
Americans for International Aid and Adoption Closure
Dear AIAA Families:
It is with great sadness we are informing you that, due to the significant and ongoing health issues of the founder and Executive Director of Americans for International Aid and Adoption (AIAA), the Board of Directors of AIAA has made the decision to close the agency.
AIAA has listing resources and information for families below.
For records:
Those families in which AIAA only did the home study and post adoption reports should go to their placement agency for records or information.
For those families in which AIAA was the placement agency, your records will be transferred to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. To obtain information from your record, you would need to send your request in writing along with a copy of your photo ID to:
Central Adoption Registry
P.O. Box 30037
Suite 514
Lansing, MI 48909
You cannot make requests by email, fax or over the phone. You will need to include as much information as possible in the letter about the adoptee, including date of birth. There is no fee for this service and you should receive a response in about three weeks.
For Birthland Tours:
Ties Program at https://www.adoptivefamilytravel.com. Look under Birthland Trips and then at the bottom under “Adopted From Another Country?” for the link to the organizations and websites that run the tours.
For searches:
For those families that have adopted through Korea, Social Welfare Society (SWS) will also have copies of child studies and any available information on birthparents. You can make a request by emailing swspas@sws.or.kr. PLEASE KEEP YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION UPDATED AT SWS IN CASE A SEARCH IS INITIATED FROM KOREA. No one will give out your personal contact information without your permission first.
Also, the Korean government has a website to facilitate searches. It is called Korean Adoption Services and its website is www.kadoption.or.kr. It is recommended that searchers begin with SWS first.
The Barker Adoption Foundation (another SWS agency), located in the nation’s capital, serves adoptees and adoptive families around the USA. Their services include post-adoption counseling, homeland tours, search and reunion, support and discussion groups, and an annual adoption and foster care conference. Information about Barker’s services and the associated fees is available on their website https://www.barkeradoptionfoundation.org/adoption-services/family-post-adoption-services.
Those families who adopted from other countries can try the following resources. Unfortunately, help with searches in most countries is not available. The following list does not indicate a recommendation or endorsement from AIAA, nor is it exhaustive. These are simply places for our families to start to get help.
For families that adopted from Bulgaria, some have found support and resources through this Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/471630849532176/?ref=share.
International Social Services is an organization that operates in multiple countries. Searchers can go to https://iss-usa.org/assistance-inquiry/ to see if they can help. There is a fee for their services.
Families conducting searches could check out the following websites and list serves as well for help:
- www.groups.yahoo.com/group/birthparentcontact This is a yahoo group for international adoptive parents who are contemplating searching for their child’s international birth family.
- www.adoptivefamilies.com/birthfamilysearch This website provides articles and references about how to contact birth parents as well as links to organizations that may be used to search for your child’s birth family.
- www.adopteeconnect.com This is a website that allows you to post information about the people you are trying to locate as well as search through other posts to try and make connections. Searches are done primarily through surname. On this website you can register to receive notifications anytime another person’s search or posting matches your own.
For Post Adoption Support and/or Counseling:
For families outside of Michigan, please consult your home study agencies for local post adoption services.
The Barker Adoption Foundation
Korean Adoptee Adoptive Family Network (KAAN)
Annual conferences for Adoptees and their families, resource list.
P.O. Box 714
Camp Hill, PA 17001
(717) 574-3629
Child Welfare Information Gateway
Adoption Learning Partners
Adoption Classes and webinars
Adoption Learning Partners
2049 Ridge Ave.
Evanston, IL 60201
(800) 566-3995
Sae Jong Camp
Korean Heritage Summer Camps
6020 Thornhill Drive
Oakland, CA 94611
(802) 487-0752
Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoptions
Support group for adoptees and their families who adopted from Russia and the Ukraine.
For Michigan families, the following is a list of local resources.
Post Adoption Resource Centers from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services
The centers, located by region, offer adopted individuals under the age of 21 and their families support, education, training, advocacy, information, service coordination and case management services. Go to www.michigan.gov and look under Post Adoption Resource Centers for information on services in your region.
Therapists in Southeast Michigan:
Attachment Coalition of MI
Emily Jernberg, PhD.
1460 Walton Blvd., Suite 202
Rochester Hills, MI 48309
or
2311 Shelby Ave., Suite 202
Ann Arbor, MI 48103
(248) 505-4161
Alejandra Medina-Barnes, MA, LPC
1460 Walton Blvd., Suite 2
Rochester Hills, MI 48309
(248) 840-3376
Norserve Group
Sherry Russel, DNP, NP, PMHNP-BC
Jeff Fraser, MSW, LMSW
1322 N. River Road
St. Clair, MI 48079
1-888-326-2565
Dynamic Family Attachment Center
Lydia Gribota, LMSW
26657 Woodward Ave., Suite 106
Huntington Woods, MI 48070
(248) 923-5171
Reflections Therapeutic Group
Bethany Christian Services
ADOPTS Program
Trauma focused therapy for adoptees and their families
Madison Heights Office
(248) 414-4080
Hands Across the Water
Provides counseling, teen adoptee support groups, resources.
781 Avis Drive, Suite 200
Ann Arbor, MI 48108
(734) 477-0135
Email
Visit Website
Therapists in Southwestern Michigan:
Bethany Christian Services
ADOPTS Program
Trauma focused therapy for adoptees and their families
Grand Rapids office
(616) 224-7617
Holland office
(616) 396-0623
Kalamazoo office
(269) 372-8800