What We've Been Up To

Adopt is Assisting UCSF in Research on International Adoption

Sandy Niemann, RN, and Sandra Weiss, RN, PhD of the School of Nursing at the University of California, San Francisco, are interested in studying how internationally adopted children begin developing an attachment to their adoptive mothers in the first six months after adoption. Sandy Niemann is an adoptive parent and a doctoral student at UCSF. Sandra Weiss is a professor in the Department of Community Health Systems.

To participate in the study, your child should:
· be between 6 months and 30 months old at adoption
· live within a 3-hour drive of San Francisco

Ms. Niemann will meet with you twice after your child has been living with you for 6 months. In the first meeting, Ms. Niemann will explain the study, ask you to fill out questionnaires about your child’s care before adoption, your child’s behavior since adoption, and his/her development after adoption. She will also observe your child during routine activities. In the second meeting, you will be interviewed about your child’s attachment to you and discuss some drawings of people in various life situations. In addition, soon after the researcher’s first visit you will collect saliva from your child's mouth on 3 different days. (You may choose not to collect the saliva and still participate in the study.)

All of the study information will be collected at your home. Although you will give your name to the researcher, your name will be kept separate from all information that is collected. Instead, a number will be used to identify your information throughout the study. Interviews will be tape recorded, but the tape recording will be destroyed after it is transcribed. Overall, your child's and your participation in the study will take about 5 hours.

As part of your participation in the study, you will be given information about:
· Your child’s attachment
· Your child’s development 6 months after adoption

Although there are no other direct benefits from participating in the study, you will be helping future adoptive mothers better understand what to expect after adoption. Please be assured that whether you and your child participate in the study or not, your care at any adoption clinic, or your relationship with adoptive parent groups, pediatricians, or adoption professionals will not be affected in any way.

If you would like to participate, please contact Sandy Niemann by phone (510)524-9396 or by email: sandra.niemann@ucsf.edu.

We Were in the News

Adopt is recognized as a leader and resource for the media. On April 25th, 2008 Wendy Martinez, International Program Specialist, was interviewed by the San Jose Mercury News about the current issues facing the potential closure of adoptions in Vietnam.

Check it out:
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_9050630

Paintings from the Disabled School for Children

Adopt International is selling beautiful artwork created by children from Vietnam. The children are from a school in Ben Tre, near our orphanage. Please come by our San Francisco office to see the many paintings and drawings available for sale.

Click below to Read the Archives of What We've Been Up To

February, 29 2008 WE PASSED!!!!