International Adoption Links
Thank you for visiting the International page on the American Adoption Congress’ Website.
International adoptees often report that it is helpful to connect with other individuals adopted from the same country.
Web links are arranged alphabetically, by continent and country, on this page.
PLEASE NOTE: THESE WEB LINKS ARE PROVIDED AS AN INFORMATIONAL SERVICE BY THE AAC. THE AAC NEITHER PROMOTES NOR ENDORSES ANY GROUPS OR INDIVIDUALS THAT MAY BE LINKED FROM THIS PAGE.
Please return often, to take full advantage of all the resources available through these Web links. Thank you for taking the time to visit the American Adoption Congress’ Website and international page.
AFRICA | ASIA | EUROPE |
NORTH AMERICA |
http://afaad.wordpress.com
Adopted and Fostered Adults of the African Diaspora
Mission statement: “AFAAD is a nonprofit organization connecting, supporting, and advocating for the needs of the African Diasporic adoption and foster community on a global level, through community outreach, political work, research/scholarship and social gatherings.”
Ethiopian Adoption Connection
Ethiopian Adoption Connection (EAC) is a free, grassroots effort to reconnect family members separated by adoption. To achieve these goals, EAC provides an online database, utilizes its networks in the adoption community, and reaches out to communities in Ethiopia. EAC provides local support groups for Ethiopian mothers who lost children to adoption
Asian Adult Adoptees of Washington state (USA)
Stated purpose: Asian Adult Adoptees of Washington is a resource that provides mentoring, fellowship and educational opportunities for Asian/Pacific adoptees and the community. Based in Seattle, AAAW is a Federal 501 (c)3 status non-profit organization comprised of an all volunteer Board of Directors.
Established in 2006, to connect ethnic Chinese adoptees worldwide
www.halfthesky.org
This site is maintained by a group of adoptive parents of Chinese-born children. These adoptive parents support orphanages in China for children who are not living with any families.
Statement from website:
"For the children who will never be adopted, Half the Sky programs are the closest thing they will ever receive to the love and support of a birth family. Orphanage caregivers are too often over-worked and under-trained. Too often, there is no one else to provide the children with the developmental opportunities (and love!) that every child needs and deserves. Thousands of children are now enrolled in Half the Sky’s four programs that provide love and hope for children living in China’s orphanages."
www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/pard.htm
Article entitled: “The Paradox of Inter Country Adoption”
www.filipino-adoptees-network.org
Forums and news articles of interest to adoptees from the Philippines
Korean American Adoptee Adoptive Family Network
Mission statement: “KAAN's mission is to support networking and build understanding among Adoptees, Adoptive Families, Koreans And Korean Americans.”
Korean-born, adult adoptees in Minnesota, USA
Mission statement: “The mission of AK Connection is to be a resource for adult Korean adoptees by providing information and building a supportive community.”
GOAL - Global Overseas Adoptees Link
From Website: “G.O.A.'L was established in Seoul, Korea in March 1998 as an independent organization to assist returning adoptees.”
thehankoreh
Newspaper column written by an adult South Korean Adoptee, “Why does South Korea keep exporting babies?”
Adoptee Solidarity Korea (ASK)
Adoptee Solidarity Korea, (ASK)
Website statement: “Our mission is to address the problems associated with Korean overseas adoption. Through education and activism, we aim to raise awareness, advocate change, and support alternatives to inter country adoption.
Holt Babies
This site was founded by an adult adoptee who came from Korea through Holt International. She, and other Korean-born adult adoptees, grew disillusioned with Holt's passive birth family registry. They established their own voluntary registry, entirely separate from Holt. This site contains photos, YouTube video clips, and written entries in both Korean and English.
Statement of purpose from website:
"Frustrated by the passive registry system at Holt which we can not check, and the poor utilization of other registries buried in some Korean websites, I wanted to create a means by which all Holt adoptees can visibly broadcast their information onto the internet. Regardless of whether you’re actively searching or not, it will be a wonderful document to see how all of us (there’s approx. 200,000 of us!) have grown from then to now…"
Vietnam
Adopted Vietnamese International
From Website: “This volunteer cooperative which aims to act as one of the virtual 'homes' for adoptees was launched on the 25th Anniversary of Operation Babylift - April 30th, 2000
From Website: “A blog by three adult Vietnamese adoptees as they move forward, reflect back and express their thoughts on just about everything in between.”
Site for adult adoptees from the Sancta Maria Orphanage in Saigon, Vietnam
AUSTRALIA
Inter-Country Adoptee Support Network
New South Wales, Australia
Vision statement from Website: “The Inter-Country Adoptee Support Network (ICASN) has been set up to provide support to Adoptees who have been adopted cross-culturally. The term Inter-Country Adoptee (ICA) generally refers to those who are raised in a country of origin different to their country of birth but will be used loosely within ICASN to include any adoptee who experiences cross-cultural aspects of adoption.”
Eastern Europe
www.unicef.org/ceecis/Guidance_note_Intercountry_adoption.pdf
UNICEF’s Guidance Note on inter country adoption in the Baltics' region of Europe
Introduction: Inter country adoption involves the transfer of a child from his or her country of origin (or of habitual residence) to another country where he or she will live with the adoptive parents, and implies the total and definitive rupture of his or her relationship with the biological family.”
Greece
Mutual consent registry for Greek-born adoptees
Russia
United Kingdom
http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/intl/CAN/BRITISHHOMECHILDREN.html
Statement of purpose: “A mailing list for anyone who has a genealogical interest in the 100,000 British Home Children - alleged orphans - who were emigrated to Canada by 50 child care organizations 1870-1948.”
Canada
Canadian Adoptees Registry - www.canadianadopteesregistry.org
A volunteer-run organization that provides free search resources for adoptees and birth families. Website includes a searchable database, plus links to reunion registries and forms for provincial and territorial governments.
Canadian Council of Natural Mothers
Statement from website:
"The Canadian Council of Natural Mothers honours using the terms, mother, mothers and motherhood as natural representations of ourselves and other mothers who have lost children to adoption. These natural terms are often denied to us by others in the loss of our babies and children to adoption. We recognize that some mothers choose to use labels of differentiation such as life mother, first mother, birth mother or birth mother, and birth parents. Also, some choose to use labels of differentiation for other natural relatives, such as birth father, natural father, birth son, birth daughter, and birth siblings."
Forget Me Not Family Society
Mission and purpose, as stated on website:
"Forget Me Not Family Society is a provincially registered, non-profit society and a federally registered charity (88908-4869-RR0001). Tax receipts are issued for donations to our Society.
What We Offer
Experience shows that at various times in life, the issues and concerns of adoption need to be addressed. We provide our members with opportunities to gain further understanding of adoption issues through:
-- Conducting a monthly support group in New Westminster, BC, Canada
-- Internet "chat" support group (every 4th Wednesday of the month, from 8-9pm Pacific time.)
-- Individual peer support
-- Resource library
-- Referrals to professionals and other service groups
-- Speakers Bureau to educate groups on post-adoption issues
-- Quarterly Newsletter"
Adoption Council of Canada
Statement from website:
"The Adoption Council of Canada (ACC) is the umbrella organization for adoption in Canada. Based in Ottawa, the ACC raises public awareness of adoption, promotes placement of waiting children and stresses the importance of post-adoption services. Our services include a quarterly newsletter, a resource library, referrals, and conference planning."
United States (including transracial and mixed race people)
www.karensadoptionlinks.com/adoptee.html
Extensive links to personal stories and articles by transnational and transracial adoptees
USA and worldwide
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SiblingsLostandFound
For siblings who reunited after being separated by adoption
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mavin
Mixed race experience in America
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SWIRLinc
For mixed race and transracial people
www.uoregon.edu/~adoption/topics/proxy.htm
The Adoption History Project
University of Oregon-Eugene
From Website: “During the 1950s, proxy adoptions were the most widely publicized means of international adoption. They allowed U.S. citizens to adopt in foreign courts by designating a proxy agent to act in their place. Thousands of children, especially from Japan, Greece, and Korea, were adopted in this way. Because these adoptees entered the United States as the legal children of parents who had never met them, proxies avoided the requirements of state laws and flouted the notion that child welfare was the dominant factor in adoption.”
Website for the U.S. State Department
Dual nationality for U.S. citizens