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July 28, 2006
Adoption Research in Leiden
ICAR2 in Norwich was a wonderful experience - there's a strong consensus to that effect! It was powerful and energizing to have so many adoption researchers in the same place at the same time. There were 10 keynote addresses that provided a broad view of the field and probably about 100 papers or posters that filled out the most current research details. There were almost 20 people from Minnesota in attendance: 6 graduate students, 3 co-investigators and an affiliated post-doc from our MTARP project + several folks from the International Adoption Clinic, several from Rich Lee's project, and more.
Following a weekend on the north Norfolk coast, we made our way to Leiden University to meet with Femmie Juffer and her colleagues. Femmie holds an endowed chair in Adoption Studies, one of the few in the world. The centre's work is of the highest caliber. Here is a link to the centre. One of the centre's services is an online searchable data base of adoption research. You can access it from the navigation bar on the left side of their home page. It is a wonderful resource, especially since the searchable data base from the Donaldson Institute is no longer being kept up.
This scene awaited us just about a block or two into town from the Leiden rail station.
We had two sessions at the Adoption Centre at Leiden University with Femmie and her colleagues. On the second morning, Wendy Tieman presented her research (based on her dissertation) from Wave 3 of Frank Verhulst's longitudinal study of adoption in Rotterdam. We had a wonderfully spirited discussion, facilitated by our open time schedule and a room full of people already knowledgeable about the relevant work. Here's our happy group after lunch: Gretchen Wrobel, Femmie Juffer, Wendy Tieman, Rich Lee, and me.
The adoption centre is located in a new university building that is very nicely appointed. On the occasion of the department's 40th anniversary, 40 faculty were each invited to prepare a quilt square to be included on a wall hanging in the foyer. Here are some of the squares; Femmie's is in the first column, third row from the top. You may not be able to make out the detail, but it depicts international adoption between India and the Netherlands.
And what trip to the Netherlands would be complete without Rembrandt? This daunting face stared down at us during an al fresco dinner at the City Hall cafe on our last night here.
And one more beautiful sunset canal scene to close our visit.
Posted by hgroteva at July 28, 2006 5:58 AM | Adoption | Social Science | Travel
Comments
Hi. I was surfing the net on adoption and plugged into your very pretty blue colored site. I am not an adoption profession but rather a person looking to adopt. I am an American woman, healthy, 53 (I look 40) and have a steady job/career with the United States Department of State. Will it be impossible for me to adopt a healthy child at a young age with no disability b/c of my age and martial status? Does the University of Minnesota provide adoption services for people like me and where do I start? I've heard that the requirements for Chinese adoptions have changed as I would like to adopt a Chinese baby girl. Thanking you in advance for your advice.
Posted by: Adrienne at January 9, 2007 2:38 PM
My sister in law and her husband are considering adoption and apparently Great Wall China Adoption is a reputable company. You may want to check them out.
Posted by: Rugs at February 21, 2007 10:59 AM