New Beginnings News

Adoption News from New York:

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New Beginnings Celebrates the 2008 Year of the Rat

On Saturday, February 2, New Beginnings celebrated the Asian New Year at the Super Grand Buffet in Baldwin, NY. Over 150 people attended and all enjoyed the food, fun and the laughs. But most of all the children enjoyed the crafts and in particular, walking on the bubble wrap which made the sound of fire crackers. We have so many people to thank for all of their hard work, dedication and for their many years of support in making this event a success. Thank you to the Hromada family, DeChiara family and the Mazzie family who give of themselves year after year. Also a special thanks to our families who donated raffle prizes; the Malcangi family, the Dorfman family, the Ryan family, the McNerney family, the Sinkoff family, the Limmer family, the Loccisano family, the Kahn family, the Barz family, the Zapken family and the McMahon family. We can't wait for next year!

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2007 New Beginnings NY Annual Picnic

On Saturday, August 11th NB celebrated is annual picnic at Sweet Hollow Presbyterian Church in Melville and over 300 people attended. It was such a wonderful day and the children really enjoyed all the activities, especially the pony rides. It was a fun filled day with a bounce house, a D.J., games, and delicious food. We would like to thank Nanci & Steve Loccisano, Kathy & Bill Ford, Lisa Chrsitiansen, Donna & Jules Panno , Ken & Christine Kreiger , Bill & Seirin McCoy, Rob & Jenn Coffman for all of their hard work and dedication in making this year's picnic a huge success.

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2007 New Beginnings Adoption Conference Report

On Saturday, May 12th, New Beginnings Family & Children’s Services hosted its 5th Annual Adoption Conference: Adoption…Today, Tomorrow, Forever at Winthrop University Hospital. Over 100 people attended and all enjoyed the day thoroughly.

The day began with our distinguished keynote speaker, Rose Kent, who is an author of her first children’s novel, Kimchi & Calamari. This novel was inspired by her family and the many adoptees she’s had the privilege to meet. Ms. Kent is not only an author but is also one of New Beginnings’ adoptive parents. She adopted her two youngest children, Connor and Theresa several years ago. We are so grateful for all of her help and guidance at this year’s conference. Her keynote address highlighted the joys, blunders and discoveries of Adoptive Parenting. Her address was an upbeat, yet honest look at the mighty (though marvelous) task of being an adoptive parent. We knew that our families would benefit and enjoy her insights, wisdom and experiences on adoption.

Following our speaker, the conference offered 20 workshops covering many aspects and stages of the adoption journey. Many families recognized the benefit of hearing adoptees speak about their experiences growing up in an adopted home. The families felt that the challenges they face as parents are real and attending this conference allowed them to see that they are not insurmountable. They had the opportunity to listen to psychologists, fellow parents, therapists, adoption experts and agency representatives discuss methods on how to be effective parents.

A tremendous amount of time and effort goes into organizing a conference. Our special thanks and appreciation to all of our presenters who helped make this conference a huge success. In particular, we would like to thank Maria Del Consuelo Alonso and the Winthrop Pediatric staff for allowing us to use the facility and for helping us makes this event a huge success. We hope to see all of you next year.

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Chinese New Year Celebration

On Saturday, February, 17, 2007 New Beginnings celebrated Chinese New Year and rang in the Year of the Pig at the Super Grand Buffet in Baldwin, NY. This was our most successful year ever with over 300 people attending. There was fabulous food, entertainment and raffle prizes to be had and all had a festive time. But most of all the families were able to have an enjoyable and cultural afternoon with one another. We would like to thank the Hromada family, the Dechairo family and the Mazzie family for the tireless efforts in helping make this event a huge success. In addition, we would like to thank Janet Steiner who performed our annual "dragon dance" as well as Jade Sullivan who did a stunning performance.

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Vietnamese Delegation Visits New Beginnings

New Beginnings Family & Children’s Services was honored to have a Vietnamese Delegation visit from October 18-24, 2006. The Delegation included provincial government officials as well as the Vinh Phuc Center Director.

While visiting New York City and Washington D.C their true joy was visiting with the families who have adopted through the Vietnam program. NB hosted several events in their honor. On Thursday, October 19th we offered a “Meet and Greet” to our families. The families that participated had the opportunity to personally meet the delegates and share their experiences. The highlight of the trip was the Re-Union Dinner on Saturday, October 21st. The intimate dinner was held at the Pho Restaurant in Bayside, NY and over 30 families enjoyed their company. During the afternoon the delegates had a chance to get an up close and personal view of many of the children who have been adopted through the Vietnam program. It was a pleasure for everyone to see the children who were older when they were adopted. These young people hugged, kissed and were able to share their native language with each other. The Delegates were extremely pleased to see how well they were doing in their new homes.

We would like to thank everyone who helped make their trip a success. A special thanks to Louis Petersen who helped coordinate all of the activities as well as being our translator extraordinaire.

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The Many Faces of 2006 Culture Camp

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Suffolk County Support Group

The Suffolk County Circle of Support group has been meeting and growing now for 2 years. When asked to describe our group, I would have to use the adjectives, supportive, informational, exciting and truly worthwhile. We feel as though these families have become a part of our extended family in the adoption community and we are all truly thrilled to have new members join us. We have families with children from Russia, China, Korea and we are in the process of following a family through the paper chase for Vietnam. The whole process is exciting, the paper chase,referrals the welcoming of the new children. We all are very supportive of each other. It is a wonderful place for families to come and share both their trials and triumphs of parenting and the adoption process itself. It is also an excellent opportunity to have our children interact with other families just like their own. We are profoundly grateful for being able to belong to such a nice group of families.

If anyone is interested in joining the Suffolk County Support Group, please contact Faye Caperna at 516-747-2204 (Monday or Wednesday) at New Beginnings.

Other News:

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Natural Born Citizen Act
A bipartisan bill (S. 2128) was introduced to the Senate on February 25, 2004. Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Senator Don Nickles (R-OK) introduced this bill with the hopes of allowing children adopted abroad by U.S. citizens the same rights as native-born children. This would include the right to run for the President of the United States. We will keep you posted as this bill progresses. To view a copy of the bill and the floor statements go to the Joint Council on International Children's Services website.

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USCIS Fees
As of October 26, 2005 USCIS (BCIS) fees have gone up. The I600A application fee has increased from $525.00 to $545.00. Fingerprints are $70.00 per person, I824 is $195.00 and the N600 is $240.00.

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Tax ID Number
The time of year for preparing Income Tax Returns is approaching. At times, adoptive families will have their child join them during a tax year, but have not received a Social Security Number for the child by the time they are preparing their tax returns. HAVE NO FEAR! The IRS IS HERE! Families may apply for a Tax ID Number for just this circumstance. This number may be used only once (it is expected that you will have a SS# by the following return). Contact your IRS at www.irs.gov and download form W-7A. It takes a while to get the number, so apply as soon as possible.

For Korean Adoptive Families Only: Be sure to send in a copy of your child's permanent resident card with the application or the IRS may not process it.

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Certificate of Citizenship
There are two types of visas issued for families where a final order of adoption was completed overseas.

The IR3 visa is issued to families where the child is adopted abroad and the parents have seen the child at least once either before or during the adoption process in the foreign country. If you received an IR-3 visa through the country you adopted from, then you will receive your Certificate of Citizenship within 45 days of arriving home. The USCIS is asking that you give them the full 45 days prior to making any inquires. If at that point you haven’t received it, the number to call for the National Customer Service Center through the USCIS is 1-800-375-5283. Please note that some families have received an IR-4 visa due to the fact that only one parent traveled to the country to pick up the child. In this case you will need to readopt in this country and then apply for citizenship for your child.

The IR4 visa is issued to families where the foreign country does not issue final adoptions or the family has come home with a final adoption, but one of the parents has not seen the child either before or during the adoption process. In this case, the family will have to readopt in this country through the state and county where they live and then apply for the Certificate of Citizenship (N-600 form with USCIS).

To read more information about this issue you can go the the U.S. State Department web site: www.state.gov/m/dghr/flo/rsrcs/pubs/7321.htm