, are hosting a ZUMBA class as a fundraiser for Sele Enat orphanage this Saturday, May 2nd at Lily Gulch Recreation Center (6147 S. Holland Way Littleton, CO 80127) from 10:00- 11:00.


ZUMBA is a Latin cardio dance class. Get a great workout; learn some salsa, merengue, cumbia, mambo, cha cha cha and reggaetón and most of all have an awesome time. The class is wonderful for all fitness levels.

The family is asking for a $10.00 donation per participant and all proceeds are going to support Sele Enat. Please come and support Sele Enat- and bring your friends!

Monday, April 20, 2009

To All Our Local Families...

On Sunday, May 17th, the Homestead Community Run will be taking place in Centennial. This run is one of the biggest fundraisers of the year for the Wiley, Morgan & Parker Fund. The Wiley, Morgan &Parker Fund is run by an IAN family. The fund generously donates grants to adoptive parents (inlcuding two IAN families). The money raised in events such as the Homestead Community Run can help future adoptive families who otherwise may not have been able to complete the adoption on their own. The registration is $5 per person before the day of the race. The events are either a 5k run or a 1k walk.

Please contact the office for registration and sponsorship information. We hope to see you out there!

Wiley, Morgan & Parker Fund Website

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Photos

We know that waiting for your court or embassy date can be a frustrating time. We also know that one of the things that helps that time go by just a little bit faster is receiving pictures of your child from traveling families

There has been one problem with this though: families have gotten pictures of children that weren’t their own (and called IAN in a panic about the weight their child has gained/lost, the change in skin pigment etc.) and some traveling families have sent pictures with other children in them.

Because of these problems, families can no longer send pictures to other families. This will not cause a slow down- all we are asking is that traveling families send us their pictures first and that we confirm that the pictures are of the right child/ do not have additional children in the photo IAN will then send the pictures out to the corresponding families.

IAN families are no longer permitted to send pictures of children at either orphanage to one another. The pictures must come through us. All traveling families will sign a policy prior to travel. I know that this is a disappointing policy to many of you, but unfortunately we have to make sure that these problems do not continue.

Families who do not sign the agreement, or are unwilling to do so, will not be permitted to take pictures at any of the orphanages. The Ethiopia staff will be made aware prior to travel and the client will not be able to bring the camera to the orphanages with them.

We thank you for your understanding and patience with this.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Wait List Movement

Today, a family accepted a referral for a toddler boy. Everyone on the toddler boy list moves up one spot. Everyone below number 4 on the toddler girl list moves up one spot.

We hope you all have a happy Easter weekend!

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

While You Wait

The post below is taken from Jill Khaliqi's blog. Jill and her husband, Dave, adopted two boys, ages 2 and 3, from Ethiopia last year. You can check out their very informative blog at jkdcolorado.blogspot.com



While you are waiting for your referral or court date there are a lot of things to do like decorating, name decisions, preparing any other kids in the home for the new siblings, etc.....
I would like to propose two things that we feel are very very important for you to do while you are waiting.
The first is to read all you can on grief and attachment. It is very important NO MATTER the age of your child. Even infants grieve and need help with attachments. I would suggest these books:
Attaching in adoption by Deborah Grey and
Taming the Tiger while it is still a kitten by Nancy Thomas
Click on either and you will get more information.

The second thing I would suggest you do is find all the paper work for your validation. If you are in Colorado this is the link. Download it all. Fill in all you can and wait until you get home to fill in the name and date of birth for your child (things are often different on the adoption birth certificate than they were on the referral info). Get the fingerprint reports (FBI and state) and the child abuse record from your DHS from your adoption agency. When you get home all you have to do is fill the child's part in and send it.
Do the same for citizenship. If you want to change the name or date of birth you will need to do citizenship AFTER the validation on which you change these things.
You can also have the social security card papers ready to go too. (if you do not do the ss# right away you can do a temporary tax number if you have not completed the validation.

Monday, April 6, 2009

...and more movement

Number two on the Baby Boy and Baby Girl wait lists accepted a referral today! Everyone below #2 on these wait lists move up one spot!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

AND MORE!

Number one on the sibling list accepted the referral of two adorable twins (one boy and one girl) this morning! And- the family was on every list!

List Movement:
Baby Girl List: Everyone below number 6 moves up one spot
Baby Boy List: Everyone below number 7 moves up one spot
Toddler Girl List: Everyone below number 3 moves up one spot
Toddler Boy List: Everyone below number 1 moves up one spot
Sibling List: Everyone below number 1 and below number 7 moves up one spot

Please call if you need an update!