Hopscotch Adoptions 2017 Tax Returns #RobinSizemore #ArmenianAdoptions #BennetKelley

5 year snapshot exceeds $2.2 million I bet Bennet Kelley hasn't made that kind of money the last 15 years of his career.

Hopscotch Adoptions 2017 Tax Returns #RobinSizemore from Vanessa Kachadurian

Arianna Rising, Armenian Adoption Adventure

We followed this story last year about the Paros Foundation and their generous support to the Nork Orphanage in Armenia. Arianna was from that orphanage and now it has beautiful new plants, benches instead of weeds. (pictures forthcomming)

By Kristin Agostoni Staff Writer kristin.agostoni@dailybreeze.com
@kagostoni on Twitter Posted: 06/14/2013 06:36:47 PM PDT
Updated: 06/14/2013 08:23:15 PM PDT

Preschooler Arianna Spiglanin was adopted from an Armenian orphanage by Lauren and Tom Spiglanin of Rancho Palos Verdes. The couple later learned she has cerebral palsy and is committed to a combination of therapies to help with her development. The Daily Breeze profiled Arianna and her mother, Lauren, a year ago. She has since made improvements with her mobility. (Steve McCrank / Staff Photographer) Related: Arianna’s journey: Rancho Palos Verdes couple faces adopted child’s tragedy with courage The last time Lauren Mahakian Spiglanin visited Yerevan, Armenia, she and her husband, Tom, had just become parents of a nearly 9-month-old baby girl they had adopted from the state-run Nork orphanage. During visits, they’d take their baby, Arianna Rose, outside to a weed-filled yard with construction debris lying around – the only outdoor spot for prospective parents to interact with children at the center. Today, that same space has been transformed because the couple raised their own funds to build a new playground. After they brought Arianna home to Rancho Palos Verdes, the Spiglanins drummed up more than $10,000 in contributions – just about $2,700 short of their goal – that have bought the orphanage benches, flowers and a wading pool and water play area to help the children weather the country’s hot summers. And since adopting Arianna in August 2009, their lives have been transformed as well. They’re now the parents of a 4 1/2-year-old preschooler who loves Dora the Explorer, visits to the Long Beach aquarium and dinners out at The Red Onion. But it hasn’t been an easy journey for the family, which was profiled last March in a front-page Daily Breeze story.

After Advertisement the adoption was complete but before they left the country, the Spiglanins learned their baby girl’s complicated medical history had apparently been concealed by the facilitator who assisted them. Lauren Spiglanin said they initially were told that Arianna was born a month premature and that her birth mother had died of a brain aneurysm. But there was more to the story. She said the facilitator waited until their last night to leave an envelope at the hotel. Inside were medical records indicating the birth mother’s placenta had become detached, affecting Arianna’s supply of oxygen. The papers said the baby – the couple later learned she was born more than two months’ premature – had heavy asphyxia and acute breath insufficiency. “Basically,” her mother explained, “they’re saying that it’s cerebral palsy.” A pediatrician they visited after bringing Arianna home told them her condition was caused by a midbrain injury – one requiring countless doctors’ visits and therapy sessions to help their little girl learn sit up on her own, strengthen her abdominal and neck muscles and, they hope, eventually talk more clearly and walk. They’re now working to achieve the latter goal – getting Arianna How to help Anyone wanting to contribute toward the Nork orphanage playground project can do so through the Paros Foundation. The website is http://bit.ly/10j8PrS/. out of her purple walker – by the end of the year, Spiglanin said. “Hopefully, by November we can burn the thing,” she joked. “The main thing is just strengthening her spine and her neck.” In a little over a year, Arianna has made strides in her physical development, her mother said.

In March 2012, she was proud her little girl could briefly sit unassisted. Now, Spiglanin challenges her to do that – she can go for as long as six to seven minutes, she said – and also lift her head up on her own. “She can maneuver herself off of a chair,” she said. “She’s fallen off her bed. It’s like she thinks she can get up and walk on her own.” And Arianna doesn’t like being stuck in the stroller, which is an Work continues on the new playground being built at the Armenian orphanage from which the Spiglanins adopted Arianna. (Submitted photo) indication that she wants to do more for herself. Frustration can come in the form of temper tantrums. And although Arianna says just a few words clearly, she talks and babbles often. Thanks to Dora the Explorer and her travel adventures, the couple recently “did the happy dance” when Arianna added the word backpack to her vocabulary, her mother said.

At Valmonte Early Learning Academy in Palos Verdes Estates, the preschool Arianna attends from 9 a.m. to noon Monday through Friday, she receives physical, occupational and speech therapy. “They have my blessing,” Spiglanin said. “Work her hard.” And school has also helped Arianna make friends, said Coryanne Sennett, who works as a substitute class Preschooler Arianna Spiglanin with her mother Lauren Spiglanin. Lauren and her husband Tom adopted Arianna from an Armenian orphanage. (Steve McCrank / Staff Photographer) aide at the preschool and also serves as the girl’s caretaker, bringing Arianna home from school when her parents are working. “I just had an almost immediate connection with Ari,” said Sennett, 24. “The other kids love her. She’s a little flirt.” And the help she gets at school comes on top of weekly speech and physical therapy sessions at Torrance Memorial Medical Center and visits to Lotus Wellness Center in Orange. There, Mala Moosad, an acupuncturist and registered nurse who specializes in alternative medicine, said she focuses on stimulating acupuncture points on Arianna’s back – a technique meant to evoke a response from her brain and send signals to the nervous system. “We do something called energy balancing, kind of like reprograming the brain,” said Moosad, a doctor in her native India. “She started improving pretty fast. She’s doing much better … Ari is a sweet girl. I’m hoping that she will walk and talk.” In fact, it was Moosad who told Spiglanin that she believes her little girl will be able to walk by her 5th birthday, which will come on Nov. 28. In the meantime, they’ll continue to see Moosad, whom Arianna apparently enjoys visiting. “When I do the treatment on her back,” Moosad said, “she doesn’t want to get up from the table.” Spiglanin credits the “combinations of therapies” Arianna has been receiving with helping her development. And had it not been for her accepting a full-time job as the store manager of Torrance’s Remedy Pharm – a compounding pharmacy on Hawthorne Boulevard that offers homeopathic and eco-friendly products, nutritional services and more, including intuitive readings – she would have never found the center in Orange, she said. Spiglanin was referred to Moosad by the Remedy Pharm’s owner, Nilesh Bhakta.

They make the drive every Friday, she said, adding one more appointment to Arianna’s already busy schedule. But come October or maybe May 2014, they’re hoping to get a vacation of sorts. Spiglanin, Arianna and Sennett are planning a trip to Armenia to visit the orphanage and see the new playground built with the support of the Paros Foundation. The nonprofit based in Berkeley works to raise awareness about the Armenian culture and partners with groups in the country involved in the arts, children and people with disabilities. The foundation sent volunteers from the United States to the orphanage to help with the project, cutting down on labor costs. It’s now complete, although Spiglanin said she’s hoping for some finishing touches, such as more flowers. Last year, taking Arianna back to Armenia wasn’t even in the plans; among her mother’s worries was how her daughter would get around on cobblestone streets with her walker. But now she’s ready and believes her little girl is, too. Said Spiglanin: “I’m anxious to go and I want to see the progress. I think Ari will be up to it.” http://www.armenianlife.com/2013/06/27/arianna-rising/

Armenian Adoption is it for you? an email from someone researching

Copy of e mail and response:

Hi;
We have been researching adoptions and have learned that it is a slow and hard process that changes without notice. Our options are few, we have very few countries open to us for small babies or children under the age of 3. Ghana is closed, Morocco is closed, Russia is closed and more slowing down or under scrutiny.
Is Armenia a viable program for us since we are not Armenian and so few adoptions are conducted to the USA out of that country?

Thank you
Jennifer and Curt Martin Illinois.

Dear Mr. and Mrs Martin;
It is difficult to answer that as you say there are so few children available from Armenia. You didn't mention if you wanted a healthy infant or would consider a special needs children. Many are mild to moderate but fixable like the clef babies, but they are actively conducting the surgeries most of the infants come from small villages with these minor fixes. As it sits there is under 22 adopted to the USA, with over 60% being special needs.

There is around 65 every year adopted internationally, with about 1/3rd going to America and the remaining going to: Germany, Sweden, Italy, France. Bare in mind the country has a list of residents that are looking to adopt as well and they would take first precedence as the country is trying to retain the roots, culture of their children it is important to have Armenian surnames for these children.

There is 3 adoption agencies that deal with Armenia, 2 of these agencies discourage those that are non-Armenian and make no promises. The third one will state that it is 3-4 years and $50,000 for a healthy infant. Beware of any promises and check into the other countries that remain open and are newer programs seem to have a faster program: Columbia, Uganda, Bulgaria (was under scrutiny but now open) Good luck!

Armenian Adoption Adventure International Adoptions lowest in 15 years

The number of international adoptions is at its lowest point in 15 years, the Associated Press reports. Worldwide, the number of orphans being adopted by foreign parents dropped from a high of 45,000 in 2004 to an estimated 25,000 last year, according to annual statistics compiled by Peter Selman, an expert on international adoptions at Britain's Newcastle University. The drop is being attributed to crackdowns against baby selling, a struggling world economy and moves by countries to place more children with domestic families, according to the AP. Some adoption advocates blame the drop on the Hague Adoption Convention, a set of international guidelines designed to ensure transparency and child protection following a rash of baby-selling and kidnapping scandals, the AP reports. Meanwhile, U.S. adoption officials and international agencies such as UNICEF tell the AP the Hague rules, which require countries to set up a central adoption authority and a system of checks and balances, are necessary to safeguard orphans and keep profit-driven players from corrupting the system. http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2012/05/international-adoptions-down-worldwide/1 HANOI, Vietnam — The number of international adoptions has fallen to its lowest point in 15 years, a steep decline attributed largely to crackdowns against baby-selling, a sputtering world economy and efforts by countries to place more children with domestic families. Globally, the number of orphans being adopted by foreign parents dropped from a high of 45,000 in 2004 to an estimated 25,000 last year, according to annual statistics compiled by Peter Selman, an expert on international adoptions at Britain's Newcastle University. Some adoption advocates argue the decrease is also linked to a set of strict international guidelines known as the Hague Adoption Convention. Devised to ensure transparency and child protection following a rash of baby-selling and kidnapping scandals, critics say the guidelines have also been used by leading adopting nations, including the U.S., as a pretext for freezing adoptions from some countries that are out of compliance. "It should have been a real step forward, but it's been used in a way that's made it a force for shutting down" adoptions in some countries, says Elizabeth Bartholet, a Harvard law professor who promotes international adoptions. "That affects thousands of children every year." She says places where international adoptions are stopped may ultimately see more children stuck in orphanages or on the street where they could fall prey to sex traffickers. U.S. adoption officials and international agencies such as UNICEF say the Hague rules, which require countries to set up a central adoption authority and a system of checks and balances, are necessary to safeguard orphans and keep profit-driven players from corrupting a system that should be purely about helping children. Alison Dilworth, adoptions division chief at the U.S. Office of Children's Issues and a strong supporter of the Hague guidelines, says they shield adoptive parents from everyone's worst nightmare: "God forbid, that knock on the door ... saying your child that you have raised and loved and is fully integrated into your family was stolen from a birth parent who is desperately trying to look for them." Much has changed from a decade ago, when busloads of would-be foreign adoptive parents flocked to orphanages in poor countries such as China, Vietnam and Guatemala to take babies home following a relatively quick and easy process. Waits have become longer and requirements stiffer, with some countries now refusing obese or single adoptive parents and requiring proof of a certain amount of cash in the bank. Countries embroiled in scandals have pulled the plug on their programs, or been cut off by the U.S. and other countries, leaving hundreds of children in bureaucratic limbo. Sharon Brooks, 56, of New York, knows the story all too well. She waited three and a half years for the release of a little girl in Vietnam after the U.S. froze adoptions there in 2008 amid serious fraud concerns. In January, Brooks learned the child she had named Akira-Li would instead be adopted by a Vietnamese family. "That was my one shot," says Brooks, who now believes she is too old to qualify for most international adoptions. "Everything in my life has been at a standstill." Vietnam joined the Hague convention on Feb. 1, and U.S. officials say they are hopeful adoptions will resume within the next year. Shutdowns in countries such as Guatemala, Nepal and Kyrgyzstan have coincided with efforts to promote domestic adoptions in countries like Russia and China, where foreigners now face tightened restrictions. China, for instance, stopped allowing single women to adopt. In the late 1990s, a third of U.S. adoptive parents fell into this category, Selman says. Advances in fertility treatments and the growing number of couples turning to surrogacy have also contributed to the global drop. The U.S., which historically has received about half of the world's annual international adoptions, saw a decline of more than 60 percent from 2004 to just over 9,000 last year. Dilworth, the U.S. adoption official, says the economic downturn is at least partly to blame, with foreign adoptions typically costing between $20,000 to $40,000. But the U.S. freeze on adoptions from some countries also means there are fewer children available to adopt. Guatemala used to provide up to 4,000 children a year for international adoption at its peak in 2006. But the U.S. will not accept further adoptions from the country until it has fully revamped its system to root out corruption, Dilworth says. "They have incredible problems with fraud," she says. In one recent high-profile case, a Guatemalan court ruled that an American family must return their 7-year-old adopted daughter to her birth mother after allegations surfaced that the girl was snatched from her home five years ago. The child remains in the U.S. Other countries that have seen large drops in the adoption of foreign babies include Spain and France, where international adoption fell 48 percent and 14 percent respectively from 2004 to 2010. Canada remained the same and Italy actually saw a 21 percent increase during that period, according to Selman, who analyzed data from 23 countries that are primary receivers of adopted orphans. Last year's 25,000 international adoptions were the lowest since 1996, Selman said. The global numbers could decline further as South Korea, one of the top providers of orphans for foreign adoption, works to phase out its long-running program. Since the 1950s, more than 170,000 South Korean children were adopted by families overseas, with the majority going to the United States. Despite having one of the world's fast-growing economies and domestic concern about falling birth rates that are already among the world's lowest, South Korea continues to rank as a top destination for international adoption. Experts blame this on a strong cultural stigma against both unwed motherhood and adoption. But pressure has been mounting to reverse the trend. In recent years, South Korean lawmakers have created new incentives to help promote domestic adoption, while quotas have allowed fewer children to leave. If the decline in global adoptions is to be reversed, says Selman, Africa is likely to lead the way. Ethiopia has emerged in recent years as a top source of orphans available for foreign adoption, though it's unclear whether other African countries will follow. "If it's going to go up, it'll be from Africa," he says. "It could be that they set their pace against adoption, and that could have a profound effect." _http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/10/international-adoptions_n_1506442.html Associated Press writers Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea, and Romina Ruiz in Guatemala City contributed to this report.