OPAN

New (?) Home for Life page on CYF website

Ian — Mon, 07 May 2012 11:22:22 +0000

Last year I mentioned I didn’t think CYF had a Home for Life section on their website.

Tonight I stumbled across this page (with a link to a Home For Life brochure). I think the page is fairly new (?) – so I thought it might be of interest…

May Coffee Group

Ian — Sun, 06 May 2012 10:05:48 +0000

Please come along to the next coffee group at Nic’s house in Grey Lynn in Auckland.
WHEN: Friday 18 May 2012, from 10.30am
Please contact the Coffee Group Coordinator at astrickland@vodafone.co.nz if you are planning to come and for more details.

Look forward to seeing you there.

Open Adoption: Ask the Expert

Ian — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 20:10:15 +0000

I have linked to articles on the US website: Adoptive Families in the past. They currently have an interesting Ask the Open Adoption Expert section on their site, that answers some relevant questions about Open Adoption (whether you are from New Zealand or the USA).

For example:

Helping Extended Family Understand
Talking About Birth Siblings
 Sharing Information About the Birthfather
Re-establishing Contact…

Take a look: Ask the Expert: Kathleen Silber on Open Adoption.

20/20 Documentary about Adoption

Ian — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 08:58:37 +0000

I recently found this documentary from TV2′s 20/20: Families from Afar. It screened on the 6th October 2011, and I missed it when it originally screened on TV.

Although the focus is on inter-country adoption, I found it interesting as the father of two beautiful “rainbow” children that were born locally.

You can watch it online here: 20/20 – Families from Afar (12:11).

Open Adoption AND Home For Life – what do you think?

Ian — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 10:44:54 +0000

Maybe you have noticed the addition of Home for Life (HFL) included in elements of the website? We are thinking of including this more formally on our website, in our printed materials, and by adding Home for Life to our byline (eg: OPAN: Open Adoption and Home for Life Network). This is to be more reflective and inclusive of the greater range of ways that families are formed in New Zealand.

We welcome any feedback on this next step, either in the comments of this post, our poll on the right, or on this forum topic: OPAN: Open Adoption AND Home for Life Network.

OPAN Annual General Meeting

Ian — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 09:03:22 +0000

7.30 pm – Friday 16th March 2012

38 Murdoch Rd, Grey Lynn, Auckland

The 2012 OPAN AGM will be held at Steven and Michele’s house. There is plenty of room so the more the merrier. (Adults only please.)

Pizzas, coffee and tea will be provided. Please BYO wine and beer.

Agenda:

7.30 pm-7.45 pm – Meet and Greet

7.45 pm – Meeting starts:

Welcome and apologies
Reports: Secretary, Treasurer, Coffee Group, Library and Website.
Election of Trust / Committee
General discussion around whether OPAN should consider presenting itself more broadly as being relevant to other pathways to provide children with homes for life, rather than being specifically aligned with the adoption pathway. Is this seen as being desirable and how might it be achieved? Committee members will provide some background to this matter to start the discussion.
General Business.

Do you want to make contact with other OPAN members in your area?

Ian — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:09:33 +0000

We’ve received a number of email requests from people wanting to make contact with others in their area. To avoid the potential privacy complications of posting personal details on the site, we have set up an area of the Forum: Meeting Other Families in Your Area, where you can post a request to make contact/meet up with others in your area. There is an example post up on the Forum at the moment. (If you don’t want to leave your email address/contact details in your forum post, then read on…)

In addition to making contact on the Forum, you can also communicate directly with other Forum members (and if you want, share your contact details) via the “Send PM” (Send Personal Message) option on the Forum toolbar:

OPAN Summer Picnic – February 19th

Ian — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 08:57:14 +0000

The OPAN Summer Picnic is being held at Coyle Park in Pt Chevalier, next month. Everyone is welcome. Bring your picnic blanket, sun-screen and picnic lunch and we’ll see you there (look for the OPAN Gazebo).

It’s a great opportunity to enjoy the sun and catchup with/meet your fellow OPAN members. We will also have a selection of OPAN Library books available for loan.

WHEN: Sunday 19th February 2012, 11.00am – 2.00pm.

Look forward to seeing you there.

Technical Difficulties

Ian — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 07:18:44 +0000

We were experiencing “technical difficulties” last week and as a result the site was offline for most off the week. Sincere apologies to all visitors who found us not home last week.

Merry Christmas!

Ian — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 09:21:08 +0000

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year…

The OPAN team.