By Town Crier Staff

Susan Lobo of Los Altos was selected by Congressman Tom Lantos, D-San Mateo, as one of 150 congressional Angels in Adoption for 2003 honored at a ceremony held in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 30 by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute.

“I am so thrilled to be honored by CCAI for my volunteer work in adoption,” Lobo said. “This award is also a tribute to the outstanding leadership members of our FRUA chapter.”

Lobo is regional chairperson of Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption (FRUA), Northern California Chapter, an adoption support group with 200 member families.

Lobo joined FRUA and began volunteering in a leadership role before she and her husband, Keith, adopted their daughter Natalie from Yaroslavl, Russia, in April 2000.

She developed a 100-page resource directory to assist adoptive families with medical and other services that they would need after arriving home with their children. After 100 copies of this publication were sold in the first year, Lobo edited and expanded the edition to 150 pages, including a bibliography of parenting and culturally-related books for families with children adopted from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics.

Mom’s Night Out was her second contribution. This event, held monthly in four different parts of the Bay Area, gives parents an opportunity to discuss concerns and milestones of their children. It also affords prospective adoptive parents the opportunity to meet with families who have already adopted.

Shortly after the ratification of HR Bill 2883, Lobo volunteered to organize a Citizenship Day to honor adopted children who had become U.S. citizens as a result of this bill. On March 17, 2001, more than 300 people celebrated the FRUA Children’s Citizenship Day event at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church.

In the fall of 2002, Lobo assumed responsibility for FRUA Northern California. Along with overseeing the existing programs, she sought to expand the volunteer base. Most recently, she organized the first-ever Eastern European Adoption Conference for FRUA Northern California, on May 17. Eleven agencies sent representatives to discuss infant and toddler adoption, older child adoption, single parent adoption, special needs adoption, and the adoption process.

CCAI is a nonpartisan, non-profit organization dedicated to raising congressional and public awareness about the foster children in this country and the millions of orphans around the world in need of permanent, safe and loving homes; and to eliminating the barriers that hinder these children from realizing their need of a family. In the United States alone, more than 550,000 children are in the foster care system, with tens of thousands available for adoption. The Angels in Adoption program was created in 1999 to raise public awareness of the ways that individuals can help children and families through adoption.

Each year, CCAI invites members of Congress to participate in the Angels in Adoption program as it is a unique opportunity for federal legislators to recognize individuals from their home states who have improved the lives of children through adoption. Since the program’s inception in 1999, more than 400 congressional Angels in Adoption have been recognized from all 50 states.

CCAI also honored Bruce Willis and Mohammad and Lonnie Ali as 2003 National Angels in Adoption.

FRUA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, governed by an elected national board. The organization’s 37 chapters, as well as members of the national board of directors, are made up entirely of volunteers.

For more information on the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute, logon to www.ccainstitute.org. For more information on Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption, logon to www.frua.org.