China
Russia
Vietnam
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International Footsteps® |
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2007 ANNUAL REPORT
Families Thru International Adoption, Inc. (FTIA) is pleased to provide a report on all its activities including adoption, humanitarian aid, program development, and a Hague update for the year 2007.
In the year 2007, FTIA was able to assist adopting parents in completing 473 international adoptions.
The country breakdown for adoption is as follows:
Country |
Number |
|
|
Guatemala |
205 |
China |
104 |
Waiting Children/Special Needs |
79 |
Russia |
42 |
India |
33 |
Vietnam |
10 |
|
|
In 2007, FTIA increased its total humanitarian aid giving to $282,492.00, which was more than a 200% increase over 2006. Of this total amount, $145,500.00 was from the generosity of FTIA families and friends, and $136,992.00 was from FTIA’s general operating account.
In 2007, we contributed to the following:
and much, much more.
2007 was again a very busy year because of so many ongoing changes to the rules and procedures for adoption in several countries.
For China, the new guidelines announced in December 2006 went into effect in May of 2007. These new guidelines, in addition to the lengthening wait for referrals, resulted in a significant decrease in the number of China applications received in 2007.
Russia saw an increase in activity in 2007. FTIA timely submitted our documents for reaccreditation and we are awaiting our reaccreditation. We have been advised that all documents have been accepted and we should hopefully receive our reaccreditation in the first quarter of 2007.
With the acquisition of Special Additions (SAI) in May of 2007, we were able to begin working with additional partner agencies in India since SAI had a longer history in India than FTIA. As a result, we saw an increase in the number of Indian adoptions in 2007.
Vietnam continues to be slower than we hoped for. In the second half of 2007, we did see an increase in the number of referrals, so we are hopeful for 2008. We did begin working with an additional province in 2007.
Although we were able to complete a large number of adoptions in Guatemala in 2007, 2008 will see a very significant decrease as Guatemala is working on setting up procedures and regulations to operate under the Hague Treaty.
Our China Waiting Children program is now our Waiting Children program, as we have been able to include children from several other countries. Although our total number of Waiting Children decreased somewhat in 2007, we are still very pleased with the program and the ability to find homes for these special children.
FTIA is currently licensed in good standing in Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
In Ohio, Candy Day has increased FTIA’s presence in the Columbus area, in addition to her continuing work in the Cincinnati and Dayton areas.
Brenda Reul continues to increase FTIA’s outreach in Kentucky, having developed a relationship with Catholic Charities throughout Kentucky.
In New Jersey, Kathy Miraglia has increased FTIA’s presence with informational meetings and networking with parent support groups and other local service providers.
When FTIA took over the cases of Special Additions in May of 2007, FTIA became licensed in Kansas and Missouri. Most of the year was spent on assimilating our Kansas and Missouri office to FTIA procedures. In 2008, we will hold several informational meetings in the Kansas City areas of Kansas and Missouri.
Our 2007 Celebration of Children Reunion was again held at Forest Park on Indianapolis’s north side. Almost 2,000 parents, children, and friends attended. We were again blessed with fantastic weather, fun, and fellowship. Every year our FTIA team is so overwhelmed and joyful to spend the day with so many of our adoptive families.
The 2008 Celebration of Children Reunion is scheduled for July 19th at the same park. We hope to see you there.
The Hague Treaty for International Adoption will go into full force and effect on April 1st, 2008. The Department of State and CIS have issued regulations for adoptions under the Hague, but there is still much clarification that is to be announced as to how the actual procedures will work for adopting families.
FTIA went through our Hague accreditation procedures in August. We have been advised by the Council on Adoption (COA) that they need no further information from FTIA. We have been told that this likely means that FTIA has been Hague accredited; however, no agency will be formally advised until the Department of State publishes a list of Hague accredited agencies in March of 2008.
In 2007 we undertook a Process Value Added analysis. We retained an outside consultant to help us review our effectiveness in fulfilling our mission of serving children. A leadership team met several times over several months to look at every step we undertake in our adoption programs to determine if the step or action adds value to our service and mission. The report was completed in December 2007. The results of the report are going to be reviewed over the first several months of 2008. We anticipate some changes in our service delivery based on the results of the report, which will help us better accomplish our missing of serving children.
Respectfully Submitted,
Keith M. Wallace, Executive Director
On behalf of the entire staff of FTIA
