Article published March 2, 2009
Embarking on a family journey
Couple waiting for Guatemala to revamp adoption process.

The Canales family of Granger — Andrea, Luis and Michael — plans to adopt a child from Guatemala later this year. Photo Provided

Pablo Ros
If and when Guatemala reopens its doors to adoptive parents, Andrea Canales and her family will likely be among the first to experience a revamped system of adoption.

Guatemala is in the process of complying with an international treaty that seeks more government oversight of intercountry adoptions. Called the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, it aims to protect children’s interests in the adoption process by preventing child trafficking and other system abuses.

Andrea said she and her husband, Luis, submitted their application for adoption in September and hope to begin the first phase of the process, a home-study evaluation, in a couple of weeks. She said if their expectations are met, their 3-year-old son Michael could have a little sister by year’s end.

“I feel excited and anxious,” Andrea said. “I’m trying to be patient.”

Many other Indiana families could feel the same way. Hoosiers adopted more children from Guatemala in fiscal year 2008 than from any other country, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of State.

The Central American country passed legislation in late 2007 to make its adoption system Hague compliant, and has halted new adoption cases. It has in recent years joined China as a top choice for U.S. adoptive parents.

Andrea said she and her husband have been talking about adoption for a couple of years. They have relatives in Guatemala and share a “natural love of the country and its culture.”

She also said they are educating Michael in a bilingual and bicultural home.

The journey that Andrea and her family are embarking on will not be free of emotional hardship. Andrea said she already knows they will have to make two trips to Guatemala, the second after having met their prospective daughter and said goodbye to her.

But Andrea also said she feels optimistic and positive about what’s ahead because of their choice of adoption agency, European Adoption Consultants Inc., in which she has full confidence.

Andrea and her family also belong to Adoptive Families of Michiana, a group that provides support and friendship to adoptive parents and those considering adoption.

AFM was started by Denise Del Gianni, of Granger, who said the volunteer-run, parent-driven organization has grown to more than 75 local families and agency contacts since it established an online presence in September.

Denise and her husband, Tony, have two kids — Joey, 6, and Elena, 3, who was adopted from Guatemala.

For more information on AFM, visit its Web site at www.adoptivefamiliesofmichiana.com.

I will update our readers on the Canales’ journey to Guatemala and return home with a new member of their family. Andrea said she has been told the country could reopen its doors by June.

“It’s an urgent situation,” she said of Guatemalan children up for adoption. “There are lots of children that need homes.”

Article published Feb 4, 2009
All decked out
Little girls get dressed up for Lunar New Year

Isabella Diener, 4, plays with the yarn that symbolizes a noodle as she and other children take part in a play group at the Granger home of Lauren Dautel. The group meets regularly among families who have adopted children from Asia. Tribune Photo/GREG SWIERCZ

By KIM KILBRIDE Tribune Staff Writer
Heather Diener has been taking her daughter Bella to a special play group for the past two years.

It’s for moms with kids adopted from Asian countries.

“She just has fun interacting with the kids,” Heather said of her daughter, who is almost 5.

“For me, it helps, too, because there are other people waiting, like me,” the Nappanee mom said.

Heather and husband, Ritch, are waiting to be matched with their second daughter from China.

On a recent weekday, the members of the “China play group” got together to celebrate Lunar New Year.

Lauren Dautel from Granger has become the lead organizer of the group that got its start at least a decade ago.

In addition to a weekly play group for the younger kids, Dautel said, interested families meet regularly for field trips and celebrations of all sorts. The moms also enjoy a special night out once a month.

Recently, the China group joined forces with Adoptive Families of Michiana, a newer group that serves as an umbrella, of sorts, for more interest-specific groups, as well as all sorts of activities in the community that are of interest to adoptive families.

Because of that new affiliation, Dautel said, moms with kids who’ve been adopted from a variety of countries, as well as domestically, are joining the China group’s activities.

“I encourage that,” Dautel said, “because we’re all (adoptive parents) in the same boat.

“The support is fantastic,” she said.

Years ago, as a waiting mom herself, she said, she learned from other moms who had already adopted overseas what to bring on the trip to pick up her child.

“I learned what to pack, what type of souvenirs to get,” she said. “For me, it was just phenomenal.”

 

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Want to get involved? For more information about Adoptive Families of Michiana, check out www.adoptivefamiliesofmichiana.com.

Culture play
Group meets weekly to learn about way of life in Spanish-speaking countries

Joey Del Gianni, 6, and Emma DiTommaso, 8, enjoy a mouthful of icing during a Spanish play group organized by Adoptive Families of Michiana. Tribune Photo/MARCUS MARTER

 

 

By KIM KILBRIDE

Tribune Staff Writer

Lots of cookies were decorated and little fingers licked of icing at the Adoptive Families of Michiana’s December Spanish play-group meeting.

Since its inception a little more than a year ago, AFM has grown to include about 60 area families.

And its weekly Spanish play group is proving to be one of the organization’s most popular events.

Once a week, a group of families gets together for play, fellowship and celebration.

The focus is on learning about Latino culture.

Many of the kids who are toted along are adopted from Spanish-speaking countries.

There are also adults who are native Spanish speakers themselves.

The goal is simply to share information about Latino culture, said Denise Del Gianni, of Granger, founder of both AFM and the Spanish play group.

She said she worked on creating both groups since August 2007 when her family moved to Michiana from Seattle and found that an active adoption network was nonexistent.

“We were looking to create new friendships and focus on the adoptive and Spanish-speaking communities,” she said.

Del Gianni’s daughter Elena, now 3, attended El Campito for a few months, her mom said, to be exposed to native-spoken Spanish. Her son, Joey, who is 6, took Spanish classes.

“I handed out cards for a year trying to find people interested in getting together that had children through adoption and/or who are Latino,” she said.

The Spanish play group finally got under way last fall.

One week each month, the group meets at Ten Thousand Villages for story time. Then, everyone travels to Del Gianni’s house for play and learning.

During the other three weeks of the month, the group rotates between members’ homes with Del Gianni contributing a preschool Spanish lesson that focuses on vocabulary and song.

Teri DiTommaso, of Osceola, has been a member of the play group for three months.

She brings her 4-year-old son who was adopted from Guatemala.

DiTommaso said she gets as much out of the group as her little boy does.

“It’s a support system,” she said. “It’s nice to know people who’ve dealt with the same (adoption-related) issues I have.

“I’ve waited a long time for a group like this.”

Gaby Ochoa Brenneman, from South Bend, moved to the United States five years ago from Guatemala.

“I’m very happy to have found a group that wants their families to learn and value the culture of my country,” she said.

“We all want to expose our children to other cultures and also have a close group of friends that share something in common.”

Del Gianni, meanwhile, said Brenneman brings a lot to the group herself.

She shares stories from her childhood traditions and talks about current practices in Guatemala, in addition to preparing traditional food for the group and teaching the kids songs that Guatemalan children learn.

Del Gianni said there is really just one reason why group members have continued to carve out time to meet week after week.

“We all wish our children to share friendships with children who look like them and who have similar birth stories and cultures,” she said.

Staff writer Kim Kilbride: kkilbride@sbtinfo.com (574) 247-7759

 

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New group forms, seeks members.

The South Bend Tribune

Article published Sep 23, 2008

By KIM KILBRIDE
The South Bend Tribune Staff Writer

Tony and Denise Del Gianni recently had a Guatemalan fiesta at their Granger home. The occasion was Guatemalan Independence Day.

Ten families, including two who are from Guatemala and four families who have adopted children from there, came to the party.

Everyone learned a Spanish song, enjoyed authentic Guatemalan food and for the kids there was a piñata.

Participants also heard from a couple from Guatemala who shared their own childhood Independence Day memories.

The fiesta was a kick-off event for Adoptive Families of Michiana, a brand new cultural, social and support group for families with children who are both internationally and domestically adopted.

Denise Del Gianni is the lead organizer of the 100-percent-volunteer-run group.

A planning meeting is coming up on Thursday for anyone interested in joining in any capacity.

Del Gianni is hoping to get some ideas and input, as well as to find people to oversee committees and individual events.

Volunteers are needed to be contact persons for subgroups focusing on domestic adoptions, along with groups for families who have adopted children from Korea, Vietnam and Russia. A committee also will be formed for those who adopted a foster child, she said.

Events that will be planned will include both those with unstructured playtime for the kids, as well as more organized get-togethers, Del Gianni said.

A couple of ongoing groups already have gotten started, including a Spanish-speaking play group that meets on Fridays with rotating locations and a Chinese play group that meets on Wednesdays.

“Any time kids can play together with kids from families who look different, it helps their self-esteem,” Del Gianni said.

Participants also will likely take part in some community events that are already planned, she added, such as a Day of the Dead celebration and Las Posadas, both coming up at St. Adalbert Catholic Church in South Bend.

The social support that parents will receive through participating in these groups and activities could be enormous, said Amy Ybarra, of Elkhart, a group member and mom to one biological child, one child adopted from Korea and another waiting in China.

“It (the interaction) can help us be better moms,” she said.

She added that it’s great that international families, not necessarily only those with adopted children, will be invited to many of the events.

Several of the group’s early members, meanwhile, said information about the process of adopting a child, both domestically and internationally, is scarce in this area.They hope the new group can help make resources for people considering adoption more readily available.“Adoption is a great thing,” Ybarra said. “We want to put the positive (aspects) out there so people can see the perfect families that have come together.”


Staff writer Kim Kilbride: kkilbride@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6554