Published by - Americans for International Aid and Adoption

Spring 2011
Published by: Americans for International Aid and Adoption
2151 Livernois, Suite 200, Troy, MI 48083
248·362·1207
Fax 248·362·8222
email: info@aiaaadopt.org www.aiaaadopt.org
A Message From the Executive Director
Dear AIAA Families and Supporters:
A lot has happened since our last newsletter more than a year ago. Some of it has been very positive and
some sad and discouraging.
Total placement of children in families has stabilized and increased from a low in 2007 and 2008. Korea and
India are still our predominant placement programs. We are excited to be reopening a Russia Program after
a 5 year hiatus.
AIAA is working on expanding our aid programs in Haiti. Donations have strengthened the services to
children with special needs and our counterpart Korean agency, Social Welfare Society, has made efforts
to support single birth moms who choose to parent their children. Jon and I were privileged to attend
the opening last spring, in Vietnam, of a clinic that AIAA helped build in Ho Chi Minh City for children with
physical and mental challenges.
Unfortunately, three countries that allowed their children to be placed with families outside of their borders,
Guatemala, Vietnam and Nepal, have been closed due to accusations of corruption and child kidnapping
without sincere international efforts to help these countries establish regulations that protect the children
from possibly being exploited. The children needing families did not disappear; they have become more
vulnerable. See the article on Our Lady of Mercy Home in Guatemala.
Twenty eleven is AIAA’s 36th Anniversary. Many of our “children” are now adults with their own families. Adult
adoptees might consider making a donation on the anniversary of the arrival to their new families, or their
parents or grandparents might want to donate in honor of this wonderful addition to their family, so that AIAA
can continue to provide humanitarian services, “one child at a time.”
From the AIAA Board and staff, our best wishes to all of you.
Change of Address for
Parents & Adult Adoptees
Nancy M. Fox
Executive Director
AIAA would like the residence addresses for
all of our adult adoptees so they can receive
our newsletter. If you are planning a move or
have recently changed your address, please
send us your new address and telephone
number, so that we can update our database.
Email us at info@aiaaadopt.org or mail us the
information. We would love to hear from you.
Homeland Discovery Tours
Summer Culture Camps
Listed below are several opportunities for “Homeland Discovery Tours”
which families and adult adoptees might want to explore.
Multi-Cultural Heritage Camps
Knapp Forest Elementary School
4243 Knapp Valley Drive NE
Grand Rapids, MI 49525
SWS Welcome Home Tour #4
This year SWS will conduct its 4th Welcome Home Tour which will
be held August 21-28th. The tour is open to Korean adult adoptees
between the ages of 20 and 35, with priority given to those who have
not visited Korea before. Adult adoptees will be paired with Korean
mentors. For further information, please contact Rosemary Jackson
at rosemary@aiaaadopt.org or call AIAA at (248) 362-1207. Tour
applications may be found on the AIAA website www.aiaaadopt.org ,
click on What’s New on the homepage to access the application.
Applications are due at AIAA Friday, May 20.
Ties Program Adoptive Family Homeland Journeys
Traditional Ties programs are staffed by an adoption professional as
well as an English speaking in-country guide.
Guatemala . . . June 26 – July 7, 2011
India . . . . . . . . December 27, 2011 – January 9, 2012
Vietnam . . . . . December 27, 2011- January 8, 2012 (South-North),
April 5-15, 2012 (north including Sapa)
Korea . . . . . . . June 26 – July 8, 2011
Russia . . . . . . July 30 – August 10, 2011
For information on these and other Ties tours, visit
www.adoptivefamilytravel.com
2012 Roots Family Tour to Korea
The Roots Tour is the combined effort of three agencies in the states,
AIAA being one of them, that have Korean programs through Social
Welfare Society (SWS). On the Roots Family Tour you will travel
throughout Korea, reunite with old friends and make new ones. Typical
itinerary highlights include Gyeongbok Palace tour, Korean Folk Village
tour, visiting the SWS main office and meeting with foster families,
DMZ and 3rd Tunnel tour, visiting Mt. Seorak National Park, Bulguksa
Temple and Seokguram Grotto tours, drive to Busan with free time at
Haeundae Beach, and a traditional music and dance performance at
Korea House.
The 2012 Tour will take place in July. For 2011 the airfare from New
York was $1,700 and the ground tour costs were $2,280 per person.
If you are interested and would like your name to be placed on the
waiting list for further information, please contact Rosemary Jackson at
rosemary@aiaaadopt.org or call AIAA at (248) 362-1207.
Kyung Hee University Korean Language Program
This three week intensive summer program in Korean language will
be held August 1-19 at Kyung Hee University in Seoul. For further
information, please contact Rosemary Jackson at rosemary@
aiaaadopt.org or call AIAA at (248) 362-1207. Applications may be
found on the AIAA website www.aiaaadopt.org , click on What’s New
on the homepage to access the application.
Applications are due at AIAA Friday, June 10.
Heritage Camp is held by Families for International Children (FFIC)
the 3rd full week of June and is a day camp experience that provides
adopted children an opportunity to learn about their birth cultures and
the cultures of others. Interested siblings are welcome.
These multi-cultural camps are for adopted children ages preschool
through 9th grade. Included are Chinese, Korean, Latin American,
Eastern European and African American sessions.
Current camps include:
China Camp
Eastern European Camp
Korea Camp
Latin American Camp
Multi-cultural Preschool Camp
Multi-cultural Teen Camp
For further information, visit www.fficgr.org.
Sae Jong Camp
Sae Jong Camp is a summer camp for children of Korean heritage
held at Camp Westminster on Higgins Lake in central Michigan. At Sae
Jong Camp, campers explore their Korean-American identities, learn
about their Korean heritage, and make lasting friendships.
Two one-week residential sessions held each August (August 7-13) for
Korean children (one session for adoptees 7-17 and one session for
2nd and 3rd-generation and adopted Korean-Americans, 7-17).
Sae Jong Camp
P.O. Box 250632
Franklin, Michigan 48025
(718) 937-1124 (Leave message for Jeanah Hong, Director)
Email: director@saejongcamp.com
For further information, visit www.saejongcamp.com.
Miss Ohio USA Contestant Trishna Helmick
Trishna Helmick is one of our
India adult adoptees who was
adopted by Jack and Georgina
Helmick at the age of 1 in 1989.
She ran for Miss Ohio USA in
2011. Although she did not
win the title, Trishna did make
it into the top 15. An award
of a $30,000 scholarship will
come in handy since she is
currently a student at Berklee
College of Music in Boston with a major in Professional Music. As part
of the pageant requirements, contestants had to choose a charity to
represent and for whom they would provide service efforts. Trishna
chose AIAA.
In addition to being a lovely young woman with many talents, she is
a professional singer, songwriter, and model. Trishna has sung for the
Boston Celtics and many venues in Ohio and the New England area
and has worked with James Taylor’s brother, Livingston Taylor, as well
as Grammy award winner, Raymond Reeder.
Trishna will be graduating this May 2011 from Berklee and will be
moving to NYC to further her performance/singing career.
What’s New with Our AIAA Kids
Gaffner Family –
Diana (3 ½) and
Stuart (1 ½),
children of Scott and
Sandra Gaffner
Derkos Family –
Ryan Kaon Derkos
(20 months), son of
Joe and Kari Derkos,
checking out his soon
to be new home
Rudloff Family Jimmy (21), Julie
(14), Janie (15),
Sam (17), children
of Martin and
Virginia Rudloff.
Laarman Family –
Hilary (21), Michelle (12),
Patrick (25), Andrea (23),
children of Brian and
Gwen Laarman
Bigelow Family –
brothers Ethan (8)
and Jake (2),
sons of Kevin and
Maria Bigelow
Program Updates
KOREA: Open intake for either sex/male. Waiting list for female infants
without significant medical issues. Children with special needs waiting.
EL SALVADOR: Open intake for children, 3+. All ages with medical
issues. Couples/singles. Flexible requirements.
RUSSIA: Open Intake. Looking for families wishing to adopt infants,
toddlers, school age, siblings. Couples/single females.
HUNGARY: Single children, 6+ years, siblings must be open to up
to 8 years. All ages with medical issues. Couples/single females.
Flexible requirements.
BULGARIA: Children at least one year of age at time of referral.
Couples/singles.
INDIA: Closed for NRI/OCI applications for infants with no known
medical issues. Children of all ages with medical special needs, school
age children and sibling groups. One parent must be prepared to
travel. Single females for older and special needs kids.
Welcome Home Experience By Kim Horger
Where The Heart Is By Jacob Yaeger
The Welcome Home program, sponsored by SWS, was a truly
welcoming experience that helped me to connect better with my
Korean identity. I have always felt a great desire to visit my birth
country, but I must admit that the idea of planning a meaningful trip
on my own seemed kind of daunting. I wondered how I would ever
be able to find my way around, order food, or shop for souvenirs
since I don’t comprehend the Korean language. Welcome Home is
a well-organized program that alleviates these issues and provides
adult Korean adoptees the opportunity to
interact with domestic and international
Koreans, experience Korean life, and engage
in multiple aspects of traditional and modern
Korean culture.
In the Detroit Airport I met with my flight companion, Kim, as we
prepared to fly to Korea for Social Welfare Society’s (SWS) Welcome
Home #3 taking place August 22-29, 2010. We would go on to fly
together to Incheon but the experience in Detroit was already feeling
pretty surreal. While we were in the terminal waiting to board, we were
looking for our other companion, Elizabeth. All we could do was laugh
because, without being potentially offensive, we would never find her—
everybody looked like natural citizens of Korea.
The Welcome Home program was a
unique blend of cultural lessons, modern
performances, a 3-day mini trip to the
Korean countryside, public service, and
a file review of our own adoptions. Some
of the international participants had also
prearranged to meet their birth families. We
all learned about SWS and the services
they provide, such as taking care of the
handicapped and elderly, in addition to
adoption support. We made a craft with
children at the AMSA rehabilitation center
and played with babies who were awaiting
adoption at the SWS center.
This was, as an adopted person of a different
ethnicity from their parents will know, a rare
situation. We were actually surrounded by
people who looked like us and nobody could
tell the difference. When we met Elizabeth,
she said something to the effect, “I didn’t
know which ones you were and I wasn’t
about to start yelling your names!” The
strangeness of it all was only beginning and
our adventure was well under way.
SWS hospitality was extraordinary. Our
mini-group met with our cohorts of about
14 people. Little did I know it then but, as
usually happens, those with whom you travel
become family sharing an experience that
we had never had before, together. There
were parts of our lives that I don’t think any
of us really knew about ourselves that we all
discovered, all the while with the support of
each other.
The international Welcome Home
participants were each partnered with a
My experience was perhaps the most
student from a Korean University to become
profound; I met my birth mother. The
our buddy, who would be our guide,
anticipation and expectation built tightly
Jacob Yaeger and Kim Horger
translator, and companion. During each
in my chest for the entire program since I
activity, our buddies helped us to understand
would meet with her after the SWS Tour and
what was spoken in Korean and provided
schedule, with a handful of others as well.
additional insight. We also talked a lot about our daily lives and
common customs among young adults.
When the day came, I was so nervous I couldn’t decide what to wear!
Such a menial thing, but it felt dire. My shirts were dirty and I wore a
For those of us who stayed longer than the one week duration of the
new one that I had bought. She was running late because the public
official program, our buddies tried to be available during the extended
transit was having problems and so I had delays to wait through. I
stay, too. I stayed for three days beyond the program. During this
couldn’t tell anyone what was making me anxious but waiting to see
time, my buddy helped me get a haircut at a famous salon near the
her felt like I was going to give a televised speech about who I really
women’s university, took me to dinner at her parents’ home, and
was. The time came—and she was in a room. I couldn’t believe it.
helped me find and purchase traditional Korean Hanboks.
Behind something as simple as a door, my family was waiting. It had
I will always cherish the time I spent in Korea with the Welcome Home
hit me earlier in the trip that we had never in our adult lives seen our
program and am grateful that I was selected to participate. I know that
blood relatives.
the program helped me learn more about what it’s like to be a part
I entered the room and it was like a massive pressure change in the
of the rich Korean heritage and made my experiences in Korea more
room had occurred. We were hugging and I was (embarrassingly)
comprehensive and interactive than I could have possibly managed on
sweating profusely while we shared our moment. Before we got lunch,
my own as a regular American tourist. Thank you, SWS and AIAA, for
she told me to change my shirt because I was too hot! I did what she
making this experience possible!
told me--she’s my mother…
As an adopted person, strangely enough, it goes unnoticed much of
the time that there is a part of one’s self that is mysterious to our own
knowledge. Over time, it is commonplace incarnate to appear different,
to live in a strange place, and to have personal information be so
readily available to others, but out of grasp to you.
To set my own feet on the soil where I came from brought me closure
(to something) I didn’t know was open.
In Memory of Betty Gorning by Nancy Fox
This is a very difficult article to
write. On March 17th, 2010,
Elizabeth (Betty) Gorning, long
time AIAA Social Worker,
Supervisor, and adoptive parent
died suddenly on a Florida trip
with her husband, Lou.
Betty’s connection with AIAA
goes back to our beginnings and,
actually, earlier than that. She was
Jon’s and my caseworker when
we adopted our daughter from
Vietnam. During the years when
we were a liaison organization
in the corner of the Fox family room, Betty was the Social Worker.
Without her guidance and support, AIAA would never have happened.
Later she became a Supervisor but her greatest love was placing
children with special needs.
Betty and her
husband, Lou,
adopted their
daughter, Amanda,
in 1977 from Korea
at the age of 2.
Birth son, Steven,
followed in 1978.
Eventually Betty
left AIAA to pursue
other employment
but she never lost
her connection to
the agency, the
staff, and the
adoptive parents
and children for
whom she helped
find families.
Betty experienced
the joy of seeing
both of her
children graduate
from college,
begin exciting
Amanda and Pascale Elizabeth
careers, and
marry - Amanda to Sean and Steven to Diane. A little over two years
ago, Amanda gave birth to Betty and Lou’s first grandchild, Pascale
Elizabeth, the love of their lives.
In Betty’s memory, a fund has been established to help with the
expenses for the special needs children at Social Welfare Society.
If you would like to make a donation, please send a check to the
AIAA office and indicate that it is in Betty’s honor. As always, no
administrative fees will be charged.
Betty will always remain in the hearts of those of us who loved and
admired her, and those who thank her for creating their family.
Aid Program in Need of Your Help
Our Lady of Mercy Children’s Home in Guatemala
AIAA has been involved in supporting this Children’s Home for more
than 10 years. We did 5 adoptions but our major commitment has
been to the children who are sent to the Hogar by the Family Courts
but without any financial support.
Now that international adoption has
been discontinued in Guatemala,
many of the children’s homes have
been closed but the children without
families have not disappeared.
Presently, there are 18 children, 1 ½
to 6 years that have been referred to
from the Family Court and with no
support from the Government.
Mery Garcia, the Director, and her
daughter, Martha, struggle every day
to care for these children. Without
AIAA’s support, the Hogar would be
closed and the children turned over to
the Government facility. We don’t want that to happen.
A preschool program for Down’s Syndrome children whose parents
would pay tuition is planned but major renovations were required, such
as installing new windows and upgrading bathrooms. Fortunately, the
generosity of one of our incredible benefactors has helped pay for
some of the renovation but more needs to be done and the school
supplied with educational and therapeutic equipment. However, it
now appears that Mrs. Garcia will not be able to receive her license
until the first of the year.
Until then, AIAA has to raise the more than $2,000 a month needed to
continue with the rent of a second house and to feed the children.
If you adopted from Guatemala, this is a way to honor your child. If you
just care about children in need, this is a way to give back for all your
family has.
As always, AIAA takes no administrative expenses out of our donations.
Every cent is used for the cause.
Workplace Giving - A Child is Adopted/
Americans for International Aid and Adoption*
Payroll deduction is the easiest way to support your favorite charities
on a regular basis. A Child is Adopted/Americans for International
Aid & Adoption is a member of Children’s Charities of America
Federation (CCA). The Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) takes
place each fall for federal employees. Please consider making a
pledge to us. Many employers offer a similar program for their
employees and permit you to choose your favorite charity. Please
consider A Child is Adopted/AIAA.
If you are A Child is Adopted/Americans for International Aid and
Adoption donor or you are considering becoming one, you may be
eligible to double your gift through your employer’s matching gift
program. Many companies today match monetary support to nonprofit organizations that are supported by their employees. Check with
your employer to see if a program is available to you.
If your company does not have an employee giving program, or if you
would like to include us in your existing campaign, please ask the
person responsible for your workplace giving program to contact Jodie
Richers: onechilds@aol.com or 404-307-2901(cell ).
*Our DBA (Doing Business As) for fundraising
Americans for International
Aid and Adoption
2151 Livernois, Suite 200
Troy, MI 48083
Return Service Requested
Certificate of Citizenship Update
Effective January 20, 2004, all children entering the U.S. on an
IR-3 visa will automatically be mailed a Certificate of Citizenship
within approximately 4 weeks after immigration. This does not apply
to children entering the U.S. under an IR-4 visa or for children who
entered the U.S. before January 20, 2004.
For children entering under an IR-4 visa, you must still apply for
a Certificate of Citizenship AFTER adoption/readoption requirements
are met.
It is imperative that all foreign-born adopted children have a Certificate
of Citizenship issued by USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Service). Do not rely on a U.S. Passport for proof of citizenship.
Check Out Our Website at: www.aiaaadopt.org
The best way to stay connected with AIAA is through our website.
It features Who We Are, Program Descriptions, Requirements
and Latest Updates, Contact Us and a What’s New section for
events, articles, book reviews, adoptee surveys,
aid projects and much more.
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Update Regarding Letters and Packages
to and from Korea
There have been a few changes regarding procedures for your items
going to Korea. They will still come to AIAA, but the $20 fee for the
processing/translation of letters has been eliminated, as has the $25
fee for packages. From now on there is no charge. For the complete
set of GUIDELINES please go to our website: www.aiaaadopt.org,
click on What’s New, and scroll down to REVISED GUIDELINES
FOR LETTERS AND PACKAGES TO KOREA.
Also, regarding letters and packages coming from Korea via Social
Welfare Society, for families whose adoptions are finalized, these will
no longer be sent to AIAA and processed here. SWS will notify us that
they have a letter/package for a particular family and ask us to verify
the contact information. At that time we will do our best to reach you
to let you know that a letter/package is being sent from Korea. After
this time, items for your family will be sent directly without notification.
Only the two agencies will have your contact information. For families
in supervision, items will be forwarded from AIAA as before. We ask
that you keep AIAA updated regarding any changes to your address
and phone numbers.
If you have questions, call Jan Adler in Post Adoption at
(248) 362-1207 or email her at: jan@aiaaadopt.org.
She is in the office on Monday and Wednesday.