September 27, 2009
Congresswoman Jean Schmidt Honors Carole Adlard as an Angel in Adoption™To Be Recognized at National Event in Washington, DC

Cincinnati, Ohio: September 27, 2009 Congresswoman Jean Schmidt has selected Carole Adlard as a 2009 Angel in Adoption™ for her outstanding advocacy of adoption issues.  The Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI), which orchestrates the Angel in Adoption™  program, will honor Carole Adlard along with more than 190 Angels, at an awards ceremony and gala event in Washington, DC, September 30, 2009.

Carole Adlard is being honored for conducting twenty three years of adoption education.  “I felt the adoption process was lacking,” explains Carole Adlard,  “ In order to improve  the practice of adoption, I formed an adoption educational agency called Adoption Option..” Adoption Option has become a catalyst for a broad array of adoption activities in Southwestern Ohio including,  an infant adoption video based curriculum that is used by  schools, agencies and pregnancy testing centers throughout the U.S;  an adoption mentoring program for unwed pregnant teenagers; adoption mediation program for birth and adoptive parents; a professional adoption education program which educates medical and mental health professionals on how to provide faction adoption information in a non directive ways;  an adoption media initiative that conveys accurate adoption information to make communities more adoption literate and adoption friendly. Mrs. Adlard has spoken on adoption in national conferences including National Neonatal, National Infant Adoption, National Right to Life and The Common Ground Network for Life and Choice.

The Angel in Adoption™ program is CCAI’s signature public awareness campaign and provides an opportunity for all members of the U.S. Congress to honor the good work of their constituents who have enriched the lives of foster children and orphans in the United States and abroad.

“The Angel in Adoption program is unlike any other program in the Nation’s Capitol. Because of it, over 1400 “Angels’ have come to share with Washington their adoption experience and left with a renewed excitement of all that adoption makes possible,” said Congresswoman Jean Schmidt.“I learned one simple lesson from my time on the hill, knowledge is power.  Angels in Adoption is meant to give Members of Congress the knowledge they need to use the power they have toward making the dream of a family a reality for every child.”

In addition to the more than 190 local angels from around the country, several National Angels will also be recognized at the ceremony and gala for their dedication and commitment nationally and internationally to child welfare on a grand scale.  Former “National Angels” include First Lady Laura Bush, Patti LaBelle, Jane Seymour, Muhammad Ali, the late Dave Thomas, Steven Curtis Chapman, Bruce Willis, Alonzo Mourning, and Marcus Samuelsson.

The Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI) is a 501(c)3 nonpartisan organization dedicated to raising awareness about the tens of thousands of orphans and foster children in the United States and the millions of orphans around the world in need of permanent, safe, and loving homes through adoption.  CCAI’s goal is the elimination of the barriers that hinder these children from realizing their basic right of a family.

CCAI was created in 2001 by the active co-chairs of the bicameral, bipartisan Congressional Coalition on Adoption (CCA) to more effectively raise Congressional and public awareness about the issue of adoption.