As one of the oldest and largest child welfare organizations, Joint Council on International Children's
Services is the lead voice on intercountry children’s services. With a mission to advocate on behalf
of children in need of permanent, safe and loving families, Joint Council promotes ethical child welfare
practices, strengthens professional standards and educates adoptive families, social service
professionals and government representatives throughout the world. International child welfare
agencies, child advocacy groups, parent support groups and international medical clinics choose
membership in Joint Council as a means to address the critical issue of parentless children and
creating permanent solutions.
NCFA has been a champion of adoption since its founding in 1980. Whether as an advocate for state
laws that promote sound adoption policy, a resource for federal officials and policymakers about
appropriate federal adoption initiatives and reform, a diplomat for sound international adoption
policy, or a source of adoption facts and education, NCFA is devoted to serving the best interests
of children through adoption. Learn more about the ways in which NCFA works to promote the positive
option of adoption.
Focus On Adoption is an intercountry adoption advocacy organization dedicated to the following
principles and beliefs that all children deserve the opportunity to grow and develop within a loving
and nurturing family. That when a child cannot remain with its birth family, intercountry adoption
is a better solution than institutional care or foster care. Where parental relinquishment for
adoption exists as a legal right, it should be inviolate. Abandoned or orphaned children should
have the opportunity to be adopted and have permanency in a loving family as soon as possible. All
public and private adoption services should be predicated on these principles and conducted with
humane consideration for the child, the birth family, and the adoptive family within an ethical,
legal, and transparent framework.
Driven by the principle that every child deserves a loving family, the University of Massachusetts
Medical School Center for Adoption Research within Commonwealth Medicine is dedicated to assisting
families and professionals in improving the lives of children in adoptive and foster care families.
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