THE FRUA COMMUNITY

Welcome to FRUA, where our membership, volunteer leadership and organizational structure combine to support you and your adoptive family.

Within FRUA, we believe strongly in the word “community.”  Not just because raising an adoptive child can be as challenging as it is exhilarating, but because a family needs a support structure around it to successfully raise any child.

At FRUA we are all adoptive parents of kids from Eastern Europe and central Asia.  Many of us have bio children or children adopted from other regions of the world as well.  We're all volunteers and we are so glad to provide you with these community touch-points:

• FRUA Chapters...Our chapter organization structure is unique in that it is the “on-the-ground” presence that makes our promise of “hope, help and community” real.  Go to the chapter content in this community section to learn more about chapters in your area.
• FRUA Chat room...get there from any page of this site, either from the highlighted help area on the right edge of the site, or go to the Community tab and scroll down to Chat.  This long-running chat room has dozens of conversations going on at any given time and offers a place to connect with both FRUA members and nonmembers who share an interest in adoption from the former Soviet bloc.
• FRUA Facebook page... go directly to the FRUA Facebook page from the same highlighted help area on the right, visible from any page on this website.  This is a new forum of FRUA members who discuss a wide variety of topics from family resources, chapter and local needs, to heritage and educational issues.
• FRUA Teen Facebook page.....Just for our teens and young adults, this is a place for them to discuss the things they think about.  Registration for this area will be verified and limited to FRUA member teens only.  Parents are encouraged to respect their teen's need to express themselves with their peers and invited to join the FRUA Facebook page for adults.

FRUA CHAPTER OVERVIEW

There are currently several active FRUA Regional Chapters and others waiting to form.  FRUA has many members in countries outside the United States.  The great value of FRUA lies not only in the activities that occur at the National level but also on the local level where families are able to come together to share in educational, social and cultural events and activities.  It is at the local level where relationships are forged and resources are offered that benefit our children and families on an individual basis.

There are many activities that are happening at the local level.  The most popular events held at the regional level are the Winterfest/Grandfather Frost and the summer picnics, or Yarmarkas.  Some chapters are trying to develop more local connections to Eastern European orphanages and have developed signature Orphanage Support fundraisers.  Many chapters have developed more formalized parent education programs in response to their members' needs.  Some others have discovered the FRUA National Coffee for Orphanage Support program and a packaged way to involve member families.

Chapters are organized entirely through the efforts of volunteers who design events specific to the interests and needs of their chapter's constituency.  FRUA continues to welcome new volunteers who can assist with a core leadership role in local chapters or assist with a one-time event/project commitment.  Chapter volunteers provide a necessary point of contact for families considering adoption to have questions answered.  

The birth countries of our children include:  Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Ethiopia, Georgia, Guatemala, Hungary, India, Kazakhstan, Korea, Latvia, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Samoa, Serbia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Vietnam, and the United States.  Our current membership includes, 95 professional members, 1490 families, 1960 adopted children and 590 birth children.  FRUA grants waivers to prospective and renewing members in need by waiving membership dues in appropriate cases.