Bulgaria Kiddos Added

So many Bulgarian children are still waiting for their forever families. New kids have been added to our photo listing. Check it out.

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New DR Kids!

We just updated our photo listings and added several sibling groups and children from Dominican Republic. Go check out their bio’s and learn more about these children who are in need of a home! http://childrenofallnations.com/waiting-child/photolisting/.

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2019 Latvia Winter Hosting Program

Our 2019 Winter Hosting Program is open!  How would you like to give a child from Latvia the opportunity to spend Christmas in the U.S.? We have photos of the children available on our orphanhosting.com website. Start researching today!

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Burundi Adoption

There are so many children in Burundi looking for a family.  We need you to help us find these orphans a forever home. Adoption changes not only the life of a child, but the lives of everyone involved. Contact us today at 5123239595. or email at chandler@childrenofallnations.com.

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Dominican Republic Adoption (DR)

Lets talk about Dominican Republic Adoption (DR)! Did you know almost 200,000 children in the Dominican Republic are legally deemed an orphan? Most of them were either abandoned or found working on the streets because of the poor economic status of their parents.The children eligible for adoption in DR range from young toddlers to teenagers with many being sibling groups. These children want to find their forever families so start searching today! Use our links below to get involved!

http://childrenofallnations.com/adoption-programs/latin-america/dominican-republic/
http://childrenofallnations.com/waiting-child/photolisting
or email chandler@childrenofallnations.com
Phone: 512-323-9595

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Adoptee Cultural Exchange in Spain!

In our years processing adoptions running heritage tours and exchange programs, we have often been asked what it is like for Chinese adoptees in other areas around the world. So we created our Adoptee Cultural Exchange Program, A.C.E.

This exchange program provides Chinese adoptees a chance to explore their heritage and meet other children who have the same life experiences as they do all within the safe confines of a host family who also adopted a child from China.

All the American girls are very well integrated in their families and they get along really well with the Spanish girls. They are becoming very good friends.

Each family is doing different things in different parts of Spain: they are going to the beach, to the swimming pool, to the mountains, doing cultural visits… They really want the girls to have fun and enjoy their stay in our country.

Our Program Coordinator in Spain

This is one of the most unique cultural exchange and heritage tour opportunities available for a Chinese adoptee, and we are the only U.S. agency currently offering this opportunity! To learn more click the banner below!

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Haiti Referrals!

We are so excited that CAN has received 3 kiddos referrals from HAITI in the past two months!! We’re also thrilled to announce that 4 Haitian children came come home to join their Forever Families!

We cannot wait to see what the future holds for our Haiti Program, and would love to talk with you about the adoption process.

CAN is currently accepting adoption applications for 2019, and we work hard to advocate for all of our children!

Please contact Becca, our Haiti Case Manager, at becca@childrenofallnations.com to get more info or schedule a call!

We’re eager to speak with you and to bring more amazing kiddos home!

Learn More About Our Haiti Program Today!

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Heart to Heart Hosting

Connecting children with their cultural heritage can be so helpful for children and your family. A great place to start is at home, and what better way than to host an exchange student!

Meet The Vitek Family!

Hosting Unai was a family decision that we made because we wanted a role model for our 6 year old son and we could not be happier with how everything turned out! Unai, was more than just a role model, he really was another family member!

Unai was a great student and had no problems adjusting to high school in the US. We were worried about how well we would be able to communicate with each other, but his English was very advanced and we had no problems. We would work on homework all together after school and always had dinner together at the end of the day. He really just meshed with our family so well. Unai was into skateboarding, surfing and skiing and was even able to teach our son how to surf after a few trips to the beach!

We have learned so much from Unai over this past year. Mainly that we have a lot of love to share with others and we are more than willing to share with the exchange students that stay with us. Our son has learned a lot too. He can speak a bit of Spanish now and is more willing to try new things.  I think Unai opened our hearts to hosting and showed us the huge impact personal connections make.

Mrs. Vitek, host parent with Student Ambassador Exchange

Hosting an exchange student is a great way to connect over shared and new experiences. Students come to the US to study at a US public high school, and live with host families. These students are ambassadors in their host communities. Students are encouraged to share their country, and culture with their host family and their community. Plus, Children of All Nations offers its own program called Student Ambassador Exchange so you can work with the same CAN team members you already know!

Students are from nations all over the world and are between 15-18 years old and have a wide variety of interests. Students are selected for the Student Ambassador Exchange Program based on their academics and comprehensive English abilities. And Host Families can host for a few months, a semester or a full school year, so there are options that work for your families.

And there are NO application fees or direct costs for hosting! The only things host families have to provide exchange students are:

  • A bed in a shared room, with a child of the same gender or in their own room.
  • Three meals a day. (Students bring their own money to cover meals when going out)
  • Transportation to school and activities if a school bus is unavailable.
  • A supportive and caring home.

Meet the Exchange Student and fill out an obligation free application to see the student’s full, unblurred profiles!

Meet the Exchange Students Today!

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Attachment and Adoption

 

We get many questions from our families about the process of forming attachment and a secure bond with their adopted child. Many times, children who have been adopted will have some issues with attachment. This can either manifest in being overly clingy to everyone they meet, or on the opposite end of the spectrum, they may become distant and withdrawn. Some children may become even test boundaries with behavior, to ensure that you will still be there even if they act defiantly.

These are all very normal and expected behaviors. Children who have been adopted have often experienced some sort of trauma. It is important to acknowledge this and be prepared to work with your child on securely attaching to your family.
There are many helpful ways a parent can enforce and build secure attachment with their child, no matter their age.
1. Be consistent! Consistency yields trust, and trust helps form attachment. When your child can expect what is going to happen next, they will begin to feel a sense of stability and safety in your home. Many of these children are used to a constantly changing environment. Do not be surprised if keeping a consistent schedule is difficult at first, but keep at it! It will be worth it in the long run.
2. Give choices! Allow your child the opportunity to find their voice. Many times an adopted child will come from an environment where they have not had much say in anything, even being adopted! Letting your child have the freedom to make choices about their every day life can help produce self-confidence and enhance self-esteem. Even little choices like what color of shirt to wear can go a long way!
3. Empathize! Sometimes we forget how complex a child’s emotions can be, especially a child who has been through some sort of trauma. Kids often times do not have the words to communicate how they are feeling, so they will use undesirable behaviors such as whining, crying, yelling, lying, and aggression to display these emotions. When these things come up, it is important to process how the child is feeling with them. Let them feel your calm and unwavering presence. When you can be sit with your child with their emotions, attachment builds and strengthens.
Above all, make sure you are taking care of yourself. Many times through the adoption process parents will put self-care as their lowest priority. Who has time with all the things happening? Though it is easy to do this, it can have devastating effects. Transitioning into life with your adopted child can be extremely difficult, demanding, and straining. Making sure you have time to recharge and recenter yourself will ensure you will be the best parent possible for your kiddos.
-Bethany McWilliams, Marriage and Family Therapy, MS
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Older Child Adoption

 

If you follow GWCA/CAN regularly you know that we are fierce advocates for older child adoption.

What we hear most from people are their concerns about attachment traumas and bonding issues with older children who are adopted.
Those concerns are valid, because a lot of attachment style is formed in the first few years of life, but that does not mean creating healthy attachments is impossible with older children, in fact, it can come quite naturally in a majority of families!
A person’s brain is not yet fully developed until age 25! That means there is plenty of time to form new neural pathways and make healthy attachment bonds with an older adopted child.
Throughout the upcoming months we will focusing on different ways families can bond and healthily attach with their adoptive child, especially older children.
For more information on adoption or the attachment process in adoption please contact info@childrenofallnations.com or give our counselors a call at 512-323-9595!
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