FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                    September 2, 2005

FRUA family helps new families

Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption continues support work

          A representative from Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption, FRUA, participated in a roundtable discussion on Russian and Eastern European adoption issues as the international adoption community looks to improve pre-adoption education and post placement support for adoptive parents. 

FRUA will work with the international adoption community to place a greater emphasis on providing accurate adoption information to prospective adoptive parents and to improve resources for families once they come home.

“International adoption has played a huge role in improving the lives of children,” said FRUA Chair Karen Klein Berman.  “There’s little question that families considering adoption or coming home with new children need information and support.  FRUA has a network of families across the United States that have adopted from Russia and Eastern Europe.  These families have the roadmap for international adoption.”

            The roundtable discussion, held in Washington, D.C., included participants from the Joint Council on International Children’s Services and adoption agencies, as well as therapists and a number of other stakeholders in international adoption issues.  There have been almost 45,000 Russian-born children adopted by American families since 1992.  But several instances of adoptive children dying as a result of abuse inflicted by their new parents has brought an added focus on making sure that pre-adoptive families fully understand the implications of international adoption and that new adoptive families have the post-placement support and services that they need.

“Any adoptive family will tell you that it’s difficult to be fully prepared to bring a new child into your home,” Berman said.  “And while adoptive families have been blazing a trail in improving social and school services in their communities, there is much more that needs to be done.”

Berman says closer partnerships between organizations like FRUA and adoption and community agencies are one of the keys to improving pre-parental education and follow-up services.  “FRUA’s membership is, perhaps, the largest source of real-life experience in international adoption that we have in this country.  It’s the experience of groups like FRUA that will smooth the path in bringing new families home and in improving the lives of children.”

FRUA is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit, all-volunteer organization founded in 1994.  It now has 2,300 members across the United States with 39 chapters and nearly 100 alliance members.  FRUA families have adopted children from Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Belarus, the Georgian Republic, Romania, Kazakhstan and neighboring countries.

Editor’s note:  For more information, contact John Perry, FRUA Advocacy and Outreach Chair at (517) 256-8516 or via email atjohn@frua.org.