In honor of National Foster Care Month, NCFA’s May issue of the Adoption Advocate by NCFA legal fellow Jamel Rowe, highlights the benefits of kin adoption and examines some of the common issues faced by relative caregivers in order to promote greater understanding of this increasingly common option for permanency.

In NCFA’s April 2013 issue of the Adoption Advocate, Kris Faasse, MSW offers insights and recommendations to help practitioners better support expectant parents considering adoption. Faasse discusses the factors that can influence how an individual deals with loss, the importance of considering parenting, the many ways in which grief can manifest itself, the process of reconciling a loss, and what prospective adoptive parents need to know about birthparent grief and loss.

NCFA’s March 2013 issue of the Adoption Advocate, Dr. Christopher Balding utilizes the 2006-2008 National Survey on Family Growth, the USAID/UNICEF Demographic and Health Surveys, and UN and U.S. Census Bureau data to outline some of the serious and often life-threatening dangers faced by orphaned and vulnerable children.

NCFA’s February 2013 issue of the Adoption Advocate, written by Michael Yates and Kristi Kulesz, provides an outline for the kind of consistent and high-quality post-adoption services that children and families need to thrive.

In the January 2013 issue of Adoption Advocate, NCFA lays out its policy priorities for the coming year, and provide a review of recent and current adoption- and foster care-related legislation.

NCFA’s December 2012 issue of the Adoption Advocate, “Preparing Older Children for Adoption” by Rhonda Jarema of Nightlight, gives insight to the perspective of older adopted children and suggestions for prospective adoptive parents. It is helpful to prepare for and minimize the changes wrought by adoption as much as possible. Significant changes should be made as gradually as possible.

National Council For Adoption (NCFA) is privileged to work with many organizations and programs that advocate on behalf of children, birthparents, and adoptive families. In honor of National Adoption Month, we have taken the opportunity to highlight just a few of the many important programs serving youth in foster care, orphaned and vulnerable children, expectant parents considering adoption, and adoptive families.

The October 2012 issue of NCFA’s Adoption Advocate focuses on the needs and rights of parents considering adoption while they are in the hospital for the birth of their child. Parents deserve to be treated with respect and understanding during this pivotal time, and hospital staff should be made aware of the emotional and legal implications of adoption for those considering and impacted by it.

In this September 2012 “back to school” issue of NCFA's Adoption Advocate, Educational Mentor and former foster youth Jetaine Hart provides insight into the many challenges to educational attainment that are faced by youth in foster care, shares information about her own work with students in Alameda County, and offers her expert recommendations on ways in which foster families, educators, mentors, and others involved in the lives of youth in care can support and help them achieve their educational goals. A 2009 Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute Foster Youth Intern, Ms. Hart also recently contributed to NCFA's May 2012 Adoption Advocate, “Advocating for America's Youth in Foster Care: Perspectives and Recommendations from Former Foster Youth.”

The August 2012 issue of NCFA's Adoption Advocate by Gary Gamer, child welfare expert and former CEO of Holt International Children's Services, focuses on what several recent studies have revealed about the harmful impact of institutionalization on young children, and highlights the importance of family-based care to avoid or counter many of these negative effects. Gary concludes: "Along with efforts to strengthen adoption and foster care programs, stronger support services must be provided to struggling families so that children can remain with their families in a safe and healthy environment. A care model centered on institutions is simply too risky a gamble for orphaned, abandoned, and vulnerable children."