Blog

You are cordially invited to attend our annual picnic: When: Sunday, September 20th 1-4pm Where: Forest Park Shelter #1, 701 Cicero Road, Noblesville (map) What: Meet others who have adopted and share stories, food, and fun Who: Open to anyone who is interested in adoption or orphan care Please RSVP by emailing Sonja. We will ...

The Nationalities Council of Indiana has released their calendar of ethnic events for August 2009. This can be an excellent way for you to celebrate multi-culturalism in your community and share some quality time as a family. Here are some highlights from the recent “Ethnic Hoosier” newsletter: August 8 Dr. James Makubuya presents a workshop ...

In a recent episode of “16 and Pregnant”, a MTV show documenting the lives of pregnant teens, Catelynn made the decision to place her child for adoption. Catelynn and her boyfriend Tyler made this courageous decision despite the surprising lack of support from friends and family. Catelynn’s mother even purchased baby cloths and a bassinet, ...

With children in your home, after struggling through infertility issues, and/or after waiting for an adoption to be finalized, it can be easy to focus on your children, perhaps more than you focus on your marriage. It is important to be an attentive parent, and children can take a lot of energy and time, regardless ...

My name is Bobbie Brooks and I never really planned to be a mother. I was on a career path in tv news, but when I took over as producer of Eyewitness News at Noon on Channel 13, everything changed. The show had a feature called, “Thursday’s Child”. Each week, we would tell the story ...

The Nationalities Council of Indiana has released their calendar of ethnic events for July/August This can be an excellent way for you to celebrate multi-culturalism in your community and share some quality time as a family. Here are some highlights from the recent “Ethnic Hoosier” newsletter: July 6-August 7 Second Annual Chinese Culture Camp will ...

During their annual convention held this year in Louisville, Kentucky on June 23rd & 24th, the largest Protestant denominational group, the Southern Baptists, passed a resolution proposed by Dr. Russell Moore on adoption and orphan care. This is a landmark step for Christians worldwide and one step closer to recognizing the orphan crisis and providing ...

Many parents considering adoption, consider “going it alone” with the thought that money could be saved navigating the foreign adoption process themselves. Many horror stories of these brave individuals have resulted. The following is a brief summary of how using an adoption agency such as “MLJ”, can save the prospective adoptive parent worry, time and ...

Re-adoption is the process by which an international adoption is reviewed and processed by a court in your state of residence, issuing a final adoption order. This process is a requirement in the case of a child who enters the US on an IR-4 visa. Under USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) regulations, children who ...

We have enjoyed sharing, supporting, and learning through twitter. We have met some wonderful people and inspiring guest bloggers (Diane, Kimberly, Scott, Lindsey). Part of the fun of twitter is taking it ‘off-line’ and meeting ‘in real life’ for a "tweet-up". We want to sponsor an adoption "tweet-up"; although all are invited, we anticipate only ...

The following is a summary of the JCICS report titled: “Guatemala One Year Later”, published on February 4, 2009. To read the full report please visit: www.jcics.org. On January 1, 2008, Guatemala implemented the Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption. This move was intended to answer the allegations of corruption, child trafficking and other unethical adoption ...

The Nationalities Council of Indiana has released their calendar of ethnic events for June. This can be an excellent way for you to celebrate multi-culturalism in your community and share some quality time as a family. Here are some highlights: June 7-14 Fort Wayne Germanfest at Headwaters Park in downtown Fort Wayne. More information June ...

Have you made plans for Father’s Day yet? If your dad is like mine, he is going to love the idea of getting desert from Wendy’s. My father has a heart for children and says that most of his best friends are under 4 feet tall. He looks forward to his turn to work with ...

While there are many agencies who brand themselves as full service adoption agencies, most of them lack the legal expertise that an attorney can offer. Adoption is a process that in nature is both social and legal. Adoption enables children in need to be cared for in a loving home, by legally transferring all parental ...

A continuation of Sonja’s discussion of compassion Many use the excuse that they cannot afford to adopt a child. In truth, there are many programs, grants, and loans available to adopting parents as well as the federal adoption tax credit. If there is a will there is a way. For most of us then, there ...

It is a generally accepted belief that if everyone in the world had more compassion and love, that the world would be a much better place. Another widely held belief is that our children are our future. Which leads me to this question. If we are all in agreement of these two statements, then why ...

Find the first part of Lindsey’s story in Part 1. Supporting birthmothers on Birthmother’s Day and Mother’s Day is easy. We treat them and honor them just as we would any mother. We make sure a card with a little surprise arrives (jewelry, flowers, chocolates, etc.) at their door on Saturday morning. We make sure ...

We are excited to have Lindsey Redfern contribute to our blog. She will tell her own story, but you can find more articles and adoption information at her blog. As a sterile woman, Mother’s Day was always a hard day to handle. My house was quiet. My arms were empty. I was full of hope, ...

We are so thrilled to have Kimberly Leclercq as a guest blogger and twitter friend. Kimberly is a single mother who adopted her son from Guatemala in 2008. She is currently in process of adopting a daughter from Ethiopia. Kimberly is the author of a book for any woman who has experienced or is experiencing ...