OUR STORY
We are a documentary production company Interfilm Productions Inc. Actually, we are brother and sister team where Julia directs and I, Boris, produce documentaries on social issues. We have made a number of documentary films on orphans including Sundance Film Fest premiered Family Portrait in Black and White on bi-racial orphans in Ukraine, Fatherhood Dreams on gay men parenting and From Russia, For Love on adoption from Russia of older orphans. We are now making a new film on adoption where a childless couple from Canada adopts a whole family of orphans, 5 to be exact, ages 6 to 19. The film is entitled HIGH FIVE and is scheduled for completion in 2012. In making all these films on orphans we realized the difficulty of the international adoption process and especially the adoption of older children. Hence, we feel "KNOWADOPTION.COM" is a much needed resource for everyone interested in adoption, international adoption, adoption of older children plus much much more (incl VOD channel of adoption films, resource for summer hosting programs of orphans from all over the world and....will save some info for later)
By the way, view High Five Trailer here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAVQ3xrgzd8
RAISING THE ISSUES
Interest in international adoption has risen exponentially over the last thirty years. Until recently, most international adoptions were of babies and toddlers. But recently, many countries have decided to allow international adoption of only older children. Hence, many people are now considering bringing an older child into the family but such adoptions are much more complex. A lot of difficulties may arise in child and family adjustments such as attachment disorders, separation trauma and language barriers. "KNOWADOPTION.COM" intends to become an invaluable resource for individuals considering international adoption of older children as well as a networking place for families, who have adopted, to share their experiences and advise one another.
Summer hosting programs for orphans from Eastern Europe have existed since the time of Chernobyl disaster. Many families participated in such programs and, as it happens in High Five, adopted children as a result of participating in the program. Unfortunately, there are a lot of orphans who are looking to feel part of the family, even just for the summer. We hope this website could become the necessary link in bringing North American families together with organizers of Summer hosting programs and encouraging them to participate.
ELEMENTS OF DESIGN
The website will contain the following:
1. Video content that will present Social workers that work in international adoption field. They will share their knowledge for would-be adoptive parents, case studies, do’s and don’ts, and how to deal with adversity.
2. Video content documenting families that have adopted older children internationally and their stories, their advice and experiences.
3. Social Networking capabilities where the users can register, share their stories, ask questions and answer others, share news and up-to-date information.
4. Put Video into the hands of users. Users will be able to Upload from the web, cameraphone and record from a webcam to share their stories of adoption and hosting orphans.
5. The site will contain exhaustive resources on international adoption of older children and on Summer hosting programs. Users would be able to update the resources and rate their experiences with different agencies and organizations they’ve dealt with.
6. We intend to become a comprehensive resource for films on adoption, fostering and orphans and will offer them for viewing online.
WHAT WE HAVE and WHAT WE NEED and WHAT YOU GET
We have raised $7500 from the Canada Media Fund for the project. Also $1500 from the Knowledge Network in British Columbia, Canada. We are now looking for $10,000 to complete financing of the project.
What we are offering besides eternal gratitude and your name listed as the sponsor of "KNOWADOPTION.COM" is for every $20 donated we will send you one of our films. You can view the further descriptions of the films that are available for you to choose from at http://www.interfilm.ca
Just let us know which ones you would like. Please note Family Portrait in Black and White is not yet available on DVD but we'll reserve a copy for you for when it's ready at wholesale price.
OTHER WAYS YOU CAN HELP
Please share this campaign on your Facebook, with friends, Twitter and whatever new ways we are communicating through these days.
