Kids Need a Family; We Need You
Help us Support, Protect, and Reunite Children and Families
Dear Friends of ISS-USA,

Now more than ever your help is needed.

As we enter the holiday season and think about spending time with our families, we also reflect on those who cannot be with theirs and how we can help.

Poverty, violence, famine and war are driving an unprecedented number of immigrants across the borders of the European Union and the United States in search of a safe haven from the turmoil in their native countries. Some have been favored with warm receptions and acts of kindness. Others have been detained and deported. Much like in the 1920s when the ISS Federation was created, ISS-USA today works to improve conditions in the home country to prevent emigration, and provide services that are critical to reunite families and keep them safe.

This Thanksgiving, and throughout the holiday season, we ask you for a contribution so we may continue our vital work. Gifts from donors like you have helped sustain us for more than 90 years. In that time, the number of people who desperately turn to ISS-USA for help has grown.

Your generous gift can help connect an abducted child or a child in foster care to his or her family abroad, ensure that a potential home is safe for a child who is being adopted or returning home, or enable siblings to meet for the first time after having lived their entire lives apart.

How Your Gift Has an Impact on Children & Families:
  • $10/month can train 10 social workers nationwide to find permanent homes for foster children who have family overseas who are able to take care of them 
  • $20/month can alert protective services for 12 children in imminent danger of abuse or neglect
  • $40/month can ensure that judges who make decisions on behalf of separated children have access to the information they need 
  • $125/month can help an adult adoptee find and establish a relationship with his or her biological relatives on another continent
This season, please give to ISS-USA. 
  • You can donate electronically by clicking the "donate now" button, by sending us a check made out to International Social Service, USA Branch Inc.,
  • Or by making a gift in memory or in honor of someone. 
  • You can also introduce our organization to others who may also share your passion for ensuring that children, families and adults separated by international borders have access to the services and support they need.
Thank you in advance for your gift to ISS-USA, a gift that will help make the world a safer, better place for those who find themselves abandoned or away from home this holiday season. 

Best wishes,
Julie
Did You Know?
  • In 2014, nearly 60 million individuals were forcibly displaced worldwide
  • Half of the world's refugees are children
  • 1 in 10 children around the world are now growing up in a conflict zone
  • The ISS Network assists 75,000 individuals and families reunite across borders each year
  • Last year, ISS-USA served more than 3,000 people from 99 countries and all 50 states; answered more than 1,500 questions related to cross-border issues; and provided repatriation services to 736 people
Selected ISS Highlights in 2015:
  • ISS-USA celebrated its 90th Anniversary of providing cross border social work alongside several members of Congress, Ambassadors, distinguished colleagues, and supporters. The event drew over 100 guests.
  • ISS-USA was selected as the recipient of the 2015 CWLA National Blueprint Champion for Excellence Award in the category of Agency Innovator, for demonstrating innovation and excellence in the delivery of programs and services to advance improved outcomes for children and youth utilizing the principles of the National Blueprint. The CWLA National Blueprint was created as a guide and framework for fulfilling the vision "that all children will grow up safely, in loving families, with everything they need to flourish-and with connections to their culture, ethnicity, race and language."
  • The ISS General Secretariat published a Manifesto for Ethical Intercountry Adoption that builds on the underlying principles of the 1993 Hague Convention and seeks to promote ethical practices by all adoption stakeholders to better protect all children. The ISS General Secretariat also published the first Guide to International Family Mediation.
Celebrate #GivingTuesday & #MarylandGivesMore by Supporting ISS-USA!

Save the date: #GivingTuesday 2015 is December 1st. You can be pa rt of the celebration by giving back to ISS-USA!  You can also make history and play a role in making Maryland the most generous state in America b y using both the #MarylandGivesMore & #GivingTuesday hashtags on social media on December 1st.  Help spread the word about ISS by sharing our fundraising page, or donate directly to our fundraising page linked here
Shopping on Amazon? You could give back simply by shopping via AmazonSmile.
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Choose International Social Service - USA as your charity and we will receive a percentage of your purchase as a donation, with no additional cost to you.
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