Cleveland. I am Dan Moulthrop, chief executive here and also a proud member. It is my pleasure to welcome you and introduce our speaker today. Chief executive of the Donaldson Adoption Institute, April Dinwoodie. Before i get into this, let me acknowledge that it may seem strange that today after a four days after a historic election, we are talking about adoption. But there is a few reasons why. One, we anticipate at this point, people may be exhausted by the campaign and the election and need something to think about, something completely different. And that may in fact be the case. Two, we have all been reminded that as this election has been, there is work to be done in so many areas that were never mentioned during the campaign and seldom get mentioned in at all in the context of national politics. And part of our job here at the citadel of free speech is to provide a platform for issues and perspectives that do not often get heard but are vitally important. November is National Adoption awareness month, an annual campaign to raise awareness for children and youth in foster care who are waiting for families. Right now more than 107,000 , children are currently in foster care. While this Awareness Campaign is only two decades old, the formal process of adoption dates back to the 1850s when massachusetts passed what is thought to be the first modern adoption law. Since then, adoption has evolved and changed with society moving from a secretive and often stigmatized process to one more open and widely recognized. Not only a viable way to build a family but a viable act to make the world a little bit better one childhood at a time. It is not that simple or always that straightforward. Movements around feminism, lgbt equality and civil rights as well as the increased acceptance of single mother lead households and interracial and interethnic families have also helped contribute to adoption. As exact figures cited above, 107,000 children in foster care, there is still work to be done. And for children who remain in the system and age out, the work is even more challenging, although it is a different set of work that needs to be done there. I am sure we will discuss at that. Let me tell you about our speaker. Ms. April dinwoodie, a National Recognized leader and chief executive of the Donaldson Adoption Institute. She works to change laws, policies, and practices through research, education and advocacy. She is also cofounder of fostering change for children, a nonprofit that strives for innovation for children. Before joining donaldson, she crated a Mentor Program called which adults who were adopted or spent time in foster care serve as mentors. As a transracially adopted person herself, she shares her experiences at workshops and conferences to help potential adoptive parents and professionals understand the beauty and complexity of adopting children of a different another race. Before she entered the nonprofit world, ms. Dinwoodie served as a Senior Executive within the Marketing Communications department of some the most recognized brands in the world including nine west, kenneth cole, not a car, and jcpenney. Please join me in welcoming April Dinwoodie. [applause] April Dinwoodie hi. Good afternoon. Im so happy to be warmly welcomed here. It is an honor and a privilege one i do not take lightly and , one that especially now feels more special more important. ,so i am grateful for all of you in this room and i am grateful for the warm welcome i received. A special thanks to city club of cleveland and to stephanie dansky for all of the work she did with the teams here to make this a successful event. Also i heartfelt thank you to betsy nourse with the Adoption Network cleveland. Our fierce advocates for adoption. A heartwarming group of people to be around. I spent some time with them this week, and i cannot think of a more important or poignant time to have a conversation with you about adoption in America Today. November became National Adoption month under the Clinton Administration more than two decades ago expanding from the , weeklong celebration it had been. The idea was to highlight the need for families for 100 plus thousand children waiting for foster care for adoption, which is a laudable goal, considering many of the children in foster care today are older. Today, National Adoption month is actually expanded. It encompasses more of the voices of the adoption experience and the extended family of adoption, highlighting the diverse experiences and the realities. November is when we also celebrate thanksgiving. We can agree for many of us on the 24th as we spend time with family, we will be reflecting on what family really means to all of us. Honoring our families today actually means that we cannot talk about it transactionally, we celebrate all of the parts, the complexity and the beauty and the joy. We see how when we do this, they can be in a bald view of all of our families evolved view of all of our families. Over the last few decades, the definition of family has expanded and evolved. It spans races, classes, cultures, adoptive, foster, lgbtq families, and those with thirdparty reproduction. However, the laws and policies and policies for these families have not kept up. Family is family, regardless of how they are formed. And they all deserve to be happy, healthy, and strong. Regardless of how your family is formed and even when they are reminding us of our most embarrassing moments, family is the foundation of our humanity. Under the best of circumstances, maintaining family connections that are healthy is challenging and requires understanding, thoughtfulness and patients. This is even more so for the extended family of adoption. With members of the adoption community representing less than 4 of the population, adoption is often seen as a niche issue, and many fail to understand the bigger, more complex societal issues and the very real notion that the definition of family is evolving. Too often, discussions on behavior surrounding adoption have centered on the competing interests of adults and not what is best for children. When we mindfully address the issues related to adoption, this can be part of a broader mandate to really strengthen all families and regain family values with a modern sensibility. Adoption is not a niche issue. And 60 of americans talk about it in connection through friends, family, other families that have adopted or adopted people themselves. This Community Grows exponentially when we think about birth families who are so often always left out of the conversation around adoption. Adoption is all around us. Since 1971, i have had a very personal connection to adoption. In october of that year, my biological mother entered a boston hospital in massachusetts. On the 27th, i was born. On the 29th, she left the hospital, and i entered temporary foster care. Nearly eight months after that, i joined the dinwoodie family in rhode island. In 1973, i was legally adopted. I spent the last 45 years being fiercely loved by them and fiercely loving them right back. I also spent the better part of the past 20 years searching for my family of origin to learn more about my genetic history. Since 1996, the Donaldson Adoption Institute or dai, has worked to improve the lives of children and family through research, education advocacy. We investigate the issues of greatest concern to expecting parents, adoptive parents, birth parents, and the families that extend to them, and the professionals who serve them. Our pioneering work has ranged from how to eliminate barriers from foster care to the impact of the internet on adoption to policies and perceptions. Surrounding expectant and birth families. In 2013 after many years in corporate marketing, i began work at dai just shy of the 20th anniversary. The first matter of business to understand was the impact of our work. After analyzing 40 publications, 180 recommendations from dai, i had to ask myself, why havent policies and practices advanced and moved far and fast enough . We started a Movement Really because it was no longer a matter of knowing what to do. Our Research Tells Us what we need to do. It is a matter of understanding where our perceptions are and then moving forward and in an organized way, help understand and unravel what is happening in adoption today. Our work in this area feels more urgent than ever. With all of that in mind, dai watched lets adopt reform, a Movement Really and initiative, a play on words to start a , National Conversation in the 21st century. We conducted Qualitative Research with a wide range of professionals, and we did one of the biggest qualitative projects in this area to date. We set up a National Town hall , and we tackled tough issues, explored opportunities, shared Life Experience and asked tough questions. We arrived at several themes that we think are the bedrock of adoption moving forward. Adoption is not a onetime transaction. We must recognize the basic human rights of everyone in the extended family of adoption. Children are not commodities. Adoption in this country lacks uniformity. And last but not least there , will be no reform without education. First, we must acknowledge that adoption is not a onetime transaction but rather a transformational journey for everyone involved. Although the day a parent finalizes adoption is a powerful one, adoption will always be more than one moment in time. We must recognize this as a starting place. Throughout National Adoption month, you will see headlines and heartwarming stories of the ns ofzation finalizatio adoptions. It is a powerful thing. We must acknowledge that the day that the Legal Mechanism that commences adoption is that one day, and there is so much more to think about and to experience. There is a vital need to candidly consider the many different elements that create adoption, those that warm our hearts and some that may not. Recognizing that families need support is at the heart of this. That is really about preand post adoption services. In 2014, dai analyzed publicly funded postadoption services in this country, and the truth is only a handful of states actually require this. 17 states were rated as good and substantial, and at least 13 had absolutely no support at all. So preadoption services vary by state, and different numbers of requirements of education happens from 27 hours for foster care to 10 hours for intracountry adoption, but the truth is, there has to be some standardization of this, and that is about more than one day and onetime transaction. For expectant parents who are considering adoption, they must have unbiased counseling so they know the full range of their options. Prospective adoptive parents must also receive comprehensive educational training and support and include the idea of gains and losses. The availability of postadoption Services Require laws to change and funding to be available. And lastly if we are to mandate , these supports, professionals that deliver them must be educated. Next we have to recognize the , basic human rights of everyone in the extended family of adoption. Adoption is in urgent need of a culture shift. And that requires us first and foremost to make adoption through the lens of human rights and practice adoption in ways that fundamentally respect and uphold humanity of all connected to it. Too often, adoption is handled like a business transaction. When this happens, the extended family of adoption is objectified. Working to ensure transparency means parents, expectant and first birth are well informed and prepared. This means allowing adoptive people and allowing them access to their original birth certificates and knowledge of their origins. 69 of americans believe that adopted people should have access to their records and their birth certificates. And they should be made available to people. But due to state laws, so many of us are denied access. Even after we turn 18. Imagine what it would be to lose a part of your identity permanently. Similarly, open adoption is a healthier way to act. We are building relationships with families and acting with openness today, but there is still a lot of work that needs to be done. Three in five americans believe people to stay in contact with their families of origin. But they should also be evaluated on their qualifications, not Sexual Orientation or any other aspect of their humanity that has impact on their ability to love and nurture a child. Another element of human rights is something that is known as rehoming. It is the illegal and transfer of adoptive children. A 2013 investigation analyzed ads placed through yahoo , and 2012, the report indicated that 261 ads posted to have children moved from one home to another without legal oversight. Most of these children, 70 that were advertised were adopted , from other countries. 8 had been born the u. S. And the other 22 we dont know. Rehoming occurs outside of the court with the legal Child Welfare system, so there are no statistics kept, and we dont know how many children this affects each year. This practice though without legal oversight has led to consequences and exemplifies the worst that can happen when there are not appropriate checks and balances, including a robust system of postadoption services. In one home is too many. Next, hard to hear, hard to look at, subtle references in my slides which look at different price tags on babies. Children are not commodities. Money is necessary. It is complicated to talk about, and it is even more obligated to talk about when we put it next to adoption. Over the last several decades, the institution of adoption has arguably become more business versus social service to place children in need of permanent families. Although adoptions occur ethically, the reality is that money and Market Forces have distorted adoption and created forces that are like commercial transactions. This reality can lead parents, expectant, birth, and adopted open to possibility of coercion and emotional despair and make adopted people feel like commodities. Since these rules and regulations vary by state, aspects including fees differ and it is hard to know how much , is being charged for adoption. But there are some patterns. According to the u. S. Department of health and human services, child information gateway we , estimate there are a range of cost including 0 to 2500. 5,000 to 45,000 plus for an agency. 30,000 for an intracountry adoption. Although adoption has historically carried with it this idea of a charitable action, it is also an assumption that stands in sharp contrast to what happens with adoption demanding very high fees. We cannot deny that birth parents fight a lack of resources and support for voluntarily relinquishing their children. This marketplace that undeniably exists privileges some over others and distorts the essence of what family is really and should be about. More than 75 of the adoption community believes money distorts adoption. More research in this area is needed, and we have to know how this is impacting our experience today before we can draft sound proposals for the ethics around adoption policies. If it is created which strongly regulates the fees that can be paid on adoption, no agency or entity should be able to base Fee Structure and on race or ethnic background or needs of a child. When money is equated to the childs characteristics, it is difficult to argue that the fee is not for the services but rather for the child. Providing incentives for adoption from foster care is an important endeavor, but money should not be an impediment for families seeking to become parents for a waiting child or a reason for a child to be removed from a family. We must also create policies that incentivize the creation and provisions of evidencebased services to preserve families when appropriate and safe for children. Similarly expecting parents , considering their options must surrounding an unintended pregnancy must be provided with all information that exists for parenting their child, including the financial support. Adoption in this country lacks uniformity. The inconsistency and policy that vary by state can lead to fraud, coercion, and undue stress on families and children. Also, whatever country is part of it with domestic policies, regulations and practices can differ. With domestic adoption processes policies, regulations can very vastly, things like the home study requirement, services to expectant parents, and postplacement supervision are all over the map. 75 of the general public support a greater regulation for adoption and foster care. At the same time, Research Shows the public does not place high importance or urgency on the issue. There will be no reform without education. One of the greatest impediments to meaningful reform of adoption and foster care is the societal misperceptions and general lack of knowledge surrounding the realities. This has plagued families and individuals for decades. And in some cases, Holding Families back from healthy experiences and others impeding the wellbeing and contributing to serious, serious challenges. People connected to adoption represent just one of the many challenging and changing dynamics in family today. Nontraditional is the new traditional in todays modern world, with the definition of family continuing to expand. What remains problematic is policies and practices that have kept have not kept up with the reality of families, and that continues to negatively impact those closest to adoption. All children and families come into contact with many different systems, Schools Health care , systems. When these providers fail to have an education and create an inclusive environment, the needs are