For More Information Contact: Institute for Adoption Information, 802-442-2845
For Immediate Release: January 18, 2002

INSTITUTE FOR ADOPTION INFORMATION ADDS TWO IMPORTANT TOPICS T0 WEB

Bennington, VT - The Institute for Adoption Information has added two new documents - Why You Should Understand Adoption and Kudos and Complaints - to its web site for use when educating the public on adoption. The documents are available at www.celebrateadoption.org

Why You Should Understand Adoption, a compilation of conclusions of numerous studies, consultation with adoption experts as well as remarks by Adoption Information Institute members, discusses how the family has changed and why accurate representation of adoption is important to society. Kudos & Complaints, a list of media outlets, easily enables the adoption community to provide feedback on news and entertainment programming.

Why You Should Understand Adoption, which will shortly be made into a brochure, developed from questions at the Massachusetts Teachers Association meeting during a discussion on the Institute for Adoption Information's An Educator's Guide to Adoption. A teacher asked whether adoptive families were asking for special treatment when calling for changes in such assignments as family trees and baby pictures.

"Comments that diminish adoption are made every day," said Executive Director Kathryn Creedy, who was addressing the meeting. "These misperceptions and antiquated attitudes not only impact us, but have serious implications for society. By quantifying those impacts, we bring a greater understanding of the problem.

"We are not asking for special treatment because the problem is bigger than those touched by adoption," Creedy continued. "Adoption is just one in a mix of factors that make families different. Yet society has not caught up with those changes. The community's has been successful in establishing that the joys and challenges of adoptive parenting differ little from those of traditional families. Consequently, adoption has become a valuable prism through which to understand all families. There is also a critical need to understand birth families, who suffer most from society's misperceptions."

Kudos and Complaints was prompted by numerous requests on how to contact those covering or depicting adoption to let them know how their coverage plays with those touched by adoption. It is considered a work in progress as feedback from the adoption community suggests changes to the list.

"The community is not shy about letting its voice be heard," said Creedy. "Last year, complaints about the title of a new teen program on WB prompted a change from "Maybe I'm Adopted" to "Maybe It's Me." Previous efforts have raised the consciousness of advertising executives and greeting card companies as well as the United Media features syndicate, which distributed a highly inappropriate cartoon. We hope this list will not only be used for complaints but for praise on what the media is doing right such as CBS's annual A Home For the Holidays and Barbara Walters's Born in My Heart last spring."

The two new additions to the Institute for Adoption Information's web site complement its educator's guide which has been expanded to include a manual on how organizations can introduce An Educator's Guide to Adoption into school systems on a district-wide basis as has been done in several states.

The Institute for Adoption Information is a nationwide, non-profit group, made up of adoptees as well as adoptive and birth parents, dedicated to enhancing the understanding of adoption by educating the general public, the media and the entertainment industry.