Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Adoption Education Program

Recently, Erik Shumar, a Ph.D. student at Columbia University's School of Social Work, was contracted by the Gladney Center for Adoption to offer additional adoption education services at Gladney. Beginning in September, these particular services will be offered at Gladney’s New York office and be available to any Gladney family who has adopted or is in the process of adopting a Chinese child from Gladney and considers themselves geographically close enough to attend program events.

Concurrent with these services, Mr. Shumar is conducting a research project to evaluate the effectiveness of the program and interpret any benefit it may provide towards a child's development of a positive identity. For the purposes of this research, Mr. Shumar is looking for both parents and children who plan to take part in adoption education services AND those who will not participate in the program, but are still willing to take part in the study. Your assistance will help to make this adoption education program the best it can be. Many families have already taken advantage of this opportunity, but there is still room for any other interested families.

EVENTS OFFERED
* Monthly children's playgroups
* Real-time advice site
* Podcasts and Blog Spots
* Culture classes
* Book club
* Adoption movies
* Special guest speakers
* Mentorship program

If you are a Gladney family who has adopted or is in the process of adopting a Chinese child from Gladney and are interested in taking part in the adoption education program or at least filling out a survey to help advance the field of international adoption, please contact Mr. Shumar at AdoptEduc@gladney.org Also visit www.chinainitiative.org for more information and for a weekly educational column.

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