I wrote yesterday on the International Adoption Blog about J.K. Rowling and the organization she founded with Emma Nicholson that is meant to address issues Eastern European kids face. Orphans and children in care in Romania are the primary focus, but all of Eastern Europe gets a look.

I'm none too impressed with that organization, but it's not the only thing Jo Rowling supports, thankfully. She also supports a UK group, One Parent Families, that appears to be doing some really excellent work in Britain, primarily England and Wales, and going a long way to support young mothers, teen parents, pregnant teens, families dealing with behavioral issues with their kids, and more.

Their "Young Mum's Guides" are regionally focused magazines with information aimed at parents and parents-to-be under the age of twenty-five offering advice and ideas about what to do, who to ask and where to go for help in the West Midlands, Eastern England, Wales, Yorkshire and Humber and North-west England.

They also provide a tool for professionals, designed to be of practical use to young parents as well, called the The Pregnant Teenagers and Young Parents Resource Pack, providing, "... clear and accurate information on a wide range of subjects, including benefits, education, employment, childcare and housing," and including the "Money for Teenage Parents" magazine that has a guide to the benefits system tailored to young parents.

The "FamilySafe" project is part of their "challenging behavior" area of focus, and offers specialist support to single parents raising kids with issues, and the Lone Parent Helpline for help over the phone, and there's also a guide to tax credits for single parents, what they are, how to apply for them, what parents might receive, and so on.

Not all of this material is free, however. The Pregnant Teenagers and Young Parents Resource Pack goes for £80 ($162.80 as of today) ... including binder ... which seems a bit steep to me, and like something that could be donated under some circumstances. (Perhaps it is, but they just don't want to tell people.)

So, while I do wish Ms. Rowling would rethink her international commitment, her local project looks like something that does a lot of good. An organization doing much the same in the US would be a very good idea.

It seems it could be a fairly simple thing ... not cheap or easy, but certainly doable ... for some of the nationwide organizations that are looking to prompt reforms in domestic infant adoption, and whose members have a strong desire to do what can be done to keep mothers and babies together, to pull together local resources from chapters around the country and publish something like the "Young Mum's Guides" in America. Offering a resource pack for professionals could also go a long way toward seeing to it that women all over the US are receiving the same helpful information.

Maybe they could even get J.K. Rowling on board for a bit of help.

It's a thought.