LEEAF Mission Statement:
1. Encourage families as they go through the adoption process 2. Provide a positive experience for our children as they learn about their personal adoption stories and heritage
3. Celebrate our children
4. Adoption education
5. To give our children the gift of fellow adoptees
6. To help the children left behind
in Eastern European orphanages
Louisiana Eastern European Adoptive Families is an adoption group for prospective and adoptive families with children adopted from Eastern Europe. The group was formed in July of 1997 by waiting families who felt the need to connect with other families to share their concerns and to offer each other encouragement. The group has grown dramatically over the years, going from nine families in 1997 to eighty (plus) families in 2008. We believe that our group gives waiting families an indepth understanding of adoption and allows them to hear first hand the successes and the challenges associated with international adoption. We also believe that our children will benefit from knowing other children who have been adopted. We want to give them the opportunity to express their feelings and concerns with children who share similar adoption stories.
LEEAF is a private adoption group formed solely for the purpose of providing encouragement for persons seeking to adopt from Eastern European countries and orphanage/orphan support. LEEAF is NOT an incorporated entity. Membership is extended at the discretion of the steering committee. The steering committee reserves the right to evaluate any person's access to the group and terminate that access for what ever reason it deems necessary. No LEEAF member or former LEEAF member can use LEEAF's database for their own personal, monetary gain. Any service provided by a LEEAF member or former LEEAF member to the LEEAF group (not to individual LEEAF members) must be given at cost or donated. Final decisions for all aspects of the functionings of LEEAF will be made by the LEEAF steering committee. LEEAF reserves the right to limit the number of people on the steering committee. LEEAF is a private support group and therefore reserves the right to evaluate any person's placement on the LEEAF steering committee or in the LEEAF group. LEEAF does not endorse and does not accept any responsibility for any product, agency, foundation, or service stated on the LEEAF website. All LEEAF events are attended at your own risk. LEEAF is not responsible for any injuries that may occur at a LEEAF event. LEEAF does not endorse or accept responsibility for the information given to families by individual LEEAF members. We are an informal, adoption group and we do not claim to be adoption professionals in any manner. We share our personal adoption stories, but do not give professional advice. Each individual considering adoption should gather information from adoption professionals and choose wisely. Copies of the notes taken at steering committee meetings (held after 5/5/03) will be made available to current LEEAF members upon request.
