Do you know this?

There are approximately 18000 parents registered with CARA, while the number of children in the Government's adoption pool is less 1800.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Waiting Child and Family Videos

Thought this was an interesting way to look for families for children. I have heard of video tapes of waiting children for families to view, but now some are video taping families looking for the addition of a child. Could this be the future of India adoptions as well? Read on for the articles.

ADOPTION CHRONICLES ---a new and innovative system to allow Waiting Children to speak for themselves to prospective adoptive parents


Videos give kids a voice in adoption
Monday, June 15, 2009
(Updated Wednesday, June 24 - 5:38 pm)
By Jennifer Fernandez
Staff Writer
More information
* Find out more about adoption through the Children’s Home Society of North Carolina at www.chsnc.org or (800) 632-1400

* Find out more about creating a “family chronicle” at 698-3888 or www.keeninnovations .com

GREENSBORO — In two recent North Carolina adoptions, DVDs filmed by a local company clinched the deal.

A Raleigh-area woman adopted three teenage boys after viewing their “adoption chronicles,” created by Greensboro-based Keen Innovations, said Cindy Knul, director of recruitment outreach for the Children’s Home Society of North Carolina.

The woman said that if she had just read their profiles, she wouldn’t have adopted them, Knul said.

In another case, a “family chronicle” the company made for Lori Moller’s family swayed a North Carolina adoption panel to choose them over three other families, Moller said.

“You can read a piece of paper. You can look at a picture,” said Moller, 40, of Woodstock, Ga. “But a video...it has more impact.”

Keen Innovations started the “adoption chronicles” about two years ago after owner Dustin Keene ran into Knul.

He had bought the Web site for adoptionchronicles. com after seeing a photographer donating pictures for adoption profiles. Keene, who had already started chronicling the lives of schoolchildren as they grow up to create family keepsakes, wanted to use the concept to help children waiting for adoption.

“We believe they have the right to speak for themselves,” Keene said.

In North Carolina, more than 3,000 children are waiting to be adopted. But there are never enough families, Knul said.

“The more families we’re able to identify and train, the better able we are to match them with the child,” she said.

Knul said she believes the adoption and family chronicles could help improve that process. Traditionally, families look through portfolios that include social worker reports, photos and other information on the children. Families looking to adopt compile similar profiles for examination by adoption agencies, foster families and caregivers.

“Sometimes people read what social workers have written on a piece of paper and it doesn’t fairly represent a child’s day,” Knul said.

She recently saw a child’s profile that hadn’t been updated in three years. So it didn’t show the child had been through therapy to deal with issues in the report, Knul said.

“Who can better represent that child than the child themselves?” she asked. “There’s always adults making decisions for them. It just gives them a voice.”

So far, grants have paid for the DVDs, which cost about $300 each to make and copy. But that has limited how many children can get them. Knul would like to get sponsors so more children can participate.

Keene also encourages families looking at adoption to consider a family chronicle.

The Mollers found out in April that their family chronicle had helped them get picked to adopt siblings, a boy, 7, and a girl, 6. The adoption still needs to be finalized. The Mollers visit the kids every few weekends and talk every day by phone.

Before they even met, though, the children already knew them through the DVD, Moller said.

They knew about the Mollers’ older son, who was adopted from Russia two years ago, and about Ruby, the dog. They knew how Lori laughs and that her husband, Peter, speaks with a deep voice. The video did more than pave the way for the adoption; it smoothed the way for that first meeting.

“If you can’t be there in person to make your own case,” Moller said, “you’ve got a video to do it.”



Contact Jennifer Fernandez at 373-7064 or jennifer.fernandez@ news-record. com



Contact for ADOPTION CHRONICLES

Address:

Keen Innovations, LLC
602 S. Elam Ave.
Greensboro, NC 27403

Contact us:

Info@AdoptionChroni cles.com
336-698-3888

Visit our other sites:

Our corporate home site is www.KeenInnovations .com

Other Chronicles: www.SchoolKidChroni cles.com





Children’s Home Society Celebrates National Adoption Awareness Month by Launching New Video Initiative
Posted: 11-26-2007 : GREENSBORO, N.C.

Each year, November is recognized as National Adoption Awareness Month. While all adoption-related issues are important, the particular focus of this month is the adoption of children living in foster care. In North Carolina, over 3,000 children are awaiting adoption and another 10,000 children are living in foster care. Many of them have spent most of their lives in this “temporary” situation, and have moved within the child welfare system several times.

One of the first adoption related agencies to do so, CHS has launched a new video initiative on our website featuring videos on the CHS website (www.chsnc.org) of many of the children awaiting adoption. Visitors can read profiles on the children awaiting adoption, view photos, and view brief videos that truly allow the children’s’ personalities to shine. Additional videos are being produced and will be added to the site as they become available.

SchoolKid Chronicles is producing the videos. These short films allow the “star” to display their unique character, communication skills, and personality as they describe memories, their hopes for the future, and insight into how they see their world and the type of family they would like to have.

“I am so excited to be working with SchoolKid Chronicles. The videos allow a child’s light to shine in a way that no other medium can,” said Cindy Knul, CHS Director of Recruitment Outreach. “CHS continues to be a leader in areas of recruiting families for children. This new method is setting precedents for other adoption agencies to follow in their efforts to place children in forever families.”

“We are truly proud of the partnership with CHS and the opportunity to help make a difference in the lives of so many children and families. What a privilege it is to capture a moment in the lives of such amazing kids,” said Dustin Keene, SchoolKid Chronicles CEO.

These are real children who are in need of a family to love, nurture, and protect them. They come from a variety of backgrounds. Some have special needs, some are part of a sibling group, and many are older children or teenagers. Just as there is no stereotype of a child awaiting adoption, there is no stereotype of an adoptive family. You do not have to be married, wealthy, own your home, or not have biological children in order to adopt. All you have to do is provide a safe, loving, and permanent home for a child in need.

Anyone who is interested in finding our more about adoption for providing foster care for a child in need, please contact CHS at 1-800-632-1400 or visit www.chsnc.org for more information.

CHS is a statewide, non-profit, non-sectarian private adoption and foster care agency serving children in families in North Carolina for over 100 years. CHS is licensed by the NC Department of Health and Human Services - Division of Social Services. CHS is accredited by the Council on Accreditation of Services for Families and Children. CHS is a member of the Child Welfare League of America, Children and Family Services Association of North Carolina, and Children’s Home Society of America. For more information on CHS, please visit www.chsnc.org or call 1-800-632-1400.








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