Too many children are parentless, homeless, abused, neglected, abandoned. Help children through domestic and international adoption, foster care, aid to orphanages and homeless shelters. We are Hague accredited.
Why do we exist?
Adoption and Humanitarian Aid - MAPS was created in 1977 through the caring and insightful vision of Dawn Degenhardt, an adoptive mother of nine, and a pioneer group of other adoptive parents and volunteers. Our guiding principle is that all children deserve and need their own family. What began as a small non-profit agency for children in the U.S. foster care system in Houlton, ME has evolved into a multi-service child welfare agency working locally, nationally and internationally.
In an effort to meet the changing needs of our local communities, adoptive families and sending countries, Adoption and Humanitarian Aid – MAPS has expanded services to include residential and shelter services for homeless and at-risk families, counseling, case management, post adoption support services, specialized services for children who remain living in orphanage and foster care, international child welfare training and consultation, understanding infant adoption training, and affordable extended hours child care services.
We believe that all children need and deserve a permanent, loving family, and we are unique because our continuum of services goes way beyond adoption placement.
What have you accomplished?
Since our humble beginnings, we have placed more than 4,500 children with loving, permanent families through domestic and international adoption programs. We have also reunified and stabilized over 2,000 homeless and at-risk families and thousands of children have benefited from our international humanitarian aid projects. Here a just a few of their stories…
Adoption
“Her joy lights up my world,” says Steve Morrison. He’s talking about 17-month-old Aitugan (pronounced eye-to-gone) whom he and his wife Kjersten adopted almost a year ago from Kazakhstan. “Aitugan is Kazak for ‘born under a new moon,’” explains Kjersten. “It was the name given to her by her birthmother – we chose to keep it because we love the meaning and its connection to Tougy’s birth country.”
“Tougy is our child,” says Steve. “From the start she was independent and an explorer, which we still love about her. She came home at eight months, was walking two months later, and has been on or ahead of every developmental target.” And soon this new family will be growing. Steve and Kjersten have started paperwork to adopt a sibling for Aitugan, also through Adoption and Humanitarian Aid – MAPS – they have nothing but good things to say about the MAPS adoption team – and also from Kazakhstan. “We couldn’t be happier about the way it all worked out,” says Kjersten. “We’d like to go back to the same Baby House if we can. We’d like Tougy to have that link to her brother or sister, and we’d like the caregivers there to see her. What a thrill it would be for them to see the child they’ve given so much to – to see how she’s become a part of the family.”
Residential Services
“Joey, you don’t hurt people”
“I know.”
“Okay. Give me five. I love you.”
It’s a simple conversation – clear and warm. It’s also real. It happened on a playground as Sheri gently redirected the antics of her energetic three-year-old. Sheri’s three older children are with foster or adoptive families – a sorrow she can bear only because she’s working so hard to make a good home and a strong family for Joey and two-year-old Katrina, affectionately known as Bean.
Thanks in a large part to Adoption and Humanitarian Aid – MAPS’ residential services, she’s succeeding. Both Sheri and EJ, her partner of five years, spent many months – Sheri 13 and EJ 2 – working on relationship, parenting, and life skills as part of MAPS’ residential family reunification program. They learned how to compromise, how to interact in front of the kids, how to discipline without yelling… how to put their family back together and keep it going strong. “I love [the MAPS staff] because they gave me a fair shot. They were always kind. They really listened, and they believed in me. I told the now girls in the program, ‘They let you choose your own path. If you choose the right one, they hold your hand.’”
Humanitarian Aid
Five year old Rupali and her seven-year-old sister live at Priyadarshini Orphanage in Pune, India. For many months, Rupali suffered with rectal pain and bleeding. Misdiagnosed at first, Rupali endured her discomfort until MAPS staff stepped in and arranged for a team of doctors – a gynecologist, a pediatrician, a skin specialist, and a surgeon to intervene.
The new diagnosis? Roundworms – and a prolapsed, or fallen, rectum. Though Rupali was easily treated for roundworms, it will take surgery to correct her more serious condition. The doctors must wait, however, for the 82cm (about 32”) and 8.75kg (about 19lbs) little girl to gain some weight before moving ahead. But the outlook is good, and Rupali should soon be able to run and play with her sister and the other children.
The cost to make Rupali well again? Just $500. And people like the team at MAPS who care.
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