Please Advocate for Vietnam Adoptions

JOINT COUNCIL URGES CONGRESSIONAL PARTICIPATION IN INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTION BRIEFING

The Congressional Coalition on Adoption has invited the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to conduct a briefing of Congressional Members and Staff on issues related to intercountry adoption in Vietnam, Guatemala along with issues related to intercountry adoption in general. The briefing is scheduled for this Friday, August 1, 2008 in the U.S. Capitol Building, LBJ Room at 10:00 a.m.

Given the pending suspension of intercountry adoption and related services in Vietnam and the continuing issues of concern in Guatemala, Joint Council urges participation by all Congressional Members or Staff. It is critically important that Members of Congress and their Staff participate in the U.S. Government’s role in international children’s services, specifically intercountry adoption. Given the impact of current issues on children and families, Joint Council urges 100% participation by Congressional offices in this very important briefing.

In order to gain the largest possible participation, please choose to contact your Congressional Representatives and Senators and urge them to participate in the briefing by sending a staff member or Member themselves.

Contact information for U.S. Senator’s offices can be found at http://www.senate.gov/.
Contact information for U.S. Representatives offices can be found at http://www.house.gov/.

If you choose to contact your representatives, please do so today by email or phone call, and request that they send Staff to Friday’s briefing.

This briefing follows the briefing conducted for Congressional Staff last Friday, July 25th by child advocates and experts including Joint Council. These briefings and continuing participation by Members of Congress in the ongoing issues related to international children’s services is critically important to the continuation of intercountry adoption as a viable solution for children in need.



(source: Faith Internation Adoptions Agency)

2008 Best Adoption-Friendly Workplaces

The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption has compiled the 2008 Best Adoption-Friendly Workplaces List. They are listed in order of benefits received by adoptive families.

1 Wendy's International, Inc.

2. Citizens Financial Group

3. United Business Media

4. Timberland

5. Barilla America, Inc.

6. Subaru of America, Inc.

7. JPMorgan Chase

8. Avon Products, Inc.

9 Franklin International

10-Tie American Century Investments

10-Tie Fannie Mae

10-Tie SAP

10-Tie South Mountain Company

14 The McGraw-Hill Companies

15 The Phoenix Companies, Inc.

16 Abbott

17 General Mills

18 Leo Burnett & Arc USA

19 MetLife
20 Prudential Financial, Inc.
21 TAP Pharmaceutical Products Inc.

22 Eli Lilly and Company

23 Freddie Mac

24 Merrill Lynch & Company, Inc.
25 Bank of America

26 Cephalon

27 Johnson Financial Group

28 Kao Brands Company
29 LSI Corporation $
30 Sullivan & Cromwell LLP

31 The Hershey Company
32 Quality Custom Cabinetry, Inc.

33 Duke Realty Corporation

34 Alston & Bird, LLP
35 Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption

Upcoming Asian Events in Chicago

Chicago Dragon Boat Race for Literacy: Saturday, July 26, 2008

Come and experience the excitement as teams compete in a fast paced race along the south branch of the Chicago River at Ping Tom Memorial Park on beautifully decorated dragon boats.

Explore music, food and crafts as well as performances from cultural centers all across Chicago. Each year, approximately 10,000 visitors attend this enjoyable day-long event.

Proceeds of this year's race will go to the Chicago Public School system, Office of Culture and Diversity in the Chicago Board of Education to help promote culture and diversity.

Click here to sign-up for the Dragon Boat Race for Literacy by completing the Contribution Form.

For more information, contact the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce at (312) 326-5320 .

Korean Street Festival:

Sat. August 9 : 11 a.m. - 10 p.m. (Opening Ceremony starts at 4 p.m.)

Sun. August 10 : 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.

The 13th annual cultural event stretches along Bryn Mawr Avenue, from Kedzie to Kimball Avenues, and features a mix of traditional and contemporary Korean entertainment on two stages, such as dancing and drumming, martial arts demonstrations, live music and Ssireum (Korean style wrestling). A taste of Korean food stationed in booths. There are also Korean restaurants, cafes and stores to visit on Bryn Mawr Avenue.

http://chicago.metromix.com/events/fair_festival/korean-street-festival-north-center-sauganash/365988/content

Korean American Adoptee & Adoptive Family Network Conference

One hundred thousand Korean children have been adopted into the United States. With their extended families, they form a Korean adoption community of over two million.

KAAN’s primary project is an annual national conference in a different city each year. This annual coming together allows all attendees to feel part of a national adoption community. In fact conference attendees come from all over the United States, Canada, Asia, Europe and Australia.
KAAN offers national support and guidance, but the KAAN Conference belongs to the community where it is held. Through the process of hosting a conference, it is hoped that the local organizations will be strengthened and the local connections among adoptive families, adult adoptees, Koreans, and Korean Americans will be enhanced.

For nine years KAAN has supported community development through its conferences: KAAN Conferences have been held in Los Angeles, California; Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey; Seattle, Washington; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Arlington, Virginia; San Francisco, California; Detroit, Michigan; Seoul Korea; and Boston, Massachusetts.

This year’s conference will be held in Chicago, Illinois. Please support this wonderful initiative by either attending the conference or joining them at the Gala Dinner event on Saturday, July 19th. Tickets are $50.00

KAAN is entirely run by volunteers with no paid staff. All funds raised go to support the KAAN Conference.

More details are available at http://www.kaanet.com/