Save the date!
Korean Games & Resource-Sharing
Day November 8
Join us for an afternoon of Korean games, refreshment, and fun on November 8th, 2 to 4 PM, at St. Mark's Church,
10701 Old Georgetown Rd., Rockville, MD 20852
Come and enjoy games and activities for the kids, and a resource-sharing workshop for parents.
Save the date!
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Korean Language Update from Catholic Charities
Five families are enrolled in Catholic Charities' first Korean
Language and Culture course, which runs from September 27 through November
22. Judging by the laughter and lively
chatter of the children, it's been a great success so far! Mrs. Kim will schedule another class in the
winter (February - March), although the dates have yet to be determined. Please contact Ellen Warnock at ewarnock@catholiccharities-md.org if you are interested in this
class and to receive registration information. |
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C.A.S.E. Kids Adoption Network Conference
Journey Into the Rainforest: Preserving Connections in Adoption
12th Annual KAN Conference & Carnival
Saturday,
Nov. 15 9:00am - 4:00pm U.MD
Shady Grove Center, Rockville, MD
For adopted children/teens and their parents
Join
us as we celebrate National Adoption Awareness
Month with other adoptive families! This year's theme
will explore how we are all connected to each other - and
why the human desire to make connections to family,
friends, other countries and cultures around the
world is important to our well-being. For more information or to register online, visit the C.A.S.E. Calendar.
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Forte International Seeks Host Families
Forte International has seeks host families for Korean Exchange students in the DC area. Several are high school aged students coming to the U.S.
starting in January. For more information contact:
Anita Stener
Program Assistant
Forte
International Exchange
529 14th Street, NW
Suite
270
Washington, DC 20045
202-628-6829 x12
202-296-8685 fax
[email protected]
www.orgsites.com/dc/forte
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Support Korean Focus!
Korean Focus is funded almost entirely by member donations. That means that your membership
or renewal means a lot to us! With your support, we can
turn more of your ideas into programs and services.
Dues
are $20 per year. Click here for a printable membership renewal form,
or download one from the KF Membership and Support page, where you will
also find instructions for renewing online.
Email Korean Focus at
[email protected] if you have
questions about your member status. Thank
you for your support.
Another way to support KF:
Subscribe to Adoptive Families magazine, or renew your subscription.
When you reference "Korean Focus Offer - P09146" on your renewal form
or in the online renewal form comments box, Adoptive Families will donate $5
to Korean Focus.
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Korean Focus of Metro DC offers information and support to families interested in
Korean culture and the Korean American community. Korean Focus chapters in
Cincinnati, Northern Maryland, the Northwest and Indiana offer the same support to
families in those areas. Our members and friends include adoptive families,
adopted Korean Americans, and Korean American families. All are welcome! |
Have something you'd like to share
with fellow Korean Focus members? We welcome your book reviews,
restaurant reviews, and announcements. Send them to the eBulletin at
[email protected].
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2009 KAAN Conference Call for Proposals
The 2009 KAAN Conference will be held in Denver, July 31 to Aug 2, 2009. Our theme will be: Extending the Family of Korean Adoption.
We are currently solicting presentation and workshop proposals. A proposal form can be obtained at the conference website at http://www.kaanconference.com/. - click on 2009 Proposal Form in the upper right.
The proposal form can be returned by email to [email protected] or by
regular mail to P.O. Box 5585, El Dorado Hills, CA 95762. Email is
preferred. All proposals are welcome, but of particular interest
are those related to non-adopted siblings of adoptees, grandparents of
adoptees, children of adoptees, and birth families. |
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Call for Submissions:
Adoption from the Teen Perspective
EMK Press,
a leading publisher of resources and materials for adoption, seeks
creative and unique submissions for an innovative resource designed for
adopted teenagers. This book will be edited by Bert Ballard, PhD,
adoptee from Vietnam.
Today's teenager struggles with a variety
of challenges, ranging from concerns over popularity, doing well in
school, getting into college, driving, peer pressure, friends,
religion, which is not to mention concerns and worries over drugs,
alcohol, sex, pregnancy, and suicide. For the adopted teen, identity
issues, fitting in with their adoptive families, birth families,
personal histories, cultural differences, skin color differences,
abusive pasts, and more manifest themselves in a variety of ways, often
unpredictably or even disguised as something other than the underlying
issue.
This new book hopes to offer voices and a place where
adopted teens can feel free to be themselves, a place where they feel
comfortable journeying through life as a teenager - a teenager who
also happens to be adopted.
We call on anyone and everyone who
believes they can offer something supportive, yet honest, candid, wise,
and even humorous to today's adopted teenagers. This includes all
domestic, international, and transracial adopted and fostered teens.
See the EMK Press book project's website for more details.
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Korean Adoption Changes in the News
The proposed changes in Korean adoption appeared in the New York Times recently in this article from October 9th:
Korea Aims to End Stigma of Adoption and Stop 'Exporting' Babies.
Adoptive father Dr. Richard Boas, whose work on behalf of unmarried Korean mothers was presented at the KAAN Conference in Chicago in July, offered a thoughtful
response: Korea and Adoptions.
Dr. Boas's work has been instrumental in Korea and here in the U.S. in raising awareness for the
need for support for unmarried Korean mothers, and has led to the formation of the Korean Unwed Mothers Support Network. |
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Truth and Reconciliation for the Adoption Community of Korea
TRACK, Truth and Reconciliation for the Adoption Community of Korea, was founded this year by Korean adoptees to establish an independent truth and
reconciliation commission to study the program of international
adoption from the Republic of Korea. TRACK is also helping to document the history of Korean adoption by gathering and organizing information from adoptees, their Korean families and their adoptive families. By documenting the history of Korean adoption, TRACK seeks justice and transparency in Korean adoption practices in Korea and all countries to which Korean children have been placed. TRACK, is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, and was founded and is led by Korean adoptees. Its Advisory Board includes: - Jung-ok Lee , Managing Director, International Cooperation Department, Korea Democracy Foundation
- Dr. Hongkoo Han, Sungkonghoe (Anglican) University
- Rev. Dohyun Kim, KoRoot
- Dr. Helen Noh , Associate Professor, Department of Social Welfare, Soongsil University
- Dr. Chulwoo Lee, Associate Professor College of Law, Yonsei University
- Dr. Sung-Soo Kim, Head of International Cooperation Team
- Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Republic of Korea
- Ph.D. in Korean Historical Studies from the University of Sheffield
- Mihee-Nathalie Lemoine, Artist and activist within Korea for over 14 years
- Jung-ja Yang, Director & LLD, Korea Family Legal Service Center, Inc.
TRACK is currently seeking members in support of its efforts to obtain NGO status in Korea. Details can be found in TRACK's Fall Highlights. For more information, visit TRACK's webpage at http://adoptionjustice.typepad.com/, or contact: - Tobias H�binette, Director of Research, [email protected]
- Ross Oke, Director of Operations, [email protected]
- Jane Jeong Trenka, Director of Investigation, [email protected]
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ACTION Conference Feb. 23-25, 2009
Adoption Connections Training Institute: Oneworld Network (ACTION)
Presented by: Center For Family Connections (CFFC) in Collaboration with
the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families
February 23-25th, 2009
Hotel
Marlowe, Cambridge, MA, USA
ACTION proposes an international
collaboration among many grass roots organizations, individuals, and
agencies working together to provide the
best possible training, treatment, services, and psycho-educational
tools for families and children, and for the professionals who work
with them worldwide. Conference brochures
will be available soon. Please
contact Larisa Kottke at [email protected] for more information. For additional information visit the CFFC website, call 617-547-0909 or email [email protected]. |
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Transracial Adoption Study The University, in conjunction with The Center for Adoption Support and, are initiating a national survey of transracially adopted
adolescents and their families. We are
currently looking for participants for this important research project.
The specific focus of the study is to examine the impact of
family characteristics on the overall adjustment, self-esteem and racial
identity of racial minority youth adopted by white parents.
We believe this research will benefit us in providing better
services to the youth and families we serve. We encourage you to consider
participating.
Who can participate?
If the parent or parents in your
family are white and there is a least one racial minority adolescent (currently
aged 14-18) who was adopted by the age of 3, you may qualify to participate.
What will I be asked to do?
Both parent and child will be asked
to complete an on-line survey that will take approximately 20 minutes. Upon
completion, participating adolescents will receive a $10 iTune gift card (some
restrictions apply).
How do I find out more about the study?For more
information and to see if you qualify, please contact:
Dr. Leigh Leslie
Dept. of Family Science
University of Maryland
301-405-4011 [email protected]
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