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Children's Hope International - Ohio Regional Office5534 Brecksville Road, Independence, OH 44131 Call 216-524-HOPE(4673)
A MESSAGE FROM KELLIE ZACCARDELLI
ADOPTION FUNDRAISING: Stories Received! One common issue in international adoption is being able to afford the many costs involved. By the time families complete their Home Study and other adoption paperwork and bring their children home, families can incur expenses of over $20,000. We wanted to find out how families have creatively managed this expense. Here are the stories that we heard. Please continue sharing your stories, including the project, what you did to make it a success, about how much of your time it took, and how much you were able to raise. If you are currently raising funds for your adoption,or did so in the past, please let us know what you are doing and how you are doing it. You can email your stories to ChildrensHopeOhio@yahoo.com. We will share those new stories in the Ohio Regional Office's next E-Newsletter. Please share them by December 14th in order to include it in our Winter newsletter. And for you families interested in learning more, see stories below!
Please note that we are no longer sending country program updates to all families. Families currently in process will be updated more frequently (once a month or more) via email. Current Families: If you have not been receiving these periodic updates, please contact us at so we can make sure you are added to our mailing list. You can also click on the flags below to access updates on the Children's Hope website.
China Colombia Ethiopia Kazakhstan Russia Vietnam
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We were planning on holding a “Family & Friends Day” at the Ohio Regional office; however, because of the mixed response as to timing of this event, we are now moving the Family & Friends Event to February 2008. Instead we are holding a special Training Day on November 10 for Ohio Regional Office Adoptive Parents! We will be focusing on attachment issues in adoption and culture training. We encourage all parents who have not previously attended one of our prior Training Days (held Sept 2006 & Feb 2007) to attend! This is a great way to meet other Ohio Regional Office families.
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FAQ'S
Are there any magazines that focus on international adoption?
Adoptive families find support and guidance through many outlets including books, magazines, and blogs. Adoption Today magazine is a great tool for adoptive families to read about other families going through the same struggles, and also to learn about ways to incorporate your adopted child's culture and heritage into daily life. There are also tips and suggestions when traveling to meet your child. For more information about Adoption Today, please visit http://www.adoptiontoday.com/
BOOK OF THE QUARTER
By Liz Rosenbert and Peter Catalanotto
With a simple, poetic elegance befitting her tender subject matter, Rosenberg (Monster Mama) taps into the feelings of longing, love and joy that accompany the adoption of a child. Catalanotto's (Emily's Art; Dad and Me) images create an effective subplot: on the occasion of their son's graduation from high school, a couple reminisces about the boy they embraced as part of their family even before he was born. The author creates a warm story of one family's experience, yet incorporates accessible explanations of adoption applicable to many situations ("Somewhere in the world a mother gave birth to you, a father gave life to you. We weren't your first father and mother"; "One day we got a telephone call telling us to come. For you"). Working within the emotional rhythms of this heartfelt trip down Memory Lane, Catalanotto presents a series of radiant paintings that form a kind of treasured photo album. With a combination of contemporary and timeless background details, he depicts young Enrique as an infant being rocked to sleep by his father, a beaming boy at the beach and, ultimately, as a proud young man washing his car and heading off to college. A welcome addition to the canon of picture books on the subject. Ages 5-9. Review taken from http://www.amazon.com/
US CIS ANNOUNCEMENT
This is a reminder regarding the new fees for filing the I-600A Advanced Processing for Orphan Petition. For singles, the total fee is $750 (filing + fingerprinting). For couples, the new fee is $830 (filing + fingerprinting for both parents). There is an additional $80 fingerprinting fee for each person 18 or older living in the home (i.e. adult children, grandparents, etc.). The good news: “If you already have an approved I-600A that is about to expire, and have not yet filed your I-600 petition, you can receive one free extension of your I-600A by filing a new I-600A without fee before the first expires.
Please note: If your I-171H approval expires after July 30, 2007, you will be allowed to file for a one time extension. To do this, you should send a letter requesting the extension. Included with the letter should be a copy of the current I-171H, the new I-600A application, a copy of your original home study, an updated/amended home study, and all the documents originally required (i.e. birth, marriage, divorce etc. certificates). This paperwork must be filed prior to the expiration of the current I-171H. If you have questions about your specific situation, please feel free to contact Kellie at Kellie.Zaccardelli@childrenshope.net
Fundraising Ideas from Families Who’ve Done It:
GARAGE SALE!
Some ideas on how to fundraise: First what we did was
made flyers that said: Fundraiser for
Adoption, Please donate any items that could be sold in a Yard Sale. We
got so much positive feedback we had our Garage filled with stuff to the
top. People donated Bikes, to dressers, TVs, tables, furniture,
couches, plates, glasses, high chairs, clothes, you name it people
donated it. Their junk is other people’s treasure. We had about 3 yard
sales and many friends helped to sell. We also called local radio
stations and put ad in the paper for the yard sale. It worked great.
April & Dan
GRANTS!
I received an adoption grant from Shaohanna's Hope, an organization founded by Christian singer Stephen Curtis Chapman. The website is: www.ShaohannahsHope.org. It by no means took care of everything, but it paid for the majority of the travel costs. My son and I also got the chance to meet Stephen last spring and tell our adoption story for possible use on a promotional video. He was extremely nice, and eager to hear about our experience. He and his wife have a real heart for adoption, as they have 3 daughters who were born in China. Good luck!
Carmen
CHURCH, SIDE JOB, DONATIONS + PERSPECTIVE!
We sent out a letter announcing our decision to adopt at the
onset of our adoption. We were able to set up an account through church
to receive monetary contributions through that could later be receipted
for tax purposes. We also sold RADA cutlery at a few craft show and a
fair. We had garage sales. Also, we kept our church family up to date as
to our financial status on adoption related expenses and there was
constantly a trickle of money coming in there that we were able to
access by turning in receipts of adoption related expenditures to our
church treasurer. I hope this helps! I would hate to see anyone miss out
on the gift of adoption because of money and yet I realize what a real
concern that is. My husband always put it to me this way, "in our
country people don't flinch at plopping down $25-35k on a new
vehicle...how much more worthy is the investment in our family and the
life of a dear child?" It's hard to argue with that.
Best of wishes to you in your decision making process!
Alicia
SOFTBALL GAME!
For the last two summers, my husband, Scott, and I have organized a
charity softball game to raise money for a young girl we know in
Boston. Our goal is to keep her in the Catholic school where Scott was
a teacher during his years there so she can avoid the failing Boston
Public School system. The event has been very successful, so perhaps
some adoptive families can use this idea to raise money for their
adoption expenses.
Our first year, we asked for a $20 donation from anyone who came to play in or watch the softball game. We also sold hamburgers, hot dogs and water during the game to raise extra money. Those donations, along with the donations we received from people who did not attend, were more than enough to cover Jenny's tuition that year, and we were able to start a bank account to save for the next year's tuition.
Since we already had a head-start on this year's tuition, we decided to lower the donation to $10 per person for this summer's game. We still received generous donations from those who did not attend, and those who did often donated more than the $10 we asked. We also decided not to charge for refreshments this year and instead offered hot dogs and drinks for free as a "thank you" to those who attended. Even with the lower donation request, we raised more money than we expected.
So far, the event has been very successful, but we have had some challenges and learned something new each year that we hope will make the event even better in the future. I put together some key points to consider when planning this type of event:
1) Choose a sport or game people enjoy. We chose to have a softball game because it is a sport most people can play and enjoy. However, each year we were concerned that too many people would choose to send donations or come to watch rather than actually play in the softball game. The generous donations from those who do not attend account for a large portion of the money raised, but it is important that the actual event go smoothly for the people who do attend so that they want to come back next year. Several of our friends who played in the game last year brought someone new with them to this year's game, so we ended up having very good attendance.
2) Consider the weather if your event is outside. We learned the first year that it is not a good idea to play softball in the middle of August at 2:00 in the afternoon. We only made it through seven innings because it was so hot! Although we still had the game in August this year, we started in the morning so that we would be finished by the hottest part of the day. It is difficult to schedule around people's summer plans, and we found that playing earlier in the day allowed more people to come to the game and still make it to other parties, events, etc. in the afternoon.
3) Ask for a specific donation. We thought it was important to ask for a specific donation that we felt would help us reach our goal. The first year, we requested $20 per person after estimating the number of people we thought would attend and donate. Our goal was only to raise enough to cover Jenny's tuition for the year, not to raise as much money as possible. Set a goal of how much money you hope to raise, estimate the number of people that will donate, and then determine the donation you will need per person. As long as the requested amount is reasonable, most people will be willing to donate that amount and many will decide to donate more.
4) Tell your story. Included in the invitations to the softball game is "Jenny's Story", which explains that her family moved to the U.S. from Vietnam; her father, who had fought on the side of the U.S. in the Vietnam War, died of cancer several years after moving here; her mother speaks very little English and therefore cannot find employment; and that it was her father's dream for his daughters to get a good education in a Catholic school. It is a way for us to explain why Jenny and her family are important to us and how the donations will have an impact on Jenny's education and her future. Several people told me they chose to donate to our cause because it was important for them to know exactly where their money was going, and they felt better about donating to a specific person rather than to a large organization.
5) Say thank you! Letting people know how grateful you are for their support makes them feel good about donating and more likely to donate again in the future. We invite everyone who attends the event to our home after the game for food and drinks as a way of saying thank you for their time, donations, and support. We also send official thank you notes to everyone who donates.
If anyone has
questions about our experiences in planning this event, feel free to
contact me at
audreyembacher@yahoo.com. We would be happy to share what we have
learned to help other families plan successful fundraising events!
Audrey Embacher
If you wish to share your thoughts, experiences or stories about your adoption, if you have any questions, comments or suggestions for future newsletters or should you wish to be removed from our email list, please email us at ChildrensHopeOhio@yahoo.com.