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Foundation provides adoption assistance
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Money is available to families in the Conejo Valley who are interested in adoption.
The Orphan Foundation is offering grants of $1,000 per child, or $1,500 for a child with special needs. Five grants are available, and applications are available at the foundation's Web site at http://www.TheOrphanFoundation.org.
"Our donation box collections have finally put us in a position to offer financial support to area families who are in the process of adoption," said Joe DiDonato, co-founder of the nonprofit. "With the cost of domestic adoptions averaging $19,180, and international adoptions costing as much as $25,000 to $30,000, a significant financial burden stands in the way of a homeless child finding a family."
The cost of adoption has escalated because of the many controls and laws being put into place to protect the children, DiDonato said.
He pointed to the irony of the situation when statistics show that fewer than 50 percent of the children in many countries will live to see their 20th birthdays. Malnutrition, suicides, failures to thrive, or untreated medical conditions make the life of an orphan a fragile existence in many countries, he added.
DiDonato said his first experience with the orphan problem came during a trip to Russia, where he met his wife, Tatiana, a pediatrician from the far east of Russia who served as his interpreter. She is the co-founder of The Orphan Foundation.
The couple formed the nonprofit because of the effect the orphans had on their lives.
"For Tatiana, she left 'her children' behind. For me, it was heart-breaking to see a playpen crammed with 15 to 20 2-year-olds. " DiDonato said. "You just can't get that vision out of your head."
For information on the foundation, visit http://www.orphansfund.org.
Posted by TheOrphanFoundation on May 31, 2007 at 6:36 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The website URL shown at the bottom of the article is not correct. The Orphan Foundation can be found at www.TheOrphanFoundation.org, as the article states in the second paragraph.
The Orphan Foundation
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