From Senator Mary Landrieu:

I want to make you aware of an important piece of legislation I will be announcing this Friday at the Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit in Nashville. It’s called Children in Families First or CHIFF, and it will ensure that U.S. foreign assistance puts into action the core American belief that all children have the right to grow up in a permanent, loving family. CHIFF enhances U.S. Government action on behalf of children living without families using the full array of options – family preservation, family reunification, kinship, and domestic and international adoption – while also streamlining and simplifying U.S. international adoption procedures.

We all work under the steadfast belief that every child deserves a permanent family to call his or her own. We have achieved many successes together on behalf of vulnerable children around the world, and I hope I will have your support for this important new initiative. I plan to introduce this legislation this summer and will keep you updated on developments.

If you want to be involved or have any questions, please contact Whitney Reitz at Whitney_Reitz@landrieu.senate.gov or Libby Whitbeck at Libby_Whitbeck@landrieu.senate.gov on my staff.

All the best,

Senator Mary Landrieu

On April 8, 2013, USCIS published revised Form I-600, Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative, and Form I-600A, Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition, with 3/05/2013 edition dates.  USCIS will accept older editions for 60 days.  Beginning June 8, 2013, we will only accept the 03/05/2013 editions.            

Please note that the new Form I-600/Form I-600A, Supplement 1, Listing of Adult Member of the Household, must be completed for each adult (age 18 and older) who lives in the home of the prospective adoptive parent(s).  Please see the instructions for Forms I-600/I-600A for details.

Blank USCIS forms are free. Please remember that you may get our forms from the following USCIS sources:

• Download them from our website (recommended).
• Electronically request that we mail them to you.
• Call Our Forms Request Line at 1-800-870-3676.

Kind regards,

Public Engagement Division

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)

www.uscis.gov/outreach

Nauryz is one of the oldest holidays on Earth. This holiday of spring and the renewed life of the Earth has been celebrated for over five thousand years by many cultures of the Middle and Central Asia and, according to some sources, by eastern Slavs as well.

This holiday has been celebrated on 22 March, the day of the spring equinox. That’s why the Kazakhs call the month of March Nauryz. It was celebrated as the day of the renewed life which comes with the spring. It was the day when the first spring thunder strikes, buds are swelling on the trees and vegetation grows wildly. Nauryz as a non-religious celebration of the spring and renewal is closely linked to some other Kazakh holidays, such as a “farewell to winter” festival. Boys born on this day would be called Nauryzbai or Nauryzbek, and girls Nauryz or Nauryzgul. It was seen as a good omen if it was snowing on that day.

The March snow is usually soft and particularly white. Beautiful girls were often compared to the white snow of Nauzys. In the past, the Kazakh called Nauryz the Day of the People or the Great Day of the People. People believed, the more generous the celebration of Nauryz was the happier the year would be. Therefore, there are so many rituals and festivities related to this holiday. On the eve of the holiday, people would clean their homes, pay back their debts and reconciled with their opponents because, as the old people used to say, if Nauryz entered the house, all diseases and failures would pass it by. On the night before the festival, all vessels in the house would be filled with milk, airan (plain yogurt), grain, and spring water because it meant that people would have a lot of milk, good yield and plenty of rain during the coming year.

During the day, everybody tried to be in good spirits, would give a big hug to each other and wish good fortune and happiness to others. The celebrations would begin with sunrise. There is an old ritual “If you see a spring, clean up its source”. At dawn, all adults, youngsters and children would pick up spades, go to an agreed place near a spring or aryk (small water canal) and clean it. There, they would also plant trees under the supervision of respectable old people. During the process, they had to say: “Let a man leave a tree rather than a herd in the people’s memory” and “If you cut one tree, you will have to plant ten!”

After the ritual was completed, three messengers went around the village or town and called everybody to join the celebrations. They were dressed in bright festive costumes. Sometimes, they dressed up like heroes of Kazakh fairly-tales: Aldar Kose, Zhirenshe and beautiful Karashash. Then, the show would begin. People enjoyed themselves and congratulated each other with the New Year. They wish each other all the best, sang songs specially composed for this holiday called Nauryz Zhyr, watched wrestling between a man and a woman and took part in the competitions in toung-twisting (“zhanyltpash”) or riddle solving (“zhumbak”).

A great deal of food was prepared during these days. It symbolized prosperity and wealth in the coming year. At noon, a bull was killed and a special dish was cooked from the meat. It was called “bell-koterer” (posture straightening) because the bull was considered to be one of the strongest animals and meals cooked from its meat would give people strength and stamina. Each family would lay a dastarkhan (festive table). People would sit down at the table at noon. Mullah would read prayers dedicated to ancestors before and after the meal. At the end of the meal, the oldest men among them would give a blessing so that prosperity would never leave the family.

The Kazakhs attached special importance to the number of seven during the Nauryz celebrations because it symbolized the seven days of the week, which was considered to be a time unit of the universal eternity. Seven bowls with the Nauryz-kozhe drink (made from seven sorts of seven types of herbs) would be put in front of the aksakals (respectable old people). The meals were composed of seven components, usually meat, salt, fat, onions, wheat, kurt (a type of cheese) and irimshik (a kind of cottage cheese).

The celebration always included mass games, traditional horse races and other competitions. The most famous and favourite were the games of “Aikysh-uishysh” (towards each other) and “Audaryspek” where dzhigits (skillful horsemen) had to pull each other down from their saddles. Sport competitions were popular and both boys and girls could take part in them. A girl would invite a dzhigit to have a go and compete with her on one condition: if he wins, he would have the right to marry her, and if she wins he would have to obey her and execute her every desire.

Hence, Nauryz would often turn into a wedding celebration. All people regardless of their gender, age and social position were excused from daily duties and took an equal part in the fun and games. Various ethical bans regarding relations between men and women were lifted during this time, even the relations between the oldest brother-in-law and sister-in-law. (Scientists link this game to free dating and mass entertainment which was widespread when two clans were intermarrying at the time when nature came back to life. Then, all bans and restrictions in the relations between men and women were lifted for a short period of time.) A poetic show would complete the day: two Akyns (poets) took part in a song competition. The competition would be over with the sunset when, according to a common belief, the good defeated the evil. Then, people would start a fire and, carrying torches lit from the fire, would go around the village, sing and dance. That was the end of the festival celebrating the spring renewal and equinox. The history of Nauryz has been complicated. The totalitarian Soviet system did not recognize the existence of any national identity and any reference to traditional heritage was considered to be an anachronism and remnants of the past. Nauryz was cancelled in 1926. It was first recreated in Kazakhstan only in 1988 and was extremely popular. Officially, Nauryz was recognized on 15 March 1991 by a Presidential Decree. The President declared 22 March, the day of the spring equinox, a holiday.

Since then, Nauryz has been widely celebrated across the whole country. Of course, the modern festival is essentially different from the old. It is not only about staged shows, ornate yurts, and delicious Nauryz-kozhe. It is also about charitable events, folk sporting games, tending of plants, planting trees, cleaning of parks, streets and squares.

Nowadays, it has become a truly national holiday of spring, work and unity. It is dear to all the peoples living in the multinational Kazakhstan. The ancient holiday of Nauryz has naturally become a part of the modern life, preserving the old traditions.

Dear Parent,

In conjunction with the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute (EBDI), we are
conducting a survey of adoptive parents about their experiences adopting a
child from another country.

As you may know, the Hague Adoption Convention on the Protection of Children
and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (Hague Convention) was
created to improve the experiences for children who are in need of
permanency.

The results of this survey will inform a paper on the impact of the Hague
Convention on intercountry adoption practices and policies. This paper will
make recommendations about how to improve intercountry adoption practices
and policies for children and families.

We are recruiting adoptive parents who adopted a child after 1982 to take
the survey. This survey presents an opportunity for adoptive parents to draw
on their experiences to provide feedback/information about adoption
practices and policies. We hope to have parents in countries around the
world who read English and have adopted a child from another country
participate in this survey.

To access the survey, please use the following link for adoptive parents:

https://tufts.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_0JOrVXtfy4zox6c

Please also share this link with other parents whom you know adopted a child
from another country. We welcome the feedback from parents in countries
around the world who are able to take the survey in English.

For information about this survey, please contact Ellen Pinderhughes.
Ellen.Pinderhughes@tufts.edu

Thank you,
Ellen Pinderhughes, Associate Professor
Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development
105 College Avenue, Medford, MA 02155
617-627-4560 / Ellen.pinderhughes@tufts.edu

Jessica A.K. Matthews, Doctoral Student
Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development Tufts University, CD62
Teaching Assistant Toddler Development Project, Research Assistant
Professional and Parental Intercountry Adoption Experiences, Study Director
Teen Ethnic Identity Study, PI

Hello Everyone!

It is hard to believe but it’s time to start planning, fundraising and recruiting for Kidsave Summer Miracles 2013! We are so excited to get everyone back on board. We truly appreciate your ongoing support and could not run this program without you all.

Our primary focus for the next month is on recruitment. Because of new guidelines from the Colombian government families now need to have EVERYTHING submitted to ICBF by April 15^th in order to be eligible to host for the summer. This means that we would prefer to only be recruiting through February 15^th to allow families sufficient time to complete the application process. We have held a few orientations so far and we need your help in recruiting families for more. Attached are flyers for each community containing the upcoming January orientation dates as well as the contact information for the community organizers who we have on board so far. We encourage all community team members and agency partners to use these flyers to spread the word about Summer Miracles to your networks.

Another component that everyone loves to talk about is fundraising.  This year Kidsave is using a fundraising platform called “Crowdrise” which allows communities and families to set up their own fundraising pages.  Crowdrise is extremely user friendly – you should all be able to go and set up an account either for yourself or your community.  You can learn how by going to http://www.crowdrise.com/online-fundraising.  Please share this resource with families as you recruit and brainstorm fundraising strategies.  To see an example of a community page, view the page set up by Volunteer Coordinator Diane Brule of the Rochester Community at http://www.crowdrise.com/kidsaverocs.

Your primary contacts for the next 3 months will be Lauren Gordon, Director of Family Visit Programs at lauren@kidsave.org and Delta Kirkland, Program Assistant for Family Visit Programs at deltak@kidsave.org. Katy will be starting a new and exciting adventure when she goes on maternity leave beginning next week!

We look forward to working with you all to make Summer Miracles 2013 a success.

Sincerely,

Lauren, Katy and Delta
Kidsave International
100 Corporate Pointe, Suite 380
Culver City, CA 90230
Ph: 310-642-7283
Fax: 310-641-7283
www.kidsave.org