China
Russia
Vietnam
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International Footsteps® |
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Keith Wallace, CEO & Executive Director
Greetings. 2006 has had an exciting start. Below I have highlighted some of this year’s significant developments.
FTIA was re-licensed in Russia in January of this year. 2005 was a difficult year in Russia and 2006 appears that it will also be difficult. Because of substantial anti-adoption attitudes of some in power in Russia and because of a few tragic cases of adopted children from Russia, adoptions are still not consistently moving smoothly in Russia. There are cases where every step goes smoothly and other cases where nothing goes smoothly. For our adopting parents whose case doesn’t go smoothly, it is frustrating beyond words. Please read more about Russia on our Program Updates page.
2006 FTIA Reunion
Our 2006 Celebration of Children Reunion is scheduled for Saturday, July 22nd in Noblesville, IN (Indianapolis area). Because of our continued growth, we have reserved the whole park this year for you to enjoy! Learn more.
2007 Celebration of Children Calendar
We are excited to announce that we are now accepting photo submissions to be considered for our annual Celebration of Children Calendar! We are thankful for the overwhelming response we received regarding the 2006 calendar, and are looking forward to providing a 2007 edition, which will feature our beautiful children who have been united with their forever families. This project is one of the ways that we raise funds for humanitarian aid. In 2006, calendar sales alone contributed over $17,500 toward aiding children in need overseas. We hope that you will continue to support this endeavor. Learn how to submit your child’s photos here.
East Coast Picnic
FTIA will host its annual East Coast Picnic on Saturday, May 20th. Learn more about the picnic and how to register.
MY FTIA
We began rolling out “My FTIA” as an empowering tool for FTIA adopting parents last fall. “My FTIA” is currently in place for China, Guatemala, China Waiting Children, and Vietnam. We will soon have it ready for Russia and India. “My FTIA” includes the ability to watch your adoption progress step by step. In addition, “My FTIA” includes all the materials we used to send to our adopting parents plus many, many more resources.
Hague Regulations
The US State Department published the final regulations on February 15, 2006 for implementing the Hague treaty with respect to inter-country adoptions. Although published and final, the actual treaty will not go into affect until late 2007 at the earliest. As a COA accredited agency, FTIA is well positioned to be accredited under the Hague. Long before the Hague regulations affect any adoption we will advise our families what, if any, impact these regulations will have on their adoption.
