Dear Colleagues, Friends and Families,

The work of ensuring that every child lives, grows and flourishes in a family can not be done alone.  To keep families together and prevent abandonment we must share our knowledge and resources.  To protect families and children from corruption and abuse, we must be strong and act together.  To advocate for child-centric laws and regulations, we must focus our efforts and join forces.  And to speak for the most vulnerable children of our world, for those who can not speak for themselves, we must raise our collective voices to speak as one. We need you.

In 2008 over 300 organizations, 4,000 professionals and 20,000 individuals collaborated with Joint Council.  We worked together to ensure the right of every child to a safe, loving and permanent family.  Adult adoptees joined with medical clinics and family support groups; NGOs joined with students and child welfare organizations; and child advocates joined with parents and governments.  We held conferences, gave advice, shared resources, created standards, traveled the world, and influenced laws and policies.  Together we kept thousands of children in families and found families for thousands more.  Together we created new models of child welfare using community development and humanitarian aid.  We need you to be a part of ‘together’.

Through the growing community that is Joint Council, your voice is heard.  In 2008 Joint Council met with the U.S., Russian, Chinese, Ethiopian, Nepalese, Vietnamese, Romanian, Ukrainian, Guatemalan and Haitian governments.  We established major initiatives including the Standards of Practice for Vietnam, Ethiopia and Haiti.  Public policy was influenced through Joint Council's A Child’s Rights Campaign, PAP 10,000 Campaign and Guatemala 5000 Campaign.  We worked with Congress in generating hundreds of Congressional sponsors for letters to the U.S. Department of State, UNICEF and the Guatemalan government.  And we made key presentations at 8 conferences and symposiums including: the American Bar Association International Section in Brussels, Harvard University, the Russian Ministry of Education, and Ethiopia.  Join us and let your voice be heard. 

I invite you to be a part of the Joint Council community.  Join us and lend your knowledge, your life experience and your unique perspective to our collective work.  Join us and learn from your colleagues, advance your mission and be part of a cohesive network.  Join us and influence our work with governments around the world, craft our initiatives with the U.S. Congress, drive our collaborations with UNICEF and other NGOs.  

The next 75 days represent our annual open application period.  I invite you again to become a part of Joint Council.  We need you.

Best Wishes,