Top adoption and orphan info websites: National American Council on Adoptable Children

Through advocacy, education, adoption support, and leadership development in the U.S. and Canada, NACAC helps to reform systems, alter viewpoints, and change lives. NACAC services include the following: 

• Support parent groups and other community leaders in their efforts to advocate for waiting children and adoptive families in their communities;
•  Host one of the most comprehensive adoption training conferences in North America, with more than 100 accredited workshops for parents and professionals;
• Inform parents, professionals, and others about waiting children and other issues related to foster care and adoption through our quarterly newsletter Adoptalk and other publications;
• Conduct training sessions and workshops on adoption subsidy, child welfare reform, transracial adoption, and other issues related to foster care and special needs adoption;
• Offer leadership training to adoptive, foster, and kinship parents to help create and enhance support groups for families in their communities;
• Create and disseminate publications that provide resources, information, and support to adoptive families and prospective adopters;
• Provide phone consultation and materials to address parents' questions about adoption subsidies for children with special needs.

Big Family Mission helps Russian orphans who may never have the opportunity to be adopted.

Top adoption and orphan info websites: Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption

Focusing on adoptions from the foster care system, the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption  website provides several comprehensive (and free) guides to adoption.  Finding Forever Families, a Step-by-Step Guide to Adoption, is published in English and in Spanish.  There's also a separate version for Canadian adoptions.  A post-adoption guide is available in English.

You will also find information about financial assistance for adoptions.

Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption describes its mission:  "We believe that we have a responsibility to be the voice of foster care adoption, so that every child finds a family. We exist to find homes for children who are waiting to be adopted from foster care in North America. In the process, we work to inform adults who may have misperceptions about foster care adoption that keep them from getting involved. Through the money we raise, we are able to provide free educational resources, promote awareness, assist policymakers and employers, and support adoption professionals and agencies throughout the United States and Canada to ensure that every child finds a forever home."

Goals:  "Every child deserves to live in a safe, loving and permanent family.  No child should linger in foster care or leave the system at age 18 without a permanent family of his or her own.  Every child is adoptable."

Big Family Mission provides love and hugs for children who will never have the opportunity to be adopted.

Top adoption & orphan info websites: U.S. State Department's website on inter-country adoption

Thinking of adopting a child from another country?  You will find an excellent guide to inter-country adoption on the U.S. State Department's Inter-Country adoption website.  The website provides up-to-date information on adoption requirements from many different countries.
Each year thousands of U.S. citizens adopt children from abroad, and many families in other countries adopt U.S. children.
Inter-country adoption is governed by both the laws of the country in which the child lives and the country in which the adoptive parents live. 
Under U.S. law, there are two distinct inter-country adoption processes: the Hague Convention process and the non-Hague Convention process. Which process you will follow will depend on whether or not the other country involved is also a party to the Hague Convention. This website guides you through and answers your questions about these processes.

Big Family Mission ministers to Russian orphans who may never have the chance to be adopted.

Top orphan & adoption info websites: Adoptive Families Magazine

Adoptive Families, the award-winning national adoption magazine, is a leading adoption information source for families before, during, and after adoption.
On the Adoptive Families website, you will find a wealth of information about adoption and may access some of the articles published in the printed version of Adoptive Families Magazine.  The website provides many links to adoption information, as well as sections about books, FAQs, groups, events, blogs, and experts on adoption.
The website also provides a listing of adoption professionals by state for those adopting in the USA.
The website gives you a "taste" of what Adoptive Families Magazine is all about.  Those who wish to learn more about adoption may wish to subscribe to the magazine.

Big Family Mission ministers to Russian orphans who may never have the chance to be adopted.

Top orphan and adoption info websites: Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption

With chapters across the US and members around the world, Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption provides  international adoption support resources for families completed through adoption in Eastern European and Central Asian countries. FRUA provides a community that nurtures children and supports parents, family and adoption education resources, and the world-class FRUA National Education Conference.


The adopted children of FRUA's families come from all former Soviet bloc countries and republics, including Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan,  Bulgaria, Belarus, Romania and many more.  FRUA believes that every child deserves a forever family and celebrates the rich heritage of our children's birth countries. Their Orphan Support efforts ensure we never forget the children left behind in those orphanages.


From it's beginnings in 1994 as a local Washington DC parent group to its growth as an international, multi-chapter support resource, FRUA continues to focus on the following goals:
* To improve the lives of children
* To strengthen families
* To share the culture and heritage of our children
* To provide peer group support for our children
* To provide peer group support for parents
* To promote a reality-based perception of our children.


This is an excellent website for those who have adopted or plan to adopt from Eastern European countries.

Big Family Mission ministers to orphans in Russia who may never have the opportunity to be adopted.

Register now for 2012 National Adoption Conference

     We recently featured the National Council for Adoption as one of our favorite websites for information about adoptions.  The 2012 National Adoption Conference is coming up very soon now:  June 13-16, in National Harbor, MD, near Washington, DC. 
     One day of the conference is set aside for prospective adoptive parents.

     Based on feedback from the 2011 conference, this year’s conference will be centered around how adoption service providers, adoptive parents, government officials, etc., can work together to get back to the Heart of the Matter - children who need families!

     The professional sessions will be child-focused and client-centered. NCFA asks all participants to lay aside self-interests, collaborate, and do whatever it takes to fix what is wrong and fight for what is right. NCFA wants this conference to be one of excellence where we provide hope-filled strategies, prepare agencies and families for success, and celebrate adoption and its core values/roots.
Prospective Adoptive Parents Day sessions are guaranteed to boost your knowledge about the adoption process, adoption options, and resources available to you both pre- and post-adoption. You will have the opportunity to get your individual questions answered by adoption experts. You will hear personal stories from adopted individuals, birthparents, and adoptive parents.  The 2012 National Adoption Conference will be held from June 13–16. Professional sessions are Wednesday-Friday, June 13-15 and Prospective Adoptive Parents Day is Saturday, June 16. All sessions will be held at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center just minutes outside of Washington, DC.
For more information and to register, please visit NCFA's website:  https://www.adoptioncouncil.org/

Big Family Mission ministers to Russian orphans who will never have the opportunity to be adopted.

Top orphan & adoption info websites: National Council for Adoption

     Founded in 1980, the National Council For Adoption (NCFA) is an adoption advocacy nonprofit that promotes a culture of adoption through education, research, and legislative action.

     Their areas of focus are infant adoption, adoption out of foster care, and intercountry adoption. Passionately committed to the belief that every child deserves a nurturing, permanent family, they serve children, birthparents, adoptive families, adoption agencies, U.S. and foreign governments, policymakers, media, and the general public as the authoritative voice for adoption.
     On NCFA's website, families interested in adoption will find an excellent listing of resources and information.  Families are also invited to participate in the "intercountry adoption journey", a training program developed in cooperation with the Council on Accreditation (COA) and the U.S. Department of State.
     The original Intercountry Adoption Journey 1.0 launched in February 2008 as one of the first Hague certification programs offered to parents and adoption professionals. By January 2011, NCFA had certified more than 10,000 adoptive parents and adoption professionals through its Hague-compliant online training. NCFA's Hague-compliant training has been recognized by many accredited adoption agencies, as well as by adoption authorities in several Hague and non-Hague nations.          Families are invited to become members of NCFA.  NCFA's Adoption Advocates have a unique opportunity to unite with a community of people who are passionate about adoption and share the belief that every child deserves a loving, permanent family. 
     NCFA members will help make a difference in the lives of thousands of children waiting to be adopted and play a key role in promoting a culture of adoption in our nation and around the world through advocacy, social networking, blogging, and sharing with others the personal impact of adoption in their lives.
     NCFA welcomes all who share in the belief that every child deserves a loving, permanent family. Our members include adopted individuals, birthparents, adoptive parents, families, social workers, students, and adoption professionals from all walks of life.



Big Family Mission ministers to children in Russia who will never have the opportunity to get adopted.