Pumpkin Baby



Dallas Adoption Agency, Hope Cottage, is now accepting entries for the Pumpkin Baby Photo Contest on Facebook.  The rules are simple

• Follow the theme - Pumpkin Baby which encompasses anything fall, pumpkin or Halloween related!
• Child depicted can be any age now, but in the picture submitted, must be age 3 or under.
• Post the photo on the Hope Cottage Fan page by 5 pm October 10, 2010

Here are the winners of the September Photo Contest for Career Baby.  Congrats!



Mr. Professor



Future Teacher














P.S. For those of you in the Dallas area - the Arboretum is in the midst of their Great Pumpkin Festival - lots of photo ops!


Hope Cottage is the oldest nonprofit, non sectarian adoption agency in Dallas. Since 1918 Hope Cottage has been building and nurturing strong families through counseling, education and adoption services.


If you have questions about adoption, please call Hope Cottage at 214.526.8721.

If you are a woman facing a crises pregnancy and would like to talk to someone about adoption, please call Hope Cottage at 1.800.944.4464 or 214.404.4546.

Interested in Adopting from Foster Care?

Since 2006 Dallas Adoption Agency, Hope Cottage, has been partnering with Child Protective Services to build forever familes for children in the foster care system.  At any one time, more than 7,000 children in North Texas in the foster care system are available for adoption.

 Adoptive Families magazine offers some great insight into adopting from Foster Care with these articles. 

Want to read about someone who has adopted from Foster Care?  In The Fost/Adopt Saga  Kathryn Reiss and Tom Strychacz chronicles in a special six part series,  the first year joys and challenges of adopting two older girls from foster care.  Kathryn Reiss is an award-winning author of suspense novels for children and teens. Tom Strychacz writes books and articles on American literature. They both teach at Mills College in northern California, and are the parents of five incredible kids. 

In this excerpt from her moving memoir, Another Mother, Sarah Gerstenzang relates her often painful, yet life-affirming journey as mother to a waiting child.
 

Kate McKee Robertson shares her discovery that adopting older children was right for her family. 
 
If you are interested in adopting from Foster Care, contact Linda Pouncey at Hope Cottage by calling 214.526.8721. 

Hope Cottage is the oldest nonprofit, non sectarian adoption agency in Dallas. Since 1918 Hope Cottage has been building and nurturing strong families through counseling, education and adoption services.

For Your Reading Pleasure

Dallas Adoption Agency, Hope Cottage, wants to share with you some interesting reading from the adoption world.

A poignant story about a child's first birthday celebration.  Birth Siblings - experiences from six different families. 

Adoptive Mothers (and Fathers!) CAN experience post partum depression.   What about those precious moments  you might have in the hospital with your birth mother?  Here are suggestions to make that time run more smoothly.

Hope Cottage is the oldest nonprofit, non sectarian adoption agency in Dallas. Since 1918 Hope Cottage has been building and nurturing strong families through counseling, education and adoption services.


If you have questions about adoption, please call Hope Cottage at 214.526.8721.

If you are a woman facing a crises pregnancy and would like to talk to someone about adoption, please call Hope Cottage at 1.800.944.4464 or 214.404.4546.

Resources for Wanting to Adopt and Adoptive Families

Dallas Adoption Agency, Hope Cottage, would like to share these resources for Wanting to Adopt and Adoptive Families.  Knowledge is a great thing!

Here is a link for a recent blog post, entitled "Five Tips for Exchanging Gifts Among Birth and Adoptive Familes."

Interested in adopting from the Foster Care System? Click here for a Fact Sheet dispelling myths about Foster to Adopt.   



Hope Cottage is the oldest nonprofit, non sectarian adoption agency in Dallas. Since 1918 Hope Cottage has been building and nurturing strong families through counseling, education and adoption services.


If you have questions about adoption, please call Hope Cottage at 214.526.8721.

If you are a woman facing a crises pregnancy and would like to talk to someone about adoption, please call Hope Cottage at 1.800.944.4464 or 214.404.4546.

Making the News- It's a Good Thing!

Robert Miller, long time business columnist with the Dallas Morning News, led his column today with a story about Dallas adoption agency, Hope Cottage and our new TMAP program.  What a great way to start the day!

All the staff and board at Hope Cottage a very excited about the new TMAP program (Teen Mentoring and Prevention).  And we are even more excited about receiving funding from the Office of the Govenor the first time out of the chute!

For more information about TMAP, see our blog post of September 2, 2010. 

Hope Cottage is the oldest nonprofit, non sectarian adoption agency in Dallas.  Since 1918 Hope Cottage has been building and nurturing strong families through counseling, education and adoption services.

If you have questions about adoption, please call Hope Cottage at 214.526.8721.


If you are a woman facing a crises pregnancy and would like to talk to someone about adoption, please call Hope Cottage at 1.800.944.4464 or 214.404.4546.

Making Me Smile

It is one month until Surgical Associates of North Texas presents the 2nd Annual Friends of deVille Golf Tournament:  Another Shot FORE Children, benefiting Hope Cottage.  Proceeds from this event support our many programs including domestic adoption, foster to adopt, aid to pregnant women and teen pregnancy educational programming. 

Scott & Todd deVilleneuve

The event was started by one of our Hope Babies, Todd deVilleneuve, owner of Todd deVille Custom Homes.  Todd and his brother Scott were adopted from Hope Cottage and Todd called us last year and said he wanted to do something to help an organization that has meant so much to his family over the years.  Todd's father, Dallas pediatrician, Allen deVilleneuve, still sees Hope Babies as part of his practice.  Todd gathered 72 of his friends (who call him deVille - hence the tournament moniker) and we had a glorious day of golf while raising more than $10,000. 

This year's tournament is set for Friday October 8th at Coyote Ridge Golf Club in Carrollton.  Surgical Associates of North Texas (Dr. Scott deVilleneuve and company) are the title sponsor and the fabulous folks at GEICO are Lunch Sponsors.  One of the benefits of being the Lunch Sponsor is that a label with your company logo, tagline, whatever you like, is put on each golfer's box lunch.  I checked with our friends at GEICO and asked them what they would like printed on the labels.  Here is what they sent me.  It just made my day and made me smile.  Thanks GEICO for helping children find loving, permanent homes and starting my day with a smile!

P.S.  If you are interested in playing in the tournament, e-mail Leslie Clay, Chief Development Officer.  Individual golfer cost is $125 and sponsorships start at $300. 

Hope Cottage Receives Grant from Office of the Governor

Hope Cottage has received notification from the Office of the Governor, Criminal Justice Division that it will receive $120,000 over 3 years to launch a new program working with teens who are parents or at risk to become parents. The goal of the program, called Teen Mentoring and Prevention (TMAP), is to ensure that teen parents, pregnant teens and at risk teens know how to avoid behaviors that can lead to incarceration, child abuse, neglect and a life of poverty.

“In September 2009, the Dallas Morning News stated Texas has the highest repeat teen pregnancy rate in the entire U.S. and Dallas is the number one city for repeat teen pregnancies in Texas.”, says Hope Cottage CEO, Sonyia Hartwell, MSSW. “Teen pregnancy causes girls to end their schooling, places a strain on social services and reinforces a cycle of poverty. Researchers have concluded that teen pregnancy will increase in the coming decade and the biggest loser in this equation is the child born to and raised by teen parents. These children are at a high risk to be in poor health, drop out of school, experience higher levels of incarceration and become teen parents themselves, thus perpetuating the problem.” Hartwell continues, “This funding is instrumental for Hope Cottage to expand its scope of services to the community and launch new initiatives to support the organization’s mission of building and nurturing strong families.”

Hope Cottage is the oldest nonprofit, nonsectarian adoption agency in Dallas. Since 1918, Hope Cottage has been nurturing and building families through education, counseling and adoption services.

Hope Cottage and the Assistance You Make Possible

This week's Hope Cottage blog is continuing the subject matter begun in last week's blog - clients that have been helped because of YOUR support.  Again, we cannot stress enough how none of this would be possible without your monetary and inkind gifts.  Thank you!

Cindy was 21, seven months pregnant and homeless when she came to Hope Cottage for help.  Her life had been difficult and she was coping the best she could.  Her wordly posessions consisted of a backpack and two threadbare pillowcases containing a few treasured momentos and some clothing.  Cindy had a heart of gold and knew that she wanted the best for her unborn child.  She made an adoption plan to give her child the support, stability and love she never had growing up.  Being part of the foster care system, as she had been, was not the life she wanted for this child. 

Cindy was unable to work due to her stressful pregnancy and could not support herself financially.  A friend could offer her a bed, but Cindy still needed help with rent, utilities, food and clothing.  Your gifts to Hope Cottage,  provided groceries and maternity clothing during the two remaining months of her pregnancy. 

How does this story end?  After giving birth, Cindy placed her child with a loving family, relocated to Ohio where her other three children lived and began her life anew and full of hope - hope that you gave her.