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Receive a FREE info packet on international adoption!

 Dillon is Hague Accredited


 

Dillon Turns 37 years old!

Click here to help us celebrate this important milestone!
Click to join the celebration!
 

Special Parenting Workshop

From an Ocean of Tears to an Ocean of Love:
A Birth Mothers Workshop
Saturday workshop/July 25 in Tulsa and Sunday workshop/July 26 in Dallas
Click to learn more
 

One Child's Perspective

Click to view Anna's touching adoption story told in her own words:
"Anna's Story"
 

Dillon Regional News

Check out the events & educational opportunities being offered through Dillon's regional locations:

Best in America

Independent Charities of America Seal of Excellence AwardDillon International
(aka orphancare International)

has achieved the
Independent Charities of America's Seal of Excellence award.
 

  

Building Families

A Rosalind Cook statue of Jesus Christ wth a group of children at His feet and in His lap

Matthew 19:14 . . . but Jesus said, "Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for such belongs the kingdom of heaven."
Click here for a daily
devotional for families

 

   

Adoption Information    Meetings

2009 Schedule
July 9 . . . . Arkadelphia, AR
July 14 . . . Tulsa, OK
July 14 . . . Little Rock, AR
July 16 . . . Dallas, TX
July 18 . . . Orange County, CA
Aug 3 . . . . Russellville, AR
Aug 4 . . . . St. Louis, MO
Aug 11. . . . Little Rock, AR
Aug 11 . . . Tulsa, OK
Aug 22. . . .Austin, TX   NEW!
Sept 5 . . .  .Orange County, CA
Sept 8 . . . . Tulsa, OK
Sept 8 . . . . Little Rock, AR
Sept 22. . . .Olathe, KS
Oct 6 . . . . .St. Louis, MO
Oct 13. . . . .Little Rock, AR
Oct 13 . . . . Tulsa, OK
Nov 10. . . .Little Rock, AR
Nov 10 . . . Tulsa, OK
Dec 1. . . . .St. Louis, MO
Dec 8 . . . . Tulsa, OK

No time to attend? 
View meeting online 24/7!

Pre-Adoption Workshops

2009 Adoption Workshop Schedule
Aug 8 . . . . Tulsa, OK
Aug 22. . . . Wichita, KS
Sept 12 . . . St. Louis, MO
Oct 10 . . . .Tulsa, OK
Oct 24 . . . .Orange County, CA
Nov 7 . . . .Oklahoma City, OK
Dec 5 . . . . Tulsa, OK

To register, click here!

To Contact Us:
OFFICE HOURS (CST)
8:00 AM - 5:00 PM...Mon-Thurs
8:00 AM - 4:30 PM...Friday

LOCATIONS:
In Oklahoma -- main office
3227 East 31st Street, #200
Tulsa, OK  74105
Voice: 918/749-4600
Fax:  918/749-7144
Email this office

In Arkansas --
4702 W. Commercial Dr., #B1
North Little Rock, AR 72116
and
1882 North Starr Road
Fayetteville, AR  72701
Voice:  501/791-9300
Fax:  501/791-9303
Email this office

In California -- 
18001 Irvine Blvd., Suite 101
Tustin, CA  92780
Voice: 714/734-8600
Fax:  714/734-8688
Email this office

In Colorado--
Voice: 720/733-7718
Email our Mountain Regional Coordinator

In Kansas --
2420 West 76th Street
Prairie Village, KS  66208
Voice:  913/544-2805
Email this office

In Missouri --
1 First Missouri Center, #115
St. Louis, MO  63141
Voice: 314/576-4100
Fax:  314/453-9975
Email this office

In Texas --
5200 South Buckner Blvd.
Dallas, TX  75227
Voice:  214/319-3426
Fax:  214/319-3470
Email this office

In Indiana --
Voice:  765/965-1195
Email our Midwest Regional Coordinator

 

Affiliations          
 

Joint Council on International Children's Services Logo
Joint Council on International Children's Services

North American Association of Christians in Social Work Logo
North American Association of Christians in Social Work

 
 

Dillon International, Inc. is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and is classified as a public charity under the U.S.  Internal Revenue Code.

A proud participant of:

Combined Federal Campaign Logo
Combined Federal Campaign

New CFC #11823!

 
 
Agency operations powered by:

FamilyBuilder adoption database management software logo
Burns Data Control, Inc.
"Adoption Software Designed By And For Adoption Agencies"

 

 We're Listed On The Tulsa Business List

 

 


   

Discovery Days is designed for all adoptees, 12-17 years old, who were adopted internationally and transracially.  (Transracial adoption means placing a child who is of one race with adoptive parents of another race.)  This year's Discovery Days will be held on

July 6-8, 2009
(before China Heritage Camp)

July 20-22, 2009
(before Korea Heritage Camp)

Teen Day before India Heritage Camp has been cancelled for this year.

Group of teen adoptees from Dillon International's Discovery Weekend

We'll see you this year at Dillon International's Discovery Days! 

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D I S C O V E R I N G
By Melanie Chung Sherman

"I am only one, but I am one.  
I cannot do everything, but I can do something; 
and what I should do and can do, 
by the Grace of God, I will do."  --anonymous
      Melanie Chung Sherman

The weekend started early in the morning, but we were ready for over 60 teenage Korean adoptees to begin descending upon the Dillon office.  Phones began ringing....papers flying...planes arriving...luggage everywhere...with the excited teenage chatter increasing as old friends were reunited and new acquaintances made.  This would be a weekend strictly for adoptees, facilitated by adoptees.

This was my first Discovery Weekend and I had no idea what to expect.  I had already learned that the first weekend, which was held in 1995, had had only five adoptees attending.  I marveled how much the weekend event had grown over the past five years.  One of the first attendees shared with me how attending that first Discovery Weekend had completely changed his life.  Until then he had never addressed his adoption story, his being Korean, or his uniqueness.  Out of that first Discovery Weekend experience, he went on to co-found a very influential adult adoptee group.  And so I was prepared for this to be a very powerful weekend.

group of teen adoptees from one of the first Dillon Discovery Weekend eventsThere was no time to catch my breath as the day progressed, and soon it was evening and time to depart for Shangri-La Resort.  I looked around the parking lot as we loaded luggage into several cars and vans.  I felt at home surrounded by the sea of black hair, almond eyes, and fellow adoptees who shared my hunger to be around others with a similar adoption story.  Feelings of excitement, contentment and relaxation washed over me.

After arriving at the resort, we separated into groups for discussions on racial identity, birth family, the adoption process, peer pressure, dating and relationships.  Each group reminded me of my own childhood and the issues that I had faced as I grew into adulthood.  As I listened to various teens, I became aware that the issues they are confronting now seem more pressing than the issues I had faced only five years before. However, the need to "fit in" and the desire to be needed and accepted for who they are hadn't changed.   I was reminded how the road to self-identity and self-assurance has many twisting and winding curves, coupled with questions about race, adoption, and heritage. The teens were asking the same questions that I had once asked myself, and I realized that the same hopes, fears, and doubts adoptees face are timeless - unique in fashion but identical in pattern.

For many teen adoptees, this is perhaps one of the most fragile, yet wonderful, times in their lives.  It is a time of discovery through questioning.  It is a time of clarity mixed with confusion and apprehension.  It is a time to soar, reshape and redefine who they are, where they are going and to reflect on where they have been.   

Just like these teens, I had journeyed the same road to discover what it meant to be Korean, American and everything in between.  Just like them, I had wondered about my heritage and birth family, who I might look like, and how to fit in with peers, family and American society.  But I also wondered how I would do on my SAT's, if I several Korean teen adoptees who became friends by attending Dillon's Discovery Weekendwould have a date for homecoming, and whether I would pass my driver's test on the first try.  

The weekend proved to be as powerful as had been promised and a strong reminder of the special function that educational events such as Discovery Weekend provide for our teens to get together and share their experiences and grow from each other.  As parents and facilitators of teen weekend retreats, remembering to keep an open door to adoptees' questions, fears, joys and everyday experiences is vital and important in maintaining healthy and strong relationships.  Although they may not openly talk about the issues confronting them at this stage in their lives, it doesn't mean that teens are not thinking about them.  Essentially, our teenagers just want to know that there will always be someone there to hear them, to ask them how their day was and to lend advice and support in an honest and loving fashion.

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not turn from it.
  --Proverbs 22:6

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Copyright (c) 2009  DILLON INTERNATIONAL, INC. All contents of Dillon's website are copyrighted and protected under the United States and other copyright laws. All other rights reserved. Dillon International, Inc. is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and is classified as a public charity under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code.
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