Join us on Saturday, May 17 to raise awareness for adoption
at our third annual Forever Home Adoption Celebration at COSI!
Click here for more info: http://www.ncalp.org/forever_home.htm
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE (click title to jump to the article):
Congratulations to Wendy’s International, number 1 in the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption’s 2008 Best Adoption-Friendly Workplaces in America list!
STATE LAW/Foster Care/Budget Cuts
FLORIDA: “State budget brings ax down on children”
By: Anthony Westbury
ADOPTION/Advocacy
LONG ISLAND: “3 LI companies named as adoption-friendly”
By: Carrie Mason-Draffen
INTERNATIONAL LAW/Adoption
GUATEMALA: “Guatemala halts foreign adoptions”
By: Staff Writer
STATE LAW/Adoption/Reform
COLORADO: “Adoption agencies under fire”
By: Karen Auge
STATE FOSTER CARE SYSTEMS
OREGON: “Oregon foster child likely won’t go to Mexico”
By: The Associated Press
FEATURED NEWS ARTICLE
Congratulations to Wendy’s International, number 1 in the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption’s 2008 Best Adoption-Friendly Workplaces in America list!
The Foundation honors companies with the best adoption benefits for employees by announcing the top 100, the best small, medium and large employers and the leaders of each industry.
"Supporting adoption and helping find permanent, loving homes for foster children was the vision of our founder Dave Thomas," said Kerrii Anderson, chief executive officer and president of Wendy's International, Inc. "There is no finer cause than the support of families who are trying to adopt children, and we are proud that Wendy's has been recognized for our efforts.” Rankings for the list are based on the amount of financial assistance and paid leave provided in adoption benefits packages.
For more information on the Dave Thomas Foundation’s Adoption-Friendly Workplace Program, including how you can help make your own place of business adoption-friendly, go to http://www.davethomasfoundation.org/Our-Work/Adoption-Friendly-Workplace.
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OTHER ARTICLES OF INTEREST
STATE LAW/Foster Care/Budget Cuts
FLORIDA: “State budget brings ax down on children”
By: Anthony Westbury
The Florida State Legislature has proposed a budget which cuts services to children by $18.9 million below last year’s levels, and will cut $30.3 million more needed to pay for a growing number of adoptions and youths too old to stay in foster care. The proposed budget will force higher caseloads on social workers, making it more difficult in an already saturated system to ensure that kids are getting services they require and do not fall through the cracks. The budget also cuts subsidies to adoptive parents of special needs children by $3.8 million. “The Maintenance Adoption Subsidy provides more services for children and that has facilitated more adoptions. There's no greed on the part of parents here. We'll be losing nearly $900,000 a year in funding, " stated Christine Demetriades, the chief executive officer of United For Families. "We're trying to absorb as much as we can, but even looking at the numbers quickly I can foresee a more than $1 million deficit next year. We just cannot go on like this." Other Critics of the proposed budget note that Florida has one of the worst child abuse and neglect records in the nation, and believe the cuts cannot do anything but make a “disgraceful situation” worse.
TCPalm, May 1, 2008
For Full Article Click Here
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ADOPTION/Advocacy
LONG ISLAND: “3 LI companies named as adoption-friendly”
By: Carrie Mason-Draffen
For the second year in a row, three Long Island companies rank among the top 100 businesses nationwide for adoption benefits: United Business Media, Kozy Shack, and OSI Pharmaceuticals. United Business Media offers $15,000 in financial support and two weeks of paid leave; Kozy Shack, a dessert manufacturer, offers $7,000 in benefits and two weeks of paid leave; and OSI Pharmaceuticals offers $5,000 in financial assistance and eight weeks' paid time off. “‘Becoming a new parent is a life-changing event for adoptive parents, too,” said Linda Amper, who heads human resources at OSI. “And we hope that people find this time to be an invaluable bonding experience with their child.’”
Newsday, May 1, 2008
For Full Article Click Here
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INTERNATIONAL LAW/Adoption
GUATEMALA: “Guatemala halts foreign adoptions”
By: Staff Writer
Authorities in Guatemala have suspended the pending adoptions of nearly 2,300 children for at least a month. Officials stated the suspension will allow them to check for irregularities and to ensure that each case is being properly handled. This requires officials to investigate the records and make sure the biological parent’s have consented and that the children are truly their offspring. In some instances this may require a DNA test.
BBC News, May 6, 2008
For Full Article Click Here
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STATE LAW/Adoption/Reform
COLORADO: “Adoption agencies under fire”
By: Karen Auge
Colorado Human Services Department (HSD) has proposed new recommendations for international adoption agencies amidst a state audit of 22 licensed agencies and an investigation by the attorney general’s office into five agencies. The recommendations include changes such as: requiring agencies to provide full disclosure statements describing fees, requiring licensed agencies to be bonded and requiring agencies to keep a certain amount of cash on hand. HSD is also proposing that it be allowed to monitor the business practices and financial health of the adoption agencies operating in Colorado. HSD says these news rules and policies are designed to protect prospective adoptive families and children.
The Denver Post, May 6, 2008
For Full Article Click Here
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STATE FOSTER CARE SYSTEMS
OREGON: “Oregon foster child likely won’t go to Mexico”
By: The Associated Press
The Oregon state Permanency Committee, tasked with deciding if siblings should be kept together, has reconsidered its prior decision to keep Faith Cephus with her two half-siblings who will likely move to Mexico with their grandmother, who is unrelated to Faith. This decision will allow Faith to stay in Oregon with her paternal grandparents. The Committee made the initial decision to keep the children together when the Cephuses told state officials that they could care for Faith but could not afford to care for all three children. However, new information, about which a state Department of Human Services representative declined comment, led the Committee to reconsider its earlier decision. Hearings on the parental rights of Faith’s incarcerated parents will continue this summer.
The Oregonian, May 6, 2008
For Full Article Click Here
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The preceding are summaries of adoption/child welfare law news articles prepared by The National Center for Adoption Law & Policy. These summaries are provided for your information only and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Center. We strive to print news that reflects the diversity of our readership and a variety of viewpoints and approaches to child welfare issues. While we may not agree with a position taken, we believe in the critical importance to our constituents of impartial reporting.
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