SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE

FOR CLEVELAND CONFERENCE

     The AAC is proud to announce the 2009 scholarship program to help some of our most active volunteers to attend the conference in Cleveland, Transforming Families, Connecting Lives.

     If you have never attended an AAC conference, please consider this life-changing experience. You will hear some of the most prominent speakers in adoption today, meet AAC state reps and board members in person. Most importantly,you will learn, share, cry, laugh, and make memories you may never forget.

     All AAC members are eligible to complete a scholarship application. Winners will be determined by the AAC Scholarship Committee. These awards will be publicly acknowledged during the conference. They will serve to recognize individuals who have made, and will continue to make, significant contributions to the AAC and adoption reform in the coming year. Board members are not eligible for scholarships, and scholarship winners are not permitted additional presenter discounts.

     The AAC will provide up to four registration subsidies of $200 each. The funds for these scholarships come from our silent auction at the conference. Scholarship winners will need to pay a $125 net registration fee if they register early, instead of the normal $325 early registration fee. Each room at the Hilton Garden Inn is $129 per night – that is only $33 plus tax per night, for quad occupancy, or $66 per night plus tax for double occupancy. For attendees staying at the conference hotel, registration includes full breakfast. Full conference registrations include daily breaks on each day, the awards lunch on Friday, and the receptions on Wednesday and Saturday evening.

     Completed application forms (a link to the form is on the AAC's web site) should be sent to Patricia Lubarsky, AAC Vice President, at PL9706@aol.com, or by postal mail at 12706 Creekview Dr, #155, San Diego, CA 92128-5685 by January 31, 2009. The Scholarship Committee consists of the AAC's president, vice president, and membership chair. Award winners will be notified by February 28, 2009.

     Award winners will register for the conference and pay the registration fee by the end of the early registration period, Feb. 28, 2009. They may register prior to or after announcement of the winners.

     Award winners will be asked to complete volunteer assignments during the conference. The AAC always needs volunteers to help on the registration desk, in the book room, and as workshop monitors. You will be expected to volunteer for eight hours during the conference. Some of that time may be as a monitor in a workshop that you are planning to attend. The AAC's treasurer will provide the $200 rebate within ten days of the end of the conference.

     Donations to the silent auction in Cleveland will be used to fund future conference scholarships. Please consider making a donation to the silent auction, so we can keep this valuable program going. Gift cards make excellent donations for the silent auction, and incur minimal mailing costs. Please contact Eileen McQuade, the AAC's President, at Eileen2155@gmail.com, or by postal mail at 2155 Ocean Blvd. #22, Delray Beach, FL 33483, if you would like to make a donation or request additional information.

     To apply for a scholarship, please click on this link:

     www.americanadoptioncongress.org/national_conferences.php#scholarship

AROUND THE AMERICAN

ADOPTION CONGRESS

     Please welcome Gene Sperring as the AAC’s new Northern California State Representative.

     Sperring learned about the AAC while serving on the board of the Post Adoption Center for Education and Research (PACER). An adoptive parent, he is interested in working on adoption reform, specifically on access-to-information legislation in California. Sperring and his wife, Cathie, adopted two children as infants, a boy and a girl.

     In the past three years, Colleen Buckner, an AAC member and active searcher, found the birth mothers of the Sperrings' son and daughter.

     According to Sperring, “We have a wonderful, loving relationship with a huge family in Denver for my son, and we’re working on a connection for my daughter. It’s been work, it will be work, but with this fine adoption community that we are involved with, it will be good for all.”

      A retired 8th grade science and health education teacher, Sperring missed his classes and students. “As good a teacher as I was, being aware of my students’ needs and individualities and always treating them with respect, I must admit I was a ‘sleeper’ with my own son and daughter, who we adopted as babies.”

     Much has been learned since then, as Sperring observed: “I’m fully aware that I’m joining a wonderful and very responsible group of people in America.”

      Gene and Cathie Sperring live in Sonoma, California, where their hobby is winemaking.

A WEB SITE WORTH THE VISIT

    KAAN, the Korean American Adoptee Adoptive Family Network, is December's featured web site.

     According to KAAN's homepage: "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 mission, as stated on its web site is to "support networking and build understanding among Adoptees, Adoptive Families, Koreans And Korean Americans."

    To that end, KAAN holds an annual conference in a different city each year. In 2008, KAAN's annual conference was held in Chicago. Previous host cities have been Los Angeles; Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey; Seattle; Minneapolis; Arlington, Virginia; San Francisco; Detroit; Seoul, Korea; and Boston.

     KAAN is run entirely by volunteers. Attendees of its annual conference have come from across the U.S., Canada, Asia, Europe and Australia. KAAN can be contacted at:

P.O. Box 5585
El Dorado Hills, CA 95762
916 - 933-1447

KAAN's web address is

www.kaanet.com