Winter 2009
Happy Holidays!
This issue of our e-newsletter is intended to be a celebration of our agency's accomplishments over this past year. We asked each member of our Leadership Team to write about one outstanding fact or achievement from their perspective. Below are their stories - we hope you enjoy them!
From Pete Leppanen, President and CEO
Since our inception in 1974, the fate of orphaned children around the world has been subject to political agendas and changing political winds. Year after year, we have seen countries close to international adoption or reform their policies. In some cases, these changes have served the best interests of children, while in others; the harm has far outweighed any stated benefit.
Nothing makes us sadder than to see a country close for adoption when we realize there are many, many children in desperate need that we will not be able to help. As an adoptive parent, I know this only too well. My wife and I were able to successfully adopt the last child through Wide Horizon's Moldova program before it was forced to close. We shudder at the thought of her fate had we applied one month later, and we cannot bear to think about the other children we met in the orphanage when Moldovan adoptions stopped.
Adding to the frustration is our government's passive approach to international child welfare. Anyone who has ever applied for an orphan visa realizes that international adoption is treated as an immigration issue. Our foreign aid has been largely limited to disaster relief, with little funding to directly help children. Even under the newly enacted Hague Treaty, the US has limited its focus to treaty compliance rather than using it as a springboard for a more comprehensive approach to international child welfare.
However this year, something extraordinary happened. Legislation was introduced in Congress requiring US foreign policy to take an advocacy position in support of helping every child find a permanent, loving home. For the first time, agencies such as Wide Horizons will share a common agenda with our government! This focus on "child permanency" should make it much easier for child welfare organizations to work side-by-side with our State Department.
Foreign governments should welcome this policy, as it is more compatible with their own child welfare priorities. The first focus will be family preservation - finding ways to assist families to stay together and prosper. Our sponsorship and family empowerment programs are good examples of those types of efforts. The second focus will help children who do not have families to be adopted in their native country. Only when a child is unable to find a family locally, will the third focus, adoption by a family from another county, be appropriate.
It is my hope that this legislation may help to de-politicize international adoption. If all parties are focused on the same goal - the best interests of each child - we should have a better chance to seek the most appropriate permanent solution for the world's orphans, including those for whom international adoption is the best alternative.
An eye on the children who need us This year marks my twentieth year of service to children at Wide Horizons. I have done a lot of reflecting this past year on the changes that I've seen internationally over my tenure, especially in relation to the rapidly changing landscape of child welfare practices in the United States and many other countries. Change is hard. Change can be disappointing and it can also be wonderful. It is almost always hard to manage. I was talking with my brother-in-law the other day about stress in the workplace as he contemplates a new position at the prominent biotech firm that employs him. He asked me how I do it. How do I manage the stress of trying to help so many children in need when there are so many obstacles in the way? When there are too many children who need families in the world, but only a very few of them will ever be placed in adoption? When governments and global child welfare organizations criticize intercountry adoption but offer few alternatives to address the current critical orphan crisis? Are my efforts a fruitless drop in the bucket? Why should I bother to take three steps forward when I am then forced to take two steps backward? Read more at www.whfc.org |
The Changing Face of Adoption Thirty years ago the face of adoption was predominantly white and newborn. Gradually, with changes in laws and societal norms, that face began to disappear in the United States... but not around the world. These babies however, had a different face. Eager adoptive families asked themselves "can we love a child with a different face?" Hundreds of families answered yes and babies arrived from Korea, South America and Latin America.
Read more at www.whfc.org |
Twenty years ago some of those faces disappeared, but new faces arrived. While not young infants, some of these faces were also not "so different." Families not previously open to international adoption asked themselves, can we love a "foreign" born child? Thousands of families said yes to young children from Eastern Europe. And when the need for families for abandoned infant girls from China rang around the world, tens of thousands of families answered the call.Bumps in the road
by Jane Miller, Regional Director
As we consider WHFC successes and accomplishments, we center on our most precious clients, the children we serve. While many of our children transition seamlessly from country to adoptive home, there are, unfortunately, occasions when there are bumps in the road, and some more serious than others.
One such special situation came under the care of the New York office. Several months ago, through our international adoption program, a slight and shy five-year-old boy came home to his adoptive mom. (For the purpose of anonymity , we'll call him Michael.)
Unfortunately, and with great personal grief, the adoptive mother realized that Michael was not meant to be her child, and that another family would be best suited to have him be part of their family. A chain of events unfolded that would reveal both the adoptive mother's courage, as well as the dedication and commitment of WHFC staff to secure an adoptive home for Michael.
Read more at www.whfc.org
Seeing the Past
by Maryanne Ludwig, Director of Placement Services
32 children run around engaged in various games and conversations. Colombia, South Korea, China, Guatemala, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Ethiopia are all represented. Some remark to their parents that they are happy to know children from other countries - children who are "like them!" Others are so newly arrived that everyone is still celebrating their adoption.
Certainly, this could describe any number of events hosted by WHFC over the years. However, this family picnic is far from the Waltham office - it is in Tallahassee, Florida. Ten years ago, WHFC began efforts to formalize working with families at a distance from our offices in New England, New York and New Jersey. When we began that work, there was a strong commitment to making certain the values we had developed around supporting families throughout the process and assisting children in need would be maintained. Part of the solution was to travel and get to know agencies with whom we might partner throughout the nation. Florida, in particular Tallahassee, was one of the first communities we reached out to in those early years.
And this community has grown. Some of the families chose WHFC because of our variety of programs. Others researched extensively and felt drawn to WHFC for individual reasons. Some chose WHFC because of a friend's referral. And some simply chose WHFC because Miss Helen, their local social worker, told them to.
Read more at www.whfc.org.
Behind the Scenes One of the first things I noticed when I began working at Wide Horizons is that staff really want to work here. Our mission is very compelling, and goes a long way to "selling" the agency as a great place to work and to lifting staff morale during long and stressful days. In very obvious ways, our program, clinical and humanitarian aid staff have a direct and immediate connection to this mission and the children we are trying to help. In less obvious ways, there are a number of staff that work behind the scenes keeping the agency running on a day to day basis, that have just as real an impact on making sure we are successful in helping every child we possibly can. I see examples of this on a daily basis working with our admin team. It is no surprise to anyone that the paperwork part of the adoption process can be daunting for clients to get through. State, federal, and foreign regulations and requirements keep changing, often with little or no notice. Increasing wait times make it necessary to continually keep documents up to date and file extensions. The admin team is very aware of how difficult it is for our clients to navigate this maze and they continually strive to stay one step ahead of the game, adapting processes mid-stream in order to keep pace with these changes, and make sure we have the most current and accurate information. Read more at www.whfc.org |
Helping Children and Families in Need Adoption is expensive. And, as is the case everywhere this past year, adoption has been affected by the economy. Families who want to adopt are struggling to a greater degree with the decision of whether to proceed due to the finances involved. When I think about the mission of Wide Horizons For Children, and of our commitment to helping children and families worldwide, I am grateful that we have financial assistance options for families. Since 1993, WHFC has offered financial assistance to qualifying families in the form of subsidies. These subsidies are based on the adopting family's need for financial support in order to complete an adoption. In the past year, WHFC awarded over $50,000 in subsidies to 16 families and children. Among the children who now have families, in part due to the subsidy award, are:
Read more at www.whfc.org |
Humanitarian Aid: Our Unsung Heroes
From Janice Hoffman, Chief Operating Officer
There are many wonderful traditions during the holiday season. For WHFC, one of our most important seasonal initiatives is our Annual Appeal for humanitarian aid. We reach out to our large network of friends and families each year and ask them to join us in our mission to help some of the world's most vulnerable children. The generous response we receive year after year - always uplifting -is now, more important than ever. With adoptions declining around the world, there are fewer resources available for orphaned, abandoned and other at-risk children. Historically, fees paid by adopting families have helped to subsidize the cost of caring for children who will never be adopted, including special needs and older children. With the steep decrease in placements we are faced with a double-edged sword: no funding or less funding is available to caregivers in developing countries and more children need institutional care because fewer options are available.
This is a tremendously sad scenario and while it might be easy to lose heart, instead I am struck humble by the generosity and vision of our parent volunteers who have stepped in to partner with us to make change happen. This year we sent two medical missions to Ethiopia, completely staffed by volunteers who donated their time and paid their way. They worked in extremely difficult circumstances to save lives, train local doctors and begin community healthcare programs.
Read more at www.whfc.org.
Published by Wide Horizons for Children, Inc. 38 Edge Hill Road, Waltham, MA 02451
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