Welcome!
Louisiana Adoption Advisory Board (LAAB) is a resource for adoptees, birthparents and adoptive parents.
Things You Can Do On LAAB's Website
Adoptees can learn about getting non-identifying info from their original birth certificate.
Get info on upcoming adoption conferences and events in Louisiana.
Adoptive parents can learn how to talk to their children about adoption.
Birthparents can find a support group
Learn about adopting an older child in foster care.
"In all of us there is a hunger, marrow-deep, to know our heritage--to know who we are and where we have come from. Without this enriching knowledge, there is a hollow yearning." Alex Haley
LAAB members with bill sponsor Rep. Charles Owen after the House vote.
From right, Della Pressler, Jeanette Livingston, Linda Woods, Rep. Owen,
Karen Babin and bill supporters Elise Lewis and Tyler Koch.
LA House Passes Access
To Original Birth Certificate
Louisiana House of Repesentatives passed a bill in a 76-21 vote on Monday, March 28, that would give adoptees over age 24 access to their original birth certificates. LAAB members actively lobbied for the bill and were in the chamber for the long debate and final vote. The bill now goes before the Senate.
Rep. Charles Owen, R-Rosepine, an adoptee who sponsored the bill, gave a heartfelt speech March 24 on the House floor about the importance of giving adoptees access to documents available to all other adults.
LAAB encourages support for this significant bill respecting the rights of adoptees to their own information. Read the bill.
Check out news coverage of the bill and LAAB members' advocacy from the Advocate March 28, WAFB, LA Illuminator March 29, LA Illuminator March 24 and the Advocate March 21.
Why LAAB Works To Give Adoptees Access To Their Own Original Birth Certificate
Read Rep. Owen's Advocate Letter to the Editor from April 24. It explains the issue and its effects on adoptees.
New Orleans Adoptees Connect With Sisters In Ukraine
In international adoption, connecting with birth family
members can be challenging. The story of the Fielkow family
describes how sisters united across time and continents.
Read the article.
From the NY Times March 26, 2021
For 50 Years, I Was Denied
the Story of My Birth
All adoptees deserve better. By Steve Inskeep
Mr. Inskeep, a co-host of NPR’s “Morning Edition” and “Up First,” is an adoptee and an adoptive father.
Adoption Tale: Uncovering A
Lifelong Secret
Watch this feature from March 21’s CBS News Sunday Morning. Correspondent Rita Braver talks with two families who, late in life, discovered their shared connection owing to a young woman having been coerced into giving up her baby.
Read an excerpt from the book American Baby: A Mother, a Child, and the Shadow History of Adoption, by Gabrielle Glaser, featured in this report.
DNA Testing For Adoptees: Watch, Learn
DNA expert and author Richard Hill presents a free presentation
as part of a Facebook Live series sponsored by My Heritage. View the presentation on the MyHeritage Facebook page. Hill, a friend of LAAB, was the first adoptee to find his birth family through DNA testing.
Watch LAAB's Webinar
An Adoptee's Search For Birthparents: A Challenging Journey
Noted author Gary Stewart, a Baton Rouge adoptee, was the speaker at LAAB's first virtual conference on Wednesday, Nov. 18. Stewart discussed his dramatic search for his birthfather and reunion with his birthmother. Stewart's book, The Most Dangerous Animal Of All, was made into a recent FX television series of the same name. Stewart used his story to explore issues common to adoptees as they seek identity and wholeness through a search for birthparents.
See a trailer of Stewart's FX series.
Birth Parents Support Network
All birth parents are invited to join this LAAB support group.
The group's mission is to come together to support, encourage and listen to each other. The group is non-judgmental and confidential. Contact Jeanette Livingston to learn more.
Adoption News
Resources
AdoptUSKids
A national project that supports child welfare systems and connects children in foster care with families.
Congressional Coalition on Adoption® and its Angels in Adoption® Program
Nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to raising awareness about the millions of children around the world in need of permanent, safe, and loving homes.
North American Council on Adoptable Children
Supports, educates, inspires, and advocates so adoptive families thrive and every child in foster care has a permanent, safe, loving family.
LAAB Helps Everyone Learn About Adoption In Louisiana
