NCFA Media : Press Releases

National Council For Adoption Receives Year-Two Funding
For Infant Adoption Awareness Training Program

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For more information, contact:
Lee Allen
(703) 535-1919
Mobile (24/7): 301-693-6513
FAX: 703-535-1901
Email: lallen@infantadopt.org

Washington, DC, October 7, 2002. - The National Council for Adoption (NCFA), one of America’s leading adoption and child welfare organizations, has received second-year funding from the US Department of Health and Human Services for the Infant Adoption Awareness Training Program.

The grant funds a public awareness program and a national training program for health workers and pregnancy counselors who work with teens and women facing an unplanned pregnancy. The training will help counselors ensure that clients are aware of all their options and can make a fully informed choice.

Authorized by the Children’s Health Act of 2000, the NCFA grant was first awarded in October 2001 for Fiscal Year 2002. Congress created this training project to promote options counseling that is complete and accurate. NCFA was awarded the national grant to provide training across the US and its territories.

NCFA Interim President Thomas Atwood, who is grateful for the continued support of this important program, said: "We have been gratified by the positive response to this program in its start-up year. The up-to-date adoption information and the message that ‘adoption is worth considering’ are being very well received. We look forward to continuing the effort in year two."

The National Project Director Paul Devantier, who is an experienced foster father of more than 80 infants and father of three adopted children, summarized the project’s progress and goals: "In our first year we wrote our training curriculum, developed our ‘train the trainer’ model, and trained hundreds of adoption specialists from federally funded clinics and health care centers in three of the country’s ten regions. In our second year, we will expand our outreach greatly by training thousands more in seven regions."

Founded in 1980, the National Council For Adoption promotes the well-being of children, birthparents, and adoptive families by informing policy leaders, the media, social service providers, and the public about the positive option of adoption.

About NCFA

Since 1980, the NCFA has been a leading voice among national child adoption and welfare organizations. NCFA is a research, education, and advocacy nonprofit that provides adoption information, promotes ethical adoption practices, works to shape public policy and legislation regarding adoption issues, and serves as a continuing resource to women with unplanned pregnancies, adoptive families, and those seeking to adopt.

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