Adoption Information Institute, Inc.

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The Institute for Adoption Information, Inc.

Institute for Adoption Information (IAI) is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization of adoptees, birth parents, adoptive parents, adoption professionals and others who have united to enhance the understanding of adoption and to advocate for balanced, accurate coverage of adoption in news and entertainment media.

Originally founded in 1996 as Celebrate Adoption, we changed our name out of respect for the fact that the 50-year legacy of secrecy has yielded many who cannot celebrate adoption. Celebrate Adoption also suggests that we are cheerleaders, when, in fact, we have always been educators. In addition, our future projects require that our organization have no other agenda except educating the public about adoption.

Our Mission
Our mission is to develop tools for triad members - adoptees as well as their birth and adoptive parents - to use to educate others about adoption and to dispel the myths and stereotypes surrounding adoption. These tools enhance the understanding of adoption. We also advocate for balanced, accurate coverage in news and entertainment programming. Our motivation is not only to help others understand adoption but, in so doing, eliminate one of the initial barriers to adoption for the 134,000 children in foster care who still await homes of their own.

Adoption is forging new ground in the modern family and has even been a leader in providing lessons for all families. This makes it a valuable prism through which to view families. IAI enhances the understanding of the entire adoption experience by putting it into context with life in general. Only when we do that can we eliminate the social bias against adoption; a bias that perpetuates inaccurate stereotypes about triad members.

What's Our Goal?
Our goals are to:

Develop tools to help those touched by adoption educate others;
Acknowledge birth families in their decision to make an adoption plan;
Support triad members in their efforts to educate others; and
Dispel public misconceptions about adoption.

How Will We Achieve This?
We are working hard to accomplish our goals by:

Launching a public awareness campaign,
Publishing guides for those who encounter adoption in their work.
Working with the media to provide accurate coverage of adoption.

Our Work
Our work puts adoption into context with the modern family. It also links the social bias against adoption to the serious consequences of failing to understand adoption that go far beyond the family but impacts the fabric of society and, more importantly, its children.

Institute for Adoption Information has identified many professionals who encounter adoption in their work but who do not realize how societal attitudes about adoption effects that work. Consequently, we publish guides to educate them about adoption and how understanding adoption can help them do a better job when working with non-traditional families, including those touched by adoption.

Our first book - An Educator's Guide to Adoption - discusses the curriculum that can be problematic for children from non-traditional families as well as what to do when insensitive comments are made. Our second book - A Guide to Adoption for Health Care & Counseling Professionals - addresses the lack of information on adoption in pre-natal health care settings. It was developed for health care professionals who work with expectant parents facing an unplanned pregnancy and is designed so counselors can help them work through their decision to parent or not. It also helps maternity professionals create a respectful environment within the hospital setting.

Our third work, A Journalist's Guide to Adoption, is published free on our web site, as the primary portal for researching and covering adoption.

Our future work targets others who encounter adoption in their work, as well as the public at large.

Want to Help?
We need YOUR HELP.
Contribute tax deductible donations to support our work.
o Adoption Advocate: $25
o Adoption Diplomat: $35
o Adoption Ambassador: $50 and up

Name: __________________________________

Address: _________________________________

Affiliation: _______________________________

Phone: ___________________________________

E-Mail: ___________________________________

Contact Us

Institute for Adoption Information
409 Dewey St.
Bennington, VT 05201
802-442-2845
info@adoptioninformationinstitute.org

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Web site by Russ Logan