Make Christmas Brighter for Bulgarian Orphans

Love’s Hope International and Adoption ARK have joined forces to provide a holiday party for an orphanage in Bulgaria. Together, we will collect as much money as possible to provide sweets, juices, toys, and the supplies for the party. The field director of Love’s Hope International will arrange the delivery of the gifts and arranging the party. Please consider donating to this project. All money that is donated will be wired to Bulgaria. In order to make the arrangements for the party, we will need all donations by December 15. There are many ways to donate:

1. Through Adoption ARK’s online donation page at http://www.adoptionark.org/public/pag195.aspx Please specify that your donation is for the 'Holiday for Bulgaria Orphans Project’

2. Through Love's Hope International's online donation page at http://loveshopeinternational.org/Donate.html

3. Send your donations to Love's Hope International at 7 Glenfield Lane, Nesconset, NY, 11767 or 1410 Lilac Lane, Brooklet, GA 30415. You can also donate online at http://loveshopeinternational.org/Donate.html . Please put a note that it is for 'Holiday for Bulgaria Orphans Project'.

4. Send your donations to Adoption Ark with a note that it is for 'Holiday for Bulgaria Orphans Project' to Adoption ARK Inc., 830 S. Buffalo Grove Rd., #103, Buffalo Grove, IL 60089.

All money will be sent to the Bulgaria orphanage and we will post pictures of the kids having a wonderful and fun holiday, which might happen only with your generous donations. Remember, please send donations prior to December 15.

Exciting News about the Hungary Adoption Program

Hungary is quickly becoming a popular country for international adoption. Hungary is a beautiful country with even more beautiful children. It’s budget friendly, only requires one trip, and the dossier preparation is easy compared to most other Eastern European countries. With many sibling groups available, parents are considering Hungary as an ideal preference when choosing a country for adoption.

In order to make the Hungary adoption program even more affordable, Adoption ARK has temporarily lowered our initial agency fee. This allows families to start the adoption process, while conserving their initial financial resources for the homestudy and other cost incurred during the beginning stage of adoption. In addition, the average time to complete adoption from Hungry can be over a year giving parents more time to arrange their adoption budget and financial planning.

Please click here to learn more about adoption from Hungary.

Also, please click here to read an adoption success story, by the Nemeth family, on their adoption of a sibling group from Hungary.

Adopting an Older Child?

Adopting an Older Child?

One of Adoption Ark's missions is to encourage adoption of older children. Every child deserves the love of a family!

Please read this great article about adopting an older child. http://www.adoptivefamilies.com/articles.php?aid=1358

(Excerpt from article)-

Five Tips from the Trenches-

When you adopt an older child, you may find that conventional parenting methods aren’t effective. Here, parents and experts weigh in with real-life advice that will see you through the transition to family.

1. Keep your expectations flexible. When Carrie Krueger brought home three-year-old Christopher, she found that he didn’t understand logical consequences. “He was so used to being uncomfortable—cold, hot, hungry, even sick or hurt—that I had to help him identify what his body was experiencing. I had to name the cold he felt when the wind blew, then demonstrate how we block it by putting on a jacket.”

2. Look at the world through your child’s eyes. “Imagine being abducted by strange people who speak a different language,” says Ellen Margolese. “When you think of all the scenarios a child might visualize, their behavior may make more sense.”

3. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Choose your battles wisely. If a child is grieving over the loss of familiar people and surroundings, this may not be the best time to make an issue out of toothbrushing or mismatched clothes.

4. Give your child the childhood he never had. Krueger learned that “immediately meeting any need will not ‘spoil’ a child who never knew the joy of a nurtured infancy. It may seem strange to see a child so large and seemingly competent asking to be carried, or becoming distraught when a request for food is not quickly met. But I don’t have to parent Christopher today in the way I hope to parent him as a teenager.”

5. Be patient. Mary Ann Curran, director of World Association for Children and Parents, says, “Do expect a lot of time to pass before your child feels like part of your family, and accepts the change that his adoption entails. This does not mean years of disruptive behavior, but it may be a long time before he feels he truly belongs.”

Please contact Adoption Ark if you would like to add to your family through adoption!

McKenna was adopted from Uzbekistan about 1.5 years ago. When we met her she barely had the stamina to walk one block. McKenna also thought a bath was water torture!

McKenna has really grown strong! She can ride her bike over 3 miles now. She can run at least a 1/2 mile. And most miracously loves the water to the point that she can swim 14 laps freestyle in the 25 meter pool. McKenna moved from Level 2 to Level 5 in swim lessons just this summer.

With all of McKenna's endurance and atheletic abitlies we entered her in the Super Kid Triathalon in Santa Cruz, CA last weekend. McKenna did famously - swimming 25 meters by herself, 2/10ths of a mile bike riding and 1/10 of a mile runninng. She competed with 30 other 5 year old girls and finished the race!

Congratulations McKenna !

Midwest Adoption Conferece

Midwest Adoption Conference 2009: Sunday, November 1, 2009 Trinity International University, Deerfield, Illinois Contact us at 312-799-1548 or midwestadoption@yahoo.com Keynote speaker: DR. JAIYA JOHN "Identity and Heritage as Roots of Blossom in Adoptive Children” Find additional information and register online at www.midwestadoption.org Register before October 16th for a discounted rate!

Free Attachment Seminar for Parents

We thought your families might be interested in the attached FREE program: Attachment-Based Parenting Skills for Adoptive Parents: playful techniques to foster healthy attachment and deal with potential behavioral and developmental problems Sunday, October 25, 2009 1:00 - 5:00 Skokie Public Library 5215 Oakton Skokie, IL Presenters: Phyllis Booth, MA, LCPC, LMFT, RPT/S and Dafna Lender, MSW, LCSW The program is sponsored by a grant from the Pioneer Press Charitable Foundation. It is free, but pre-registration is required. Follow a link from our home page to register directly with the library: http://www.theraplay.org/ We hope that you will pass the information along to your families and/or post on your web calendar. If you have any questions about the program, please contact me.

Many thanks!

Gayle Christensen

Executive Director The Theraplay Institute

3330 Old Glenview Rd.

Suite 8

Wilmette, IL 60091

gayle@theraplay.org

847/256-7334

http://www.theraplay.org

Make a donation to our training scholarship fund and help your colleagues who serve the neediest families to learn about Theraplay. Follow the link from our home page at http://www.theraplay.org/

Have You Considered Ukraine?

Have you considered Ukraine as the country choice for your adoption? Ukraine is a beautiful country with wonderful children waiting for forever families. Are you one of those families?

Boys and Girls under the age of three are available for adoption. However, the majority of children available for adoption at young ages have siblings. Older children and children with special needs are also waiting for a family.

Parent Requirements

•Married couples may apply.

•One parent must have less than 45 years age difference between themselves and child they wish to adopt.

•Minimal years between the child and the parents should be no less than 15 years.

•Applicants should be in good health, no criminal record and have the income to raise aa adopted child.

In the past, adopting parents were required to stay in Ukraine for 30 days to complete an adoption. Now, parents can make 2 separate trips to Ukraine which reduces the amount parents are away from their jobs and families. Travel can also be divided up among parents reducing the time that both parents need to be away at the same time.

Please contact us for more information on adopting from Ukraine.

Sincerely,

The Team at Adoption ARK

“Adopting one child won't change the world; but for that child, the world will change."

Memories of Nepal

Visit Adoption ARK's website for more information on adoption from Nepal www.adoptionark.org

Nepal is a fascinating country with rich culture and beauty. The adoption program for Nepali infants and toddlers is full through 2010 but the Nepali government has agreed to accept additional adoption dossiers for older children and children with special needs. During our visit to Nepal we learned that the older orphan population is well educated and are receiving good care in the orphanage system. We met many bright children that were eager to find their forever family. If you are considering international adoption please consider Nepal.

Our First Ethiopian Adoption!!

Adoption Ark is proud to announce we have completed our first adoption from Ethiopia! The Ortiz family has been blessed with the addition of a beautiful daughter a few weeks ago. Below is a letter we received from this happy family. If you are also interested in adopting from Ethiopia, the fastest growing international adoption program in the world, please contact us. Here are two photos. One of Carmen at referral and the other in her pretty Baptism Dress at home with her new family. Congratulations to the The Ortiz Family and their new daughter Carmen!!!

Our Daughter from Ethiopia.

We recently arrived home with our daughter from Ethiopia. Looking back, everything fell into place exactly as planned. We did not realize this until looking back at the very hard experience we had with our old agency. The country of Vietnam closed to Americans adopting. Our agency offered us no solution other than to just wait. Our life had already been invested two and a half years, so saying, “just wait” was not the answer we needed to hear. We just wanted to adopt a child, not be caught up in such a mess. The search for a new agency began. Google searches, blog searches, YouTube searches etc. I really had no direction other than thinking we must move forward. Adoption Ark came up a few times. I lingered on the site reading families stories and making a few half-hearted emails for info requests. Then, a reply! Miss Linda, from Adoption Ark, the breath of hope we needed. She said, “Trust us, I understand what you have been through”. I was not very trusting. I asked a million questions getting all our bases covered. If she did not know the answer, she got back to me. I had done my homework. I had followed many families adopting from Ethiopia with other agencies. What I did know was the world of International Adoption is changing so fast, requirements are harder, good families are not qualifying for numerous reasons. I knew if an agency would work with us, we would get everything submitted as soon as possible. So many people wait on the sidelines to see if a program is successful before taking that leap. But by then, it may be too late. We lived that scenario. Those few phone calls back and forth with Linda set in motion a wonderful path to our daughter. After we got the necessary application sent in, we were introduced to Ally. She carried us the entire way. We were the first family in Adoption Ark’s Ethiopia program. We both learned a lot along the way. Follow the directions you are given, have Ally double check your work. It’s truly as simple as that. Most importantly, get your “to do list” done fast. The wait is so hard. The wait really does not start until your documents reach Ethiopia. The documentation process you have some control over – the waiting time is completely out of your control. Our timeline was about seven months from first contact with Adoption Ark to bringing our daughter home. The staff in Ethiopia was wonderful! We felt like real people. Our case was treated with respect. The staff truly understands the good work they are doing for adoptive families and children needing homes. Never did we feel lost in the process. We arrived in Ethiopia in the middle of the night and were greeted at the airport with a fresh smiling face calling our name. Our in country contact took us under his wing, made us his priority for our entire stay. He waited in a very hot meeting room for our case to be heard, while we enjoyed the cool air outside the American Embassy. He did little things like this to make us more comfortable. When we arrived at the orphanage, all the children greeted him. It looked to me like they were greeting a father. A few days later in the hotel room, we received a surprise phone call, “Hello Kim, its Ally. How are you? How is the baby? Is everything Ok?” What a nice thing to do. I was speechless. Never in a million years would I expect a call like this. We are still in the honeymoon stage with our daughter. Each day is filled with milestones, the little girl we met just 3 weeks ago is transforming before our eyes. She greets her father coming home from work with squeals of excitements. She makes sure mom is kissed a million times before she falls asleep. She hugs her siblings until they fall on the floor! We are totally in love with her. If asked to refer Adoption Ark, I would 100%; they have kept the families and children the most important part in adoption. Sincerely, Kim and Miguel Ortiz

I Want a Mom

Adoption ARK would like to thank all of our ARK Mom's for making this video possible! This Mother's day we celebrate all the Mom's that made the journey into motherhood through international adoption.

Sincerely,

The Team at Adoption ARK