Friday, September 19, 2008 9:57 PM CDT
Angels in Adoption: Local couple honored in Washington, D.C.
By BONNIE CLARK, Features Writer
Nancy and Michael Dubois of Charleston returned Wednesday from Washington, D.C., where they were honored as “2008 Angels in Adoption for their outstanding advocacy of adoption issues.”
The couple were recognized for their work with Operation Starfish, a non-profit organization that helps adoptive families financially through grants and interest-free loans.
Nancy Dubois said they were among more than 180 “angels” at an awards ceremony and gala event on Tuesday.
“It was amazing to see all the things that are going on in adoption in our country,” Dubois said. “It’s almost like when people get involved with adoption, it just gets under their skin.”
Angels in Adoption is a program of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute, senators and representatives, who make up the largest bipartisan group of any organization in Washington. The CCAI this year marked its 10th year “celebrating ordinary people doing extraordinary things.”
The Duboises were nominated for the honor by Congressman Tim Johnson.
Nancy Dubois attended Charleston schools and is a graduate of Eastern Illinois University. She and Michael, a coordinator in the Department of Student Teaching, live in Charleston with two adopted daughters, Katiana, 9, and Nina, 12.
Another grown adopted daughter from India is herself the mother of an adopted daughter. A biological son lives in Washington, D.C.
In 2002, Dubois and her then-husband, Larry Kurlander, founded Operation Starfish after adopting a daughter in Russia and wanting to help other children who were left behind find families, too.
“Our plan has always been to make a difference by helping one child at a time by helping someone give that child a home” Nancy Dubois said. “That’s still our goal.”
After Kurlander’s death, Nancy and the Starfish organization moved the home base from Cleveland, Ohio, to Charleston, where in April 2006 she married Dubois, who also “has a heart for adoption.”
This week at the Angels in Adoption events, the Duboises were able to network with others who are involved with adoption at several events, including a celebration on the White House lawn; a pin celebration held on Capitol Hill; and a reception and gala, both held at the Ronald Reagan building and International Trade Center.
They also had the opportunity to share their story with various members of Congress and their staffs.
The Duboises have been trying to bring their adopted daughter Katiana’s brother, Flavius, 10, from Romania to live with them, but have been thwarted at every turn, Mrs. Dubois said.
“We aren’t allowed to adopt him because since Romania joined the European Union, one of the things they had to agree to was not to let children be adopted outside the European Union.
“So, what we’ve done is get permission to bring him over here to study until he’s 18. The Romanian government did give us permission to do that,” she said.
“We’ve been really excited because we’ve been communicating with him for about a year,” she said. “And in the spring, they said we could take him. We got him enrolled in a private school, because they said he’d have to go to a private school that has been approved by homeland security.
Now, they face a new obstacle: the United States won’t give him a visa.
“Never would we have thought that it would be our government that would be keeping us from bringing him here.”
Mrs. Dubois said the problem is that anyone who applies for a visa has to prove they will not become an illegal alien.
“We told them we’ll take responsibility for him,” she said. “We’ll pay for everything he needs and he won’t become a responsibility of the government. But they have told us that the way the law reads, he has to prove it himself.
“Well, he’s a 10-year-old orphan. He doesn’t have economic ties. He doesn’t have family ties over there.”
In frustration, the Duboises started contacting their local politicians: Sen. Dick Durbin, Sen. Barack Obama and Congressman Johnson. They all said they’d like to help.
“In doing that, we told people in Tim Johnson’s office about Operation Starfish and our involvement with adoption.”
A few months later, Johnson’s office called the Duboises and told them they’d like to nominate them for the Angels in Adoption program.
“We didn’t know what it was,” she said. “But that’s how it came about.”
On the last evening at the Washington celebration, the Duboises were seated at their assigned table with a delegation from Russia and their interpreter.
A man came over to take the last empty chair. “I think I’m supposed to be at this table,” he said, and sat down.
“He works at the State Department in visas and adoptions,” she said. “You tell me that’s not providential!
“So, of course, we bent his ear, and he understood exactly what the problem we’re having is, and he gave us his card and said he’d check into it and see if there is anything he can do or any suggestions he can make.”
Donations to Operation Starfish help families with costs of adoptions
“There are children who need families and families who need children — it’s just a matter of getting them together,” says Nancy Dubois, and that’s what she and her husband, Michael Dubois, are trying to do through Operation Starfish — one child at a time.
To date close to 60 families have been helped, with eight families receiving assistance this year.
Donations that come to Operation Starfish from individuals, businesses, organizations and charitable trusts are tax deductible, with 100 percent of all donations going to help families, both with domestic and foreign adoptions.
Those who wish to receive financial assistance through grants and interest-free loans must fill out an application form and be approved by the organization’s board of directors.
While they may apply earlier, grants are not awarded until near the end of the adoption process.
“Staying ahead of the demand is always the difficulty,” Nancy Dubois said. “Right now, we have 12 applicants and not enough money.
“Our grants are between $2,000 and $3000, but they’re always so grateful for anything we can give them.
“We would like to help everybody who is qualified, but right now, that’s just not possible,” she said. “I really hate it when we have to say no.”
More information about Operation Starfish can be found on the Web site at www.op-star.org.
Contact Bonnie Clark at bclark@jg-tc.com and 348-5727.
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sapient wrote on Sep 20, 2008 10:43 AM: