Part 1 http://kazakhstan.adoptionblogs.com/weblogs/how-to-talk-to-young-children-about-adop

Part 2 http://kazakhstan.adoptionblogs.com/weblogs/how-to-talk-to-young-children-about-adop-2

Part III.... Shared with permission

If parents are going to get beyond the facade of "I don't EVER think about adoption and I don't have ANY questions" they are going to have to learn to tune-in to their child's round-about way of sending clues and also his behavioral clues... more

Part 1 http://kazakhstan.adoptionblogs.com/weblogs/how-to-talk-to-young-children-about-adop

Part 2 - shared with permission

Let's look now at where your child is likely to be at age six to seven. At about this age, a child's cognitive ability will take him beyond the concrete, to think beyond the information and opinions that his parents have shared with him regarding how they feel about adoption and having brought him into their family. He is having more and more contact with the outside world and is becoming increasingly aware of the negative misconceptions our society... more

If you are considering going to the workshop http://kazakhstan.adoptionblogs.com/weblogs/jane-brown-adoption-playshops-and-parent - you may wish to read some of Jane Brown's work....

Shared with Permission -

Part I

How to Talk to Young Children about Adoption by Jane Brown, M.S.W. Adoption Educator, Adoptive Parent

SETTING THE STAGE: HELPING CHILDREN LEARN TO EXPRESS FEELINGS SO THAT THEY CAN TALK ABOUT ADOPTION

QUESTION: Frequently I ask my preschool child about his adoption, but he never seems to have any questions or have the need to... more

Shared with permission....

Many of you are aware of the widely renowned adoption professional, Jane Brown. She travels the world talking with adoptive parents and children.

Jane is both an adoption social worker/educator and an adoptive & foster mother of nine children, some of whom are now grown. She lives and works in Arizona. She serves on the editorial board of Adoptive Families Magazine and writes a regular parenting column for the publication. She is the creator of Adoption Playshops which is a series of workshops for adopted children age five+, their non-adopted siblings, and adoptive parents in which children are helped through playful, multi sensory activities to explore... more

FROM THE OFFICE OF SUSAN SAXON:

If you know you can come to camp this summer and want to get the best rates, you have less than 2 weeks to submit your registration materials and deposit. The early bird deadline is February 7, 2007. We will be accepting registrations after this date, but campers whose registrations/deposits are received after Feb. 7th will be charged at the Regular rates.

In case you haven't heard, the Kazakh Aul of the U.S., Association for American & Kazakh Families is thrilled to be hosting our Zhailau, Kazakh Heritage Camp for Families once again this summer in New Hampshire. The dates are July 23-28, 2007, and more information, including... more

Here I have a very recent, hot off the presses, picture of our son, Max and his grandma and Pa-Pa. We were very proud of him at his birthday party on Sunday, as he opened and READ his birthday cards - he was gracious enough to thank his family all on his own. We were especially proud that he READ - we had truly worried when school first started that we would have another child struggle tremendously with reading. It has been amazing how far he has come since the beginning of 1st Grade - he truly has a wonderful teacher and a well run reading... more

Ust-Kamenogorsk

If you are adopting or have adopted from this region – please consider joining: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ust-Kamenogorsk-Adoptions/ - the group has almost 200 members – you can chose to receive posts by individual email, daily digest or go to no mail and read on line when you have some free time. I just highly encourage parents to connect with other families who have adopted in the same region that their child is born.

A nice way to give back to this region is through an organization called ACORN – they can be reached at http://acorn.homestead.com/home.html... more

Happy Birthday to you Happy Birthday to you Happy Birthday dear Max Happy Birthday to you And MANY more!!!!

Today our little guy turns 7 – it seems like in a blink of an eye and he is a little boy and not a baby anymore. It was around 6 years ago – that I ventured into my husband’s office and asked him to look at the children on Tedi Bear Adoptions’ waiting children photo listing. Out of the children – our hearts were both led to our son. It was a whirlwind of changing our paperwork and completing another dossier (we were paper ready for Ukraine). It is that magic moment that we were blessed beyond belief with Max he captured our hearts!

Through... more

Did you know the other names that Astana is or was known by? Aqmola, Akmola and Tselinograd are the ones listed on Susan’s site at http://kazakhadoptivefamilies.com/cities/astana.html

I would love to hear from families who have adopted from Astana to see if they ever visit the Duman Entertainment Center – it looks awesome on its website: http://www.duman.kz/eng/index.html The Children’s City sounds like... more

This morning our world changed a little, I opened a very nice and warming email from a woman who may have adopted a sibling of one of our children. To protect this person’s identity and my children – I will not say which child or what city the adoption took place in.

This person learned through our local adoption coordinator that the birth mother’s last name matched our son’s birth mother’s last name. We are currently exchanging information to determine if this is in fact the same birth mother or not.

I knew with my daughter’s adoption that her half brother was placed in the children’s home shortly after our adoption of her. It broke my heart to not be able to return (financially... more