Russian orphans seeking adoption to visit U.S.

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Russia Program Specialist Stacy Dudley of the Maine Adoption Placement Service International Office in Portland told me “about 40 to 50 young children have been identified” for the MAPS annual Host-to-Adopt Russia Summer Program.

The children are expected to arrive in the United States on or about Sunday, July 11, and return to Russia on or about Sunday, Aug. 15.

The children participating in this program have been recommended by their orphanage directors as having the best chance of adjusting to an American family.

How many of these children actually come to this country depends on how many families are interested in the program, Dudley said.

“If we find families for eight, we will bring eight. If we find families for 50, we will bring 50.”

The program is considered an excellent way for families thinking about bringing an older child or children into their families.

“We have individuals and sibling groups ranging in age from 5 to 13,” Dudley said.

And while it is most common for prospective adoptive parents to be “looking for girls age 5 or 6,” she added, “MAPS is interested in placing sibling groups or older children.

“We’re really looking for families who are looking for children older than 5,” she iterated.

“And we are looking for families whose goal is adoption, but we do know the family wants to meet the children first, then proceed with adoptions.”

To do that, prospective adoptive parents “need to talk with me,” Dudley said.

The deadline for completed applications to MAPS International is Thursday, April 15.

Dudley also pointed out that if families “are really open to a child in terms of age, gender and assignment, say a 5-year-old boy, a 6-year-old girl or a sibling group, then they should get their applications in now, because I am making assignments as they are completed.”

Additionally, if the youngest child they wish “is 5, 6 or 7, they should also apply now.

“The other thing I would like to mention is that while we do look for pre-adoptive families, we also want people to be host families only, if, for example, there is a need to move the child to another family,” Dudley said.

While understanding that the initial host family is committed to adoption, it can happen, for some reason “that a family backs out, at the last minute, and we need a place to put that child,” Dudley said.

“If people are interested in that [aspect of the program] they can call me.”

Those who offer to serve as host families only, however, need to understand “that they won’t get a child placed with them, and they may never get a child placed with them, but we do need” that backup option, Dudley added.

If you would like more information about the program or an application packet, call Dudley at 775-4101 or e-mail staceyd@mapsadopt.org.

The Warren Center for Communication & Learning in Bangor invites family caregivers of people with memory disorders to attend a series of workshops, “Coping with Memory Disorders Communication.”

The workshops are 3-5 p.m. Tuesdays, beginning Feb. 24, and running through March 16, at Redeemer Lutheran Church, 540 Essex St. in Bangor.

There is no cost for the workshops, the materials provided or for respite care offered during the workshops.

The Warren Center, Bangor’s oldest nonprofit professional speech and hearing clinic, is offering this workshop to assist family and personal caregivers of those with memory disorders caused by stroke, traumatic brain injury, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s and other diseases associated with memory loss.

The workshops are designed to help attendees communicate more effectively with those for whom they care and can be tailored to fit the needs of participants. Professional respite care is available on site at no charge.

Warren Center Speech-Language Pathologist Jennifer Fiske will lead the workshops.

If you are interested in attending, call the Warren Center at 941-2850.

If you want to take advantage of the respite care, please request that service when you call.

Additional information can be obtained at the Web site www.warrencenter.org/memory.html.

Sheila Crocker of Hudson thanks “the four people who stopped to help my sister, Sherry Clukey,” last month, when Clukey and her daughter “were driven off Route 15 by a car coming head-on, on the wrong side of the road.”

Whoever you are, the family is grateful for your assistance.

Joni Averill, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402; 990-8288.