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Friday, February 13, 2009
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Obtaining Adoption Records

Thinking for adoption? Well, getting started with searching for the right family member is one of the biggest hurdles you can ever go through life. Finding the right information is no doubt difficult, but this doesn’t mean that there’s no hope for you to find the right child whom you can call as your own. Perhaps the most important move you can ever take is to find and obtain adoption records.

Adoption records are kept by the state, courts and agencies today. However, it may take time for you to find the right information to back you up with you adoption plans as adoption records are not easily released for public use. So if you are really serious with adoption, then you better exert efforts and time to search for ways to obtain adoption records. There are a lot of options you can consider, after all.

So, what are these options? Well, below are some tips for you to consider, so please read on.

Know the Laws

Adoption laws are state laws, so it’s understandable that they differ from state to state, or from country to country. So when doing your adoption records search, make sure that you know the laws behind the process. Note that in most states, the laws regarding the release of identifying and non-identifying information about adoption do vary. There are some that restricts people from accessing the adoption records. There are certain requirements for you to meet in order to access the records, and that include basically your age. So check with the laws and know who can request information, how and what types of information are accessible.

Search and Know Your Intentions

When opting to request adoption records, it is very important to know that you are prepared, physically and emotionally, as possible. Search and know that you are searching. Note and understand that searching for adoption records can sometimes be frustrating as the search can take time, money and a great deal of interest and determination. It can take days, weeks, months or even years, or it can never be successful. So be ready and understand the possible consequences.

Gather Information

When opting to find and obtain adoption records, it’s best that you gather information as possible. Begin with your basic information, your birth date, place and year of adoption and anything else that you need to know. Also, ask for information from your parents and other relatives and family friends for you might be surprised of how much information they know. To top it all, do you best and concentrate on what you really believe to be true.

Write a Petition

Writing a petition to access adoption records is perhaps the most important thing to do. You can write a letter to the state, agency or attorney, but be ready to spend extra money. Also, include your personal information, present location, medical situations, and your reason for contacts, and know exactly whom you are writing to.

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Where to Find Adoption Grants

Many families thinking for adoption have backed out in their adoption plans for one particular reason – adoption costs a lot and they cannot afford to pay them. Thanks, however, to some organizations out there that adoption grants were considered and offered to support couples and families who wish to adopt.

The adoption grants are basically a form of finance aid commonly offered by all states to assist couples and parents who wish to adopt and manage living with their adopted children. Most of the adoption grants are available for domestic adoptions only, but there are some that offer grants for international adoption purposes. Those who usually handle adoption grants internationally are private sectors of the society.

Now, if you happen to be one of those thousands of people out there planning for adoption, but is bothered by financial constraints, then considering adoption grants could no doubt be the right move for you to take. You can find these financial aids anywhere on earth as almost a hundred organizations today are offering this. However, it is very important to note and understand first the terms and conditions maintained by these grants as there are some that are restricted to certain types of children or adoptions. There are also others that are only available to any prospective parents who are able to meet with the criteria set by the organization they are dealing with. So, make sure you know the adoption grants’ coverage, limitations and requirements.

Below is a short list of some of the organizations offering adoption grants for those who wish to adopt and support their adopted child. Consider the following:

Acres of Hope, Inc.

The Acres of Hope, Inc. is one of the most recognized non-profit charitable foundations that are dedicated to providing educational information and parent to parent support to families and couples dealing with children of emotional and physical challenges. This organization also offers emotional support, advocacy services, loan program, and financial assistance for such kind of families. And, as a grant organization, Acres of Hope, Inc. seeks to promote greater community acceptance, understanding and support for families considering adoption. They now offer adoption grants and other financial aids to make that mission possible.

National Adoption Foundation

The National Adoption Foundation currently offers programs for adoption grants, although limited. Aside from this, they also offers unsecured loans through a revolving $9 million loan bank for those who are thinking or planning for adopting a child, but can’t afford to support the adoption process and the costs.

The International Adoption Center

The International Adoption Center is but another organization that provides adoption grants to those families that qualify for the adoption process. As far as I know, they offer adoption grants of up to $1,000 per couple. However, for families or couples to avail this offer, they need to write a letter stating the nature of the financial need. This letter must be submitted to the organization itself, along with the supporting documents that can be considered for the decision making.

Adoption Registry Online

Are you an adopted? Have you placed a child for adoption? Or, do you have a sibling who happens to be an adopted? If you happen to belong in any of these categories and want to find out more about your birth family, then you might need an adoption registry.

But what exactly is an adoption registry?

As commonly defined, an adoption registry is a database that contains information about adoptee, birth mothers, birth fathers, adoptive family members, and anything related to adoption. The information contained is usually made available to the public, thus they can are highly searchable or can be easily retrieved by search engines online. However, it is very necessary to note that the adoption registry differs by state or by country. Given this fact, it is then important to make sure that you know exactly what adoption registry you are looking at.

To mention but a few, I have a list below of the most well-known and well-ranked registries for adoption. These registries are highly accessible online, provided that you are registered as a member. If you want to know your family and trace your roots, then try to consider the following for your birth family information might be listed in one of these adoption registries.

Reunion Registry

The Reunion Registry actually list adoptees by their city, state and birth date. Here, all of the current entries in their database will be shown to you based on the category you have entered in your request. The result will then include the city, the state and date of birth of the person or family you wish to learn more. But, according to Reunion Registry itself, the best way to find satisfactory information about a particular subject is to search for the information based on the person’s date of birth.

Adoption Database Registry

The Adoption Database registry contains information about adoptees, birth families and adoptive birth family members, making them one of the most useful registries available. Perhaps what sets this adoption registry great is that that entries contained can easily be retrieved by search engines. Also, they have covered more than a thousand finds and if for instance an inquiry be made on your registration, the management will send you a notification of your search. Nevertheless, to speed up the results, the Adoption Database registry maintains that one should update the contact information as possible. And, for you to be able to access their adoption registry, you need first to register as a member.

G’S United States Adoption Registry

The G’S United States Adoption Registry is finally out there to give you further information about your adoptive parents, or yourself, being an adoptee. Here, you can search and find information about a particular birth family by state. All you need to do is to register as a member and simply click on the links provided in their site. Be sure to read the instructions for using their adoption registry.

Effects of Adoption

Adoption is an enduring process that bonds birth families, adoptees and adoptive families forever. Just like the other processes that involve family matters, adoption has a number of effects that can be seen in this triad relationship. The adoptive parents, birth parents and of course the adoptees are highly affected by this condition, thus one should understand each other to make the adoption process and the relationship smooth as possible.

Let’s take a look at the effects of adoption to these triad members.

Effects of Adoption to Birthparents

Numerous researches have revealed that on the part of birthparents, the ones who are highly affected by adoption are the birthmothers. One of the most heartbreaking effects of adoption is so far the tendency of birthmothers to have an intensive monologue with the fetus during pregnancy. This may also include that common fantasy of mothers in which they and their newborn baby can be rescued from the relinquishment.

Aside from those mentioned effects of adoption, several studies tell us that about 60% of the birthmothers felt that they were pressured into giving up their babies. 40% of these mothers have felt surrendering their newborn infants against their will. Well, most of these mothers are unwed and according to them, they were forced to surrender to babies for adoption as they were told not to come home until they get rid of the problem. As you may know, bearing a child out of wedlock is intolerable by society, and this is by far one of the most common factors that trigger birthmothers to submit their babies for adoption. So sad, but real!

Effects of Adoption to Adoptees

Aside from birthmothers, the adoptees are also deeply affected by adoption. Generally, the effects of adoption to the adoptees are said to be noticeable by many, but is sometimes extreme with others. The effects of adoption to the adoptees then vary a great deal.

Well, according to some researches, one of the most noticeable effects of adoption to the adoptees is vulnerability. Adoptees are shown to be vulnerable, thus a unique pattern of behavior is often observed. Most experts label this behavioral change as the “adopted child syndrome”.

The adopted children, after knowing the adoption, tend to show off certain disabilities in learning. Some of the experts consider this as an organic brain syndrome. In relation to this, most of those mental health professionals who have conducted studies on the effects of adoption were surprised to detect an alarming rate of their patients who happen to be adopted children.

There are other well-known effects of adoption to the adoptees, including the tendency to seek for alternative lifestyles, difficulties with drug and alcohol abuse, eating disorders, infertility, attention deficit disorder, untimely pregnancies, and worst of all, suicide.

Effects of Adoption to Adoptive Parents

There are little known effects of adoption to the adoptive parents. What are only noted is the tendency of the adoptive parents to worry for the child to know the adoption, and sometimes a feeling of guilt and depression knowing that they are not the real parents of their child. Most of the effects of adoption to the adoptive parents are tolerable, however.

Single Parent Adoption

In the early days of adoption, singles are often denied to adopt a child. Many of the agencies believe that raising a child in an unnatural environment might affect the child’s mental growth and development. But, many have argued that parenting is a matter of choice. If someone really wants to venture into parenthood by his or her own, there is no problem about that as long as he or she is stable enough to support and raise the child. Single parent adoption is no big deal. After all, thousands of children are out there in foster homes longing for love and support, so why be picky when you are aware of this fact?

Well, moved by some reasonable reasons and evidences, some state laws now deemed single parent adoption legal. Certain statistics have shown that in the last 20 years there have been an ever growing number of single parent adoptions, and today with the outlook of this concept becoming encouraging, single parent adoption is widely accepted and the number of adoptions by single parents might soar up high by the following years.

But, what are the reasons behind the single parent adoption?

Numerous studies have revealed that single females and males have largely considered adoptions for a variety of reasons, most are personal. Perhaps one of the major reasons is the fact that every one has the desire to nurture and share life as a family. Understand that this is not only exclusive for married couples. The truth of the matter is, singles do feel this need. Many, in fact, have claimed that living life singly is incomplete, so they rather seek for children available for adoption than marry and have kids. Well, many of these single consider single parent adoption for fear of knowing that they are infertile, or those who feel that having a child out of wedlock is intolerable.

Also, most singles consider single parent adoption knowing that they can provide a better life for those children living in foster homes or in institutions that cannot provide them with their basic needs. Along with this factor, another possible reason that triggers singles to consider adoption is loneliness. Loneliness in the sense that many of those who have failed to establish a happy family have felt the need to share their life with one of those special children. It’s nice to know then that with all these reasons, single parents approach adoption process with the same dedication and commitment showed by most couples.

Today single parent adoption is becoming prevalent. Perhaps a major factor that causes this ever growing acceptance of single parent adoption is the growing number of one parent households caused by divorce. It is due to divorce actually that adoption by single parents now finds a much more solid ground. Many early critics of adoption have now turned into this concept recognizing that single parents who have concentrated in their careers and have established a stable home can truly support a child financially and emotionally than those divorced parents who are dealing with emotional and financial stress.

Choosing an Adoption Attorney

Adoption is a remarkable alternative for expanding your family. However, the process of adoption has been governed by a number of laws that are quite puzzling and complicated. Much worse is that the adoption laws greatly vary from state to state or from country to country, making the adoption really a tough process and decision to make. With this reality, contacting an adoption attorney is no doubt a brilliant move to consider.

An adoption attorney is highly needed in every adoption process. This person can either be a lawyer who limits his or her practices to adoption matters exclusively, or a lawyer who only assist with adoption matters as part of their practice. Well, it is worth noting that up to this date, there are really no specialized courses that lawyers can take to learn more about the adoption process and the laws governing it. It also follows that there are no specialty certification in adoption.

So the level of expertise and capabilities that you might need from your adoption attorney largely depends upon the type of adoption process you are considering. There are some adoption attorneys out there who do mainly domestic adoptions, but there are others who are expert in dealing with international adoption matters. Whatever their specialties are, the truth remains that if you want to make your adoption experience memorable and smooth running, adoption attorneys can greatly assist and represent you and can do everything for your adoption to be successful. They know the adoption laws and the particular procedures involved in the concept, so if you want to save yourself from a lot of legal heartaches and burdens, an adoption attorney is worth calling.

But how can you find the right adoption attorney?

The ways for finding the right adoption attorney is just so simple. Perhaps the first move to take is to speak with a licensed adoption agency in your area. Know, however, what type of adoption that agency is offering. Aside from this, you can contact the American Association of Adoption Attorneys at their official site AdoptionAttorneys.org. This organization is actually composed of licensed and certified lawyers who handle adoption cases in the US. You can also call the Bar Association in your own area, or refer to the yellow pages listings for the adoption attorney lists.

Indeed, there are a lot of options that you can consider. It is just somehow important to note that when searching for an adoption attorney, note that you are looking for a service, so you should be meticulous enough. Make sure that you are comfortable with the lawyer you are contacting to. Also, before you decide on a particular attorney who handles adoption matters, it is important for you to know first that the right adoption attorney is someone who can discuss with you all the procedures involved in the adoption process and all the laws that govern the concept. He or she should also be able to provide you an unprejudiced explanation of the approaches or methods involved, including the valuable resources. The adoption attorney should be willing to help you create a secure plan that is specifically tailored to your adoption needs.

International Adoption

Also known as intercountry adoption, the international adoption is deemed more predictable and structured than the domestic adoption. Perhaps this is due to the fact that unlike the domestic one, the international adoption poses a low rate of contesting custody between birth parents. This is also due to the fact that a number of children today are available legally for adoption overseas.

Speaking of children’s availability from which the concept of international adoption originates, numerous reports have noted that at present, thousands of children are available for international adoption from more than fifty countries in the world, including countries in Asia, Latin America, Africa, and Eastern Europe. It is somehow important to note that as recorded, there are no children from Australia, Canada or Western Europe who are qualified to be adopted by the Americans.

The Procedures and Requirements Involved

The procedures involved in international adoption differ to some extent from those of the domestic side. In this process of bestowing parental rights and responsibilities to the adoptive parents, the couples who are planning to adopt a child are required to present detailed information about their lives. Note that almost every aspect of the adoptive parents’ lives is needed. So that means that information about the family, financial, health, and other aspects are included.

Aside from that major requirement, the couples thinking of international adoption need to comply with the established adoption laws, including the US law and the laws of the country from which the adoptive parents wish to adopt. There are also some instances that the parents are required to travel. Some countries require two trips, while others necessitate extended stays for the parents to create a bond with the child. The bonding, however, is oversaw and evaluated.

Pros and Cons of International Adoption

A lot of advantages and disadvantages are offered by international adoption. So while you are thinking about it, trying to figure out whether international adoption is right for you or not, it is best that you know first the advantages and disadvantages of this legal process. Let’s start with the pros:

* A lot of children, of all ages and genders are now available for international adoption.
* The ones who do the matching are the adoption agency or the country’s adoption committee and not the court. So once you have an approved homestudy, chances are a child for adoption is guaranteed to you.
* The children available for international adoptions are orphans.
* The overheads and the time for taking custody are predictable.
* You can travel to another country and learn new things there, which is good.

Now, let’s end with the cons:

* Getting a newborn infant is impossible with international adoption. The infants available are usually under a year old, but this still depends on the country you choose.
* There is a great impossibility for you to learn the family medical history or the background of the child.
* A lot of paper work is required for the adoptive parents to meet.

So that and that’s all about international adoption.

The Adoption Process

So you’ve made your final decision to adopt a child? The next thing to do now is to consider the adoption process or know exactly what to do before bringing your new baby home.

The adoption process is pretty simple. As long as you’re sure with your plans and decisions, the rest will just run as smooth as possible. There are only a few important things that you need to note and understand, but for it to be successful, you also need to exert some extra effort and time. If possible do your best win and bring your new baby home. The most important steps to consider in the adoption process include the following:

Step #1: Select an Adoption Agency

Knowing where to ask for help, whether to adopt through a public or private agency, is the primary step in the adoption process. So start with a good decision. Remember that you have two options: private and public; each of these has its own advantages and disadvantages. Given this fact, it is then better that you do a research first before making your final decision. In doing a research, just make sure that you know exactly about the fees or costs of adoption service offered by the agency, and when or where you can pay for them.

Step #2: Attend an Adoption Orientation

Most of the adoption agencies conduct or host orientations for adoption. Note that the information delivered during this event is very important and can help you greatly in deciding whether to go on with your plan or back out. What will be discussed usually during the orientation is the general adoption process they are about to consider, fee schedules, and other adoption related matters. So it is best to attend the orientation and obtain a sense of which agency you will be most comfortable dealing with.

Step #3: Consider and Complete a Pre-Placement Inquiry

A pre-placement inquiry also refers to home study or family assessment. This is often considered once you have decided on a particular agency to work with and note that this adoption process is required by every state law. Well, in this adoption process, the agency will evaluate you as a prospective adoptive family. They will study and evaluate the physical and emotional environment to which the child would be raised in, and this could no doubt be a good preparation for parenthood. Aside from that, the home study is deemed very important in every adoption procedure as it is here where all aspects of adoptive parenthood will be identified. Now, what happens usually during his process is that the agency or the social worker will conduct home visits and interviews generally to determine your capability of raising the child in a positive way. This can be completed in just a few months, depending on the requirements set by the adoption agency, as well as the number of clients involved.

Step #4: Finalize the Legal Procedures

The adoption process ends by finalizing the legal procedures involved. The finalization actually takes place after all the parental rights of the birthparents have been terminated and the child is now under your custody for about six months. This also takes place after the social worker has submitted a recommendation for approval. And, it is in this adoption process that you need to hire an attorney, if you haven’t yet.

Child Adoption

Child adoption is basically the process by which a child becomes a member of a new family. In this process the adoptive parents are entitled to handle the rights and responsibilities of biological parents. This means that as they take custody of the child, they are also taking parental responsibilities for the child, be it social, emotional or legal.

Child adoption is known and legally considered throughout the world. Many countries are considering it today with the intention of providing abandoned children with permanent and security. With this aim being widely recognized, the face of child adoption has changed significantly over the years. In the past, only babies were considered for adoption, but today, the concept of child adoption has expanded to include children of all ages.

There are certain reasons that children of all ages are considered for child adoption. Perhaps one of the most obvious is that children, as human beings, have the right to know and trace their roots. They, of course, need to feel that there is a family waiting for them to be part of the family and be cared for. Well, this feeling of belonging is what really affects the children’s sense of self worth. Without this, children would not know how to determine themselves in relation to others. They would not even know how to deal with their communities. This lack of attention and appreciation would even drive children to suffer some kind of behavioral problems.

Another reason that child adoption was considered legal in almost every country is that many couples, especially those who have failed to conceive, are looking for children to complete their family. Many of these couples believe that children will enrich their lives and that as couples hoping to be parents, even not to their own children, they have a lot to offer a child in need. So it’s no wonder that many of those who have considered child adoption have no biological children, but this doesn’t mean that parents who have biological children do not consider child adoption. The truth of the matter is, 30% of those who consider child adoption are parents who already have children but want to enlarge their family through adopting.

Now who really are these children being considered for adoption?

As far as I know, the children being adopted are those whose parents realized that they were not in the right position to raise their children. Irresponsible as they may appear, these parents have their own reasons for considering their children for child adoption. Many of them are simply unable to cope with their being parents.

Also, most of the children available for child adoption came from single parents. These parents usually find themselves unable to support and mold their children to become responsible in their own fields. Usually, the main reason for them considering child adoption is financial difficulties. Most single parents believe that there is no hope for them to support their child’s education, or they have realized that they are not ready to be parents. But, this is not always the case. There are also some single parents out there who do keep their babies, despite the difficulties they encounter.

Child adoption today is soaring up high. Statistics have shown that adoption cases have grown to reach almost a million. This is now deemed legal and can be found across Asia, Australia, Europe, Africa and America.

Adoption Financing Resources

So you have decided to adopt? Well, many of those couples and families who have planned to adopt encounter a particular problem that has something to do with adoption financing. Many of them are anxious about the high financial overheads that can be associated with the adoption process and the other services that can be required for children with special needs. If this happens to you, then you are not alone. The good news is, a lot of adoption financing resources is out there to help you fund and complete your adoption plan.

But what are these available adoption financing resources?

There are a lot of them actually. The resources may include loans, grants, subsidies, and other financial programs like the Adoption Tax Credit. All of these options are available today, making your adoption experience easier than you think. But, before you decide on a particular adoption financing resources, make sure that you are comfortable and satisfied with your decision. Do some careful adoption financial planning and don’t let the real costs deter you.

To learn more about the adoption financing resources, consider the following:

Adoption Tax Credit

The adoption tax credit is said to be one of the most complicated options available for funding your adoption. It involves the process in which the adoptive parents are allowed to claim a tax credit, which is an amount subtracted from their tax liability. However, there is a particular requirement for the adoptive parents to meet. One of those is to make their adoption expenses qualified, and make sure that the children are eligible enough for adoption. If all of the requirements are met, the adoptive parents are usually entitled for an amount of about $10,630 per child. But to claim this financial support, the adoptive parents are required to file Form 8839 with either form 1040 or Form 1040A. They must also maintain records to back up any credit claimed.

Adoption Loans and Grants

Adoption loans and grants are but another great adoption financing resources to consider. Finding this form of financial aid is just so easy with lots of organizations out there offering adoption grants and loans to the eligible adoptive families. Well, as one of the most worth taking adoption financing resources, the grants and loans can help defray some of the adoption expenses. So if you are really serious with your adoption plans, then why don’t you consider filing for adoption loans and grants?

Government Subsidies

A lot of federal and state adoption financing resources is finally out there to help you support your adoption. These adoption aids are generally made available to make sure that those couples or families who adopt have the most crucial financing resources to meet their adoption needs. The subsidies are also available for the adopted children, regardless of whether the home study was done by a private or public agency. It is important, however, to note that these subsidies vary by state or region. So it is best to do a research on what is really available in your area before you decide on one particular government subsidy.

Adoption Issues

Adoption is such a broad concept and is one of the most important decisions to make. Although legal, a lot of things are attached to it that each and every adopting parent should consider. Issues and controversies, in fact, surround it, making adoption really a very important move to take.

Speaking of issues, couples and families who are wishing to adopt have a lot of adoption issues to take into consideration as they approach the process. Some of the most common issues are mentioned below, so please read on.

Issue on Infertility

Perhaps one of the most common adoption issues has something to do with infertility. I bet you all know that most of those couples who used to consider adoption are infertile. Well, most of the adoption issues regarding infertility usually address the adopting parents’ feeling that they are not the real parents of the child, their worries about the known and unknown genetic or biological influences to the child, as well as the relations with the birthparents of the child they are rearing. All of these worries happen as the child grows old.

Child’s Health and Development Issue

Numerous studies have been conducted to determine the effect of adoption to the health and growth of the child, but most of those studies have revealed that adoption affect greatly the development of the adopted children when they get older. Specific adoption issues such as separation, loss, anger, identity and grief may arise, and some of these adoption issues may appear in all the stages of the child’s development, thus it is very vital for the adopting parents to know and understand how their child behaves and why they behave that way. Parents should then be supportive to their child’s needs and must help their child grow up knowing that she is taken care of and loved. As what most experts have said, the environment that the child belongs greatly affects his or her development.

Risks of Adoption

The risk of adoption is but another adoption issue to consider. As you may all know, adoption is not an easy decision to make. It has a lot of risks and uncertainties that every adopting parent must consider. Perhaps the most important adoption issue happens during the adoption process in which finding the best match between the placing and adopting parents is the main goal. These risks may vary medically, financially, legally and emotionally, but all might be associated with the opportunity of owning a child. With these risks, adopting parents must then be ready to accept whatever consequences may occur. As possible, they should talk to counselors, case workers or attorney when going through the process. This will help them prepare for whatever consequences of the adoption opportunity they may encounter along the way.

Other Issues

There are a lot of other adoption issues associated with the opportunity of owning a child whom you can call as your own. Some of the hottest adopting issues perhaps have something to do with the child’s personality development and growth and sexuality. So it is best for parents or couples thinking of this opportunity to fully understand all the issues associated with adoption before deciding to adopt.

What is Adoption?

Considering adoption is one of the most important decisions you can ever make in your whole life. It’s not an easy decision to make though as it involves a lot of things to be considered, emotionally, physically, and legally. This is basically the reason that most are hesitant to deciding on adoption, but in case you are thinking of it but not sure yet of what this process entails, then I bet it’s important for you to know first what adoption is.

Adoption, as commonly defined, is a legal process that builds a new and permanent relationship between parent and child. It is the process in which couples who have no children are matched with children who have no parents. So it’s simply a “matching” process.

However, there is something much deeper in adoption than it’s being a matching process. It is a legal process in which the parental rights and responsibilities are highly considered and bestowed to the adopting parents, so to hit the main aim of adoption – a parent-child relationship. So it is clear then that adoption has something to do not only with bestowing the rights and responsibilities to the adopting parents but also giving the child or children being adopted all the emotional, legal and social rights and responsibilities that every family member is entitled to enjoy. All the rights and responsibilities given to the adopted child are the same as with the biological child, and this may mean including the rights of inheritance.

Before adoption is decided, court proceedings take place. Well, this is basically how the adoption is decided and made. In court hearings, it is expected from the court to identify the biological parents of the child to be adopted. This must be determined lawfully and with full understanding, so to avoid conflicts. However, deciding on this depends greatly on the established state law and the circumstances. Usually, the cutting of the rights of the biological parents and bestowing those rights to the adoptive parents may be done at the same time at the finalization of the adoption.

Speaking of finalization, what usually happens in the court during the proceeding is that the judge reviews all the gathered information about the child, his or her biological parents, and the adoptive parents. The homestudy and other conducted evaluation of the adopting parents and their capability to take custody of the child are reviewed. Also included in the review are the reports of pre-adoption counseling, case worker’s recommendations and notes, and some other necessary, valuable reports.

During the finalization hearing, the adoptive parents and their attorneys are required to be present. This requirement also covers the placing parents and their attorneys, the children, the legal case worker or advocate of the child, and case workers of both the adoptive parents and the placing parents. With the presence of these personalities and the information gathered, the decision to approve or disapprove the petition for adoption will be made. And, once the adoption is finalized, the Adoption Decree is issued.

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Wednesday, February 11, 2009

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Select DVD subtitle and audio track
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iOrgSoft 3GP Video Converter

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HTML to Image Converter Command Line

HTML to Image Converter for Windows Command Line is an easy to use and practical Windows soluation to convert webpages to all sorts of image types including JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP and TIF and so on.

This powerful webpage thumbnailer can convert both MHTML and HTML webpages to images and can even capture screenshots of webpages that have Flash files. It lets you either 100% keep the full size of each webpage or customize the size of each webpage so you can generate web thumbnails of any sizes.

HTML to Image Converter for Windows Command Line supports batch conversion. It can batch convert multiple webpages with very fast processing speed and excellent quality.

The leaps of functions like: webpage thumbnail capture, webpage screenshots, customize the size of each webpage capture, generate web thumbnails of any sizes will exceed your expectation in integrating this EXE or DLL SDK to desk-top programs or web servers.

HTML to Image Converter for Windows Command Line Key Features :
Convert MHTML and HTML files to images.
Support all types of output image types such as JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP and TIF and so on.
Keep original length and width of each webpage.
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Save enterted URLs to a text file to avoid retyping them next time.
Support batch conversion mode to convert multiple webpages at one time.
Convert webpages with flash content.
Support multi-thread conversion.
Support delayed webpages so you won't miss any webpage content.
Let you choose to enable java, activex, scripts on each webpage.

System Requirements:
Windows 2000 or above

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PA Home Inspector

They say a PA home inspector charges around $300 to $700 dollars for a mere visual assessment. Certainly, you can afford not to pay that much for something that anybody else can do. Or can you?

There are many reasons why you shouldn’t hire a PA home inspector to examine your potential new home. And yet, you still probably should. Because as many reasons as you may have NOT to seek a professional home inspection, there are twice as many reasons why you should.

So why do you need to hire a PA home inspector?

The answer is very simple. Your house is the single most important investment most individuals will ever make. And because of that, you simply cannot afford taking any unnecessary risks with it, especially if there is a way to avoid them.

More and more home buyers now are beginning to understand the wisdom of having PA home inspector perform a thorough inspection of a home prior to making a commitment to purchase. For prospective home buyers, a PA home inspector’s professional services prove to be a positive and even educational experience. What better person to learn from regarding everything that pertains to your potential new home than someone who is trained and educated to know all there is to know about it? While a PA home inspector may not be able to diagnose all problems about construction, he can certainly give you an overview of what problems you ought to take care now and what issues you should let pass for a few months.

An impartial inspection by a professional PA home inspector, especially someone who is a Registered Home Inspector (RHI) will provide a large measure of protection from unpleasant surprises. Not only that, it will also allow you to make an informed and intelligent decision about your purchase.

The Purposes of an Inspection

The primary purpose of a home inspection is to determine the condition of a property at the time of purchase. A PA home inspector’s job, therefore, is to identify as much as possible all the problems, symptoms of problems, potential problems, and all other aspects of a home. He is not restricted to merely pointing out the identifiable problems, but he may also diagnose a future problem based on what he sees at the time of the inspection.

The Parts of an Inspection

The PA home inspector is required to inspect all the major components of a home. These major components include those located in the exterior and interior.

The exterior portion typically includes:

* Slope, grading, and drainage of the property
* Foundation and exterior walls
* Porches and decks
* Windows, doors, headers, and sills
* Fascia, soffits, and eaves troughs
* Roof, flashings, vents, and chimneys
* Garage, carport, and outbuildings

While the interior includes:

* Foundation walls, basement floor, posts and beams
* Waterproofing, moisture penetration, wood rot, etc.
* Electrical service and wiring
* Pluming supply, waste drainage, and fixtures
* Heating, air conditioning (summer only) and ventilation
* Floors, walls, ceilings, doors and windows
* Attic insulation and ventilation

Home Inspector

Looking to sell or purchase a property? Well, if you are, then you definitely need the services that only a home inspector can provide.

Buying or selling a home is perhaps the single most important financial decision you ever have to make in your entire life so it’s best that when you do get to that point (and you will), you employ all the professional assistance that you can get.

A home inspector is someone qualified to help with exactly just that. He will be the one to ensure that not only will the results of the home inspection be thorough, but that the risk of any future complications which could be potentially costly for you will be greatly minimized as much as possible.

What Home Inspectors Do

You are familiar with medical examinations by a doctor, aren’t you? If you haven’t yourself been subjected to such a test, then chances are one of your family members or your friends or some distant relative has undergone through the same. Basically, a medical examination is a thorough check of your body. It’s like looking it over inside and out.

Now, what does this have to do with what home inspectors do? Well, simple. Home inspections are somewhat similar to a medical examination.

Like what a medical examiner does to your body, the home inspector looks over the entire home, covering all systems from top to bottom. These systems that a home inspector checks include central air conditioning systems, heating systems, electrical systems, and plumbing systems. He may also evaluate the physical components of your home, such as the condition of the roof, foundation, walls, floors, ceilings, windows, doors, and other visible structures of the building.

The qualified home inspector performs a thorough evaluation of all the systems and structures of your home, much like what a doctor does when doing a medical examination on you. A common misconception is that home inspectors determine the home’s value or ensuring that the building meets municipal codes, when in fact, home inspectors don’t do that. What they do instead is work to determine the condition of existing structures and calculate the risk of any problems arising in the future.

Why You Need a Home Inspector

Whether you are buying a home or planning to purchase one, it is important that before you make your final decision you assess all the pros and cons of such a huge investment. One way of determining whether making the buy would be advantageous or disadvantageous for you is to check the status of the home. A home inspector is just the person that you need for that. His job is to see to it that you are making the right decision in choosing that home for your own. He knows a lot more about home construction than you do so he knows what he’s doing. He will know when a house is in good condition or not based on the systems and general condition of its external structures.

In addition, a good home inspector is open to questions. So when you inspect a home before closing a sale, it might be a good idea to let the home inspector accompany you.

How to Become a Home Inspector

These days, people are always moving or relocating. It’s actually a trend as old as time itself. And because of that, people are always buying new homes located in the new neighborhood they have moved into. Now, for a home inspector, you know what that means. It means the home inspector has a job to do – to have a look-see at the house the client is planning to purchase.

Making a career out of how to become a home inspector is a good idea. People are always looking for a home inspector anyways to help them determine the condition of the building or the home they are trying to purchase. A good home inspector who is trained in all the right way of doing his job is not limited to inspecting just homes. Because of his training and background in construction, he may also branch services to include inspecting commercial buildings and such.

How to become a home inspector is not that hard. Like all disciplines, how to become a home inspector is learned through time and training. A lot of study courses online offer programs designed to help you on how to become a home inspector. These programs on how to become a home inspector more or less include the following modules:

* Home Inspection Basics
* Structures
* Interiors
* Insulation
* Exteriors
* Roofs
* Building Codes
* Plumbing
* Electrical
* Heating
* Air Conditioning
* Heat Pumps

Because the job of the home inspector is not only to assess the condition of the external structures of a home, but the internal systems as well, becoming a home inspector can get quite technical, hence, the study modules presented above.

But the great thing about these how to become a home inspector courses is that they are offered online, which means of course that greater convenience is afforded you. Most of these online courses only last a few months or so, from as little as three months to six months max. Often, textbooks, study guides, and tests are parceled with the courses you’ve taken so you don’t even have to worry about where to procure those. If not, then you can always get your own reference materials via the Internet as well.

Getting Started

If you want to know how to become a home inspector, it is important that you first understand that home inspection is, first and foremost, a business. As such, you will need to learn about insurance requirements, reporting options, and administrative procedures. Joining professional associations is one good way about learning all these and getting some tips on how to become a home inspector. Once you become a member of one of these associations, marketing opportunities should be a lot easier to come by since one of the perks of belonging to an association is establishing a common client base and sharing it with fellow members.

After you’ve learned all that you need to learn on the business side of how to become a home inspector, it is now time for you to learn the actual trade. Your online course on home inspection should come in handy right about now.

Professional Home Inspector

There are many home inspectors out there that you can hire to inspect your new home, but there are actually just very few of them who are truly professional. A professional home inspector is one who does his job well. Not only has that, but he always made sure that he does nothing that is in contravention of the rules of his profession or with some law.

Now, there are many services added in a home inspection and often these are for additional fees. However, there are several items that a professional home inspector just can’t do. These include building code or zoning ordinance violations, among others. So how can you, as a home buyer, find out if whether or not the professional home inspector is doing something he should be doing?

The following are the rules by which the professional home inspector abides:

Rules Aren’t Made To Be Broken

Like any other specialist working for a profession, the professional home inspector is bound by the rules of his profession. One of these rules is to never do anything that is contrary to any law or code. A professional home inspector should do any work requiring an occupational license that he does not have. So when you hire a professional home inspector, make sure that he has all the proper accreditation and occupational license to do the work you require him to do.

You should also try to do your part as well. Now that you know a professional home inspector is not trained to analyze building codes, you should not be asking him any questions that pertain to that regard. A professional home inspector should not say that something is a code violation unless he is certified in that field. This is because code inspections are municipal inspections and the people who do these are working with government oversight.

Misplaced Advice

The professional home inspector is not an engineer. So unless he is a certified professional engineer with specific experience, he should be giving any comments on the geological stability or soils condition of the property. Neither should he give any advice on soil stability or provide an engineering analysis of a home.

While the professional home inspector is expected to notice any damage or rot caused by insect settlement, his advice should not be taken in the place of a proper pest inspection. He is no professional pest control technician, and therefore, he should not be doing any inspections for termites, pests, and other wood destroying organisms. Likewise, the professional home inspector is not trained to analyze asbestos, radon, formaldehyde, lead, water or air quality, electromagnetic radiation, and other environmental hazards.

No Value, No Gain

The professional home inspector should not provide building value appraisal. Neither should he give you any repair cost estimates. This job falls under the functions of appraisers who are trained specifically in the process of real estate valuation. At best, the professional home inspector can only answer you according to his own personal opinion and should not be taken as the final word. For repair estimates, your best contacts are contractors and trade professionals.

Home Inspector School

In every city and every state nationwide, in every year, thousands of homes require inspection. Thus is born the career for the new millennium – home inspection.

The demand for home inspection professionals has always been huge and every day that passes, this demand is growing, because people are always moving or relocating or investing in new homes. Home inspectors are in a profession that is as exciting as it is profitable. Real estate inspection, such as home inspection, is a technical and complex field and it demands a professional and trained approach. To get the necessary training and technical background required in this profession, you need to attend a home inspection school.

Why Go to a Home Inspection School?

A home inspection school provides the proper training ground for you to learn the basics of this highly technical job. The main functions of the home inspectors are to perform objective visual inspections of homes and produce a written report of the condition of the property for buyers and/or owners. You can’t do any of these without the necessary training and background you get from a home inspection school, because it is precisely the place where you develop all these skills and knowledge beforehand.

The home inspection school helps you recognize not just the problems of a home’s systems, but identify potential problems as well. The job of the home inspector is to ensure that the home buyer has all the information he needs in order to make an intelligent decision. Thus, your role as a home inspector is terribly important as without your expertise, the home buyer might just be entering into a big financial mess instead of a great investment in buying a new home.

A home inspector school will give you the extensive knowledge you need in various areas of residential construction, such as soils and foundations, wood and construction, roofing, plumbing, electricity, heating and ventilation, air conditioning and heat pumps, appliances, swimming pools and spas, termites and wood-destroying insects and environmental considerations.

Below are a few home inspector schools that you can check out.

A Better School of Building Inspection

This home inspector school offers both extensive home study and classroom courses to help you become a quality home inspector. They also provide you with continuing education courses so your skills in home inspection are increased. Some of their programs include:

* Residential Inspection Home Study
* Live, Hands-On, In-the-Field Courses and Schedule
* New Construction/Code
* Online Home Inspector Business, Marketing, and Liability
* Inspection Forms
* State Licensing and Certification
* Commercial Inspection

Allied Real Estate Schools

This home inspector school offers distance learning courses online for US Residents and military. As a specialist in the technical and complex field of home inspection, Allied demands a professional approach in all their courses. This home inspector school provides you with training programs and outstanding opportunities for internships to let you increase your knowledge and skills.

Education Direct

Another home inspector school is Education Direct serving International countries, US, and Canada. It is a home inspector school that offers distance learning. Their certification course includes details on inspecting house exteriors and interiors, checking heating and air conditioning, and more.

Home Inspector Course

Home inspectors are in very high demand today. Home buyers have realized just how important a role they play in making their investment work.

For most first time home buyers, purchasing a new home is perhaps the single most important investment they make. Because of this, they are adamant in making decisions without first ensuring that they are indeed making the right one. Home inspection is only one of the sureties a home buyer has in order to make an intelligent decision.

Getting into the business of home inspection is one that requires a good business sense. Not only that, but you also need the specific technical skills and knowledge about construction in order to do your job well. While some people head right on to setting up a franchise with an established home inspection company without first knowing the basics of the job, the key to success is to get all the necessary training and education you need. So below are a few home inspector courses that you may want to consider in your pursuit of a career in home inspection.

Professional Career Development Institute

The Professional Career Development Institute offers a home inspector course program that you can take. The course is designed to teach you how to conduct home inspections in newly purchased and newly constructed homes, town homes, condominiums, and other residential properties. Their home inspector course is nationally accredited and it uses the distance e-learning method, which means that it is completely home study.

The home inspector course is comprised of the following:

* Landscaping and grading
* Foundations
* Walls
* Roofs and roof-mounted structures
* Paved areas
* Lot improvements
* Windows
* Doors
* Garages
* Wood-destroying insects
* Interior construction cover rooms
* Attics
* Basements
* Crawl spaces
* Insulation
* Utilities
* Leakage
* Air conditioning
* Heating
* Plumbing
* Electrical systems
* Troubleshooting

Allied Home Inspection School

Knowing that real estate inspection is a technical and complex field, the Allied Home Inspection School is offering home inspector course programs designed to give you all the knowledge and skills you need as a future professional in this field. This home inspector course will teach you how to perform objective visual inspections of homes. Not only that, you will also learn how to produce a written report of the condition of the property for buyers and/or owners. This is because the function of the home inspector is actually two-fold, and in teaching you how to do these things, Allied Home Inspection School is giving you the best way to handle your job.

Thomson Education Direct

Another school that offers home inspector course programs is Thomson Education Direct. With their e-learning facilities and online home inspector courses, Thomson Education Direct offers you the best in at home learning. You can gain all the education you need on your terms, in your home, and on your time.

Besides their home inspector course, Thomson Education Direct also offers the following:

* Accounting
* Bookkeeping
* Business Management
* Business Management/Finance Option
* Small Business Owner

Spy Remover Pro

Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Is someone stealing your information from your PC? Is your browser home page hijacked? Are you in danger of identity theft? Are you being spied on? Are you being watched and tracked? Find out with SpyRemover.

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Reg Doctor

Is your computer running slow? Are you experiencing computer crashes or windows error messages? Do you want to improve your system performance and stability? If you are answering yes, then you very likely need to clean up your Windows registry.

Registry problems are the common cause of Windows crashes, error messages, and degraded performance! RegDoctor can safely and quickly clean and repair Windows registry problems with a few simple mouse clicks! RegDoctor uses an intelligent, high-performance detection engine to accurately identify missing and invalid references in your Windows registry. Identified registry problems are listed and rated by risk level using an easy to understand color-coded system for your information. You can choose to have RegDoctor automatically repair all identified problems, or more selectively choose which problems to repair immediately. RegDoctor also offers a Restore feature to create registry backup files, giving you the capability to safely undo any registry changes.

The auto-start feature of RegDoctor helps to support its regular use. By using RegDoctor regularly to clean and repair your registry, your system should not only be more stable but it will also help Windows and your software run faster.

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History Sweeper

Whenever you use your computer, you will leave traces of your activities. Investigators, your employer, your colleagues and friends, and your family members can find out what you have been doing on-line. They can find out what web sites you have visited, what documents you have used, what programs you have run, what music and movies you have played, and other activities. In addition, when you are on the Internet, you may have downloaded intrusive devices such as cookies, bugs, and spyware. These devices may strike at any time on your PC. These problems raise not just privacy concerns but serious security issues as well.

History Sweeper can automatically clean up the history of your online activities and protect your privacy; remove intrusive devices from your PC and increase your online security; and save storage space and improve performance of your computer. Works with Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/Vista.

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Things to Consider When Purchasing Used Accordion

Things to Consider When Purchasing Used Accordion


Thinking for a purchase of a used accordion? If so, then I think that it is better for you to know first some of the important things to consider when purchasing a used accordion.

It is necessary to note in the first place that most of the used accordions need repair. Apparently, most of them are sold because most of them are not in good condition. One of the common characteristics of a used accordion is the keys and buttons are usually noisy. Also, you may find that some of the keys may be misaligned and a number of the accordion reeds may not be speaking properly. It is actually during this case that an overhaul is typically called for. This may sometimes involve a keyboard leveling, a full retuning, new leathers, and re-waxing of the reed plates. This then means that this is not cheap as it takes a great deal of time. In fact, a usual big repair job of a used accordion requires as much as 20 hours of work.

Also, don’t expect that you will be able to find a very old accordion of any kind, at any price that will give you consistently a trouble-free service for more than a year or so. This is very typical especially at auction, and this is only possible unless the used accordion has been overhauled. But, speaking of hauling, it is worth noting that if you need a reliable instrument for the long haul, then you should either be looking at new instruments or those accordions that are well-maintained no more than 15 years old. If not, then be prepared to invest whatever it takes in overhauling an old, used accordion. Perhaps the best option here is to be trailing into the repair shop every couple of months every time the parts of the used accordion develop a problem.

But, trudging into a repair shop is not only appropriate every time the used accordion develops a problem. Rather, it is best to note that even if a used accordion is not obviously in need of repairs, it should still go into the repair shop for maintenance examination at least every couple of years. Most of the professional accordionist, even those with hectic touring schedules often do this yearly. What usually takes place during the maintenance check up is that the technician will give the used accordion a thorough cleaning and lubrication as necessary, examine the action of the instrument, including the leathers and the wax. The tuning might also be touched up if necessary. It’s no doubt that this is a wise investment in the good sake of your used instrument.

Family Cyber Alert

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Reyes Accordions

Generally, Reyes Accordions is one of the most acclaimed accordion companies in the world. This company primary caters to the Latino market, bridging both their Tex-Mex Conjunto and Norteño. Today, Reyes Accordions has a strong emphasis on the three-row button accordion, and with that they will soon be expanding their coverage to include piano accordion.

According to its history, the Reyes Accordions started as a family tradition. The current owner of this company, Gilbert Reyes, had stated on one of the interviews that his grandfather picked up his first accordion when he was fifteen years old. It was his great grandfather who bartered livestock in exchange for a one row diatonic accordion from a German merchant in Monterrey Nuevo Leon, Mexico in 1927.

In 1942, when Gilbert Reyes’ grandfather and father crossed the Rio Grande River and settled in Texas, the polka style of music had created an impact on the people, particularly to his grandfather. The following year, he brought the two-row diatonic accordion and started experimenting with the polkas. And, later on, having been exposed to many great accordion players, his grandfather had found a form to express himself – music.

However, Gilbert’s father was not well-known for his music or even cared to be. Conjunto that time was in fact a poor working mans music that really did not hold any value in the mainstream. Conjunto, the music of Gilbert’s father, is not a widely popular genre even though some who romanticize this style of music think it is.

It is interesting to know that it was the grandfather of Gilbert Reyes who left great impression on Gilbert. It was him who gave Gilbert the umbilical cord that connects him with the culture, heritage and people. And, it was his music that brought the Reyes Accordions to life.

Today, Reyes Accordions’ vision is not only to sell the high quality accordions. The company also strives to provide the customer the necessary information concerning the Tex-Mex and Norteño genre in particular. As a musician with his Reyes Accordions, Gilbert understands the needs of both the English and non-English speaking customers. The company is now composed of professional accordions staff, including Mark D., Sara Fernandez, Tina Valenzuela, and Gilbert Reyes.

It is further nice to know that Reyes Accordions with its highly dedicated accordions staff, knows and understands both the styles of music. Perhaps this is due to the fact that Gilbert Reyes, along with his cohorts, has been playing the three-row button accordion since the age of fourteen. As Gilbert once stated, “success comes from knowing your product and customer”.

The Scandalli Accordion

Scandalli is one of the most renowned Italian brands of genuine accordions. The company is specifically well-known for its piano and button accordions that feature amazing designs, with a great quality sound.

As its story suggest, the Scandalli company saw its light when Silvio Scandalli started to produce accordions in 1900 with the help of his family. The small company was created in a few years between 1915 and 1921, out of a small workshop, and it was in 1941 that the company employed more than 700 workers of genuine accordions. The Scandalli accordions became popular in the United States after the end of the Second World War and since then, their factory was among the most famous and prestigious accordion factories in the world. Starting from here, the Scandalli accordion brand then became synonymous with quality as well as a bench mark for other musical instruments.

The first widely acclaimed Scandalli accordion model is the Scandalli Super VI. According to certain resources, this accordion model was created in the early 1950’s. That time, Silvio Scandalli commences an ambitious project by using the company’s finest technicians, and that the Super VI was produced. This model has long been considered as the instrument with unparalleled quality which in a short space of time becomes the dream of all great accordion players. The Scandalli Super VI remained unsurpassed even up to these days, and many accordionists considered it as an instrument born from the passion of an innovative artisan.

The Scandalli Accordions is now a company well-known for its great piano and button accordions. It has merged with Paolo Soprani, the oldest factory accordion in the world, in 1984 under the new ownership. Then, as you may know, another name is added by the merger of SEM in 2003. The Scandalli Accordions now, with the forces of Paolo Soprani and SEM, produces and covers the wide range of accordion family. Their collection ranges from the smallest diatonic to the free bass instruments of today.

The Scandalli accordions brand, due to its enduring popularity, is now an icon for many. Its great reputation was even intensified with the distinguished history of innovation, prestige, and quality that Scandalli has long been maintaining. Just like the other accordion manufacturers, Scandalli firmly holds its own goal, which remains the same as it always was, that is, to provide accordions and other musical instruments of the highest standard and uncompromising quality.

Piano Accordion

The piano accordion is one of the well-known families of accordion instrument that have been used in a number of musical concerts in the whole world. It is most often indicated by the term “accordion”, but it is actually one of the most recent inventions among the types of accordion.

As numerous resources hold, the piano keyboard was first placed on accordion in 1852 by Bouton of Paris. From that time until the early the 1900s, this instrument was not given much attention or any improvement, until the year 1910 onwards when the piano accordion came into prominence almost worldwide and remains the most popular type of accordion used.

A new development with piano accordion came into being with the development of the Stradella bass system. This system is commonly noted as a standardization of the bass button layout, thus the piano accordion became the first truly standardized universal type of accordion ever developed. This means that the player of this instrument has the opportunity to play any type or make of piano accordion without any adjustment in the system. Well, this had not been possible before as there were a number of varying button accordions with a number of different systems.

The piano accordions come in a variety of sizes. It is necessary to note in the first place that they are sized by the number of basses they have, anywhere from 12 basses for a student instrument up to the standard 120bass full-sized instrument. There are also some vintage models and toys that are much smaller, such as the oddball instruments with extra basses or fewer basses; however, most of the accordions will fall in that range.

So, when you are opting for a piano accordion, it is perhaps necessary to check the width of the treble keyboard and the width of every white key, in particular. Note that the standard size keys are just a little narrower than the piano keys, which is about 3/4”. Thus, if you are used to playing the piano, or maybe you have larger hands, then you may have difficulty playing an accordion with smaller than standard keys.

Here are the standard reed specifications of the piano accordion:

* 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 treble reeds
* 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8 bass reeds

Finally, it is worth noting that piano accordions are generally the same as that of the chromatic, except for a different shape to the keyboard notes as well as the keyboard layout. And, since it has a universal note system, it’s no wonder that the production of this instrument has far exceeded that of any form of button accordion from the early 1920s up to these days.

How to Play the Accordion

Love to play the accordion? Well, I have here a few information for you to consider while you are learning how to play the accordion.

The Fundamentals of Accordion

First things first – know the fundamentals of accordion: Sit down on a chair. Set the accordion on your left knee. The right hand operates the keyboard, while the left hand pumps the bellows. Place the straps over your shoulders, and adjust them if necessary. Slip your left hand under the strap on the button side, and don’t forget to adjust the strap as necessary.

The Basses

The accordion has actually a number of bass buttons, but there’s no need to worry because you only need four or six of them to start with. Note that a normal accordion can have up to 120 basses which are arranged in up to 20 columns and up to 6 rows. Also, in learning how to play the accordion, you should know that there are two bass rows and four chord rows in an accordion. The first row, the one closest to the bellows, is the counterbass row which is denoted by underlined capitals. On the other hand, the second row is the fundamental row which is denoted by capitals.

The Keyboard

In learning how to play the accordion, one should know that the white keys on the accordion keyboard are named from A through G, while the black keys are named after the white keys, depending on whether they are a half step higher (sharp) or lower (flat) than the adjacent white key. Perhaps the best thing to consider here, in learning how to play the accordion is to play the C Major scale. You should begin on a C near the low side of the keyboard (towards your chin) and lay adjacent white keys until you get the next C an octave higher, which is towards the base of the keyboard.

Reading the Music

When you wish to learn how to play the accordion, you should know how to read the music. Basically, the melody is located on the upper staff of the printed music, and the bass line is on the lower staff. Note that the melody is usually shown in treble clef, while the bass part is shown in the Bass clef. Well, for some people reading the music while learning how to play the accordion seems confusing, but actually that is how music works. You will just be surprised later that after a while is almost makes some sense. Just note that in learning how to play the accordion, locate C, which is the first note and just follow the music. After all, the melody is relatively straightforward to play.

MIDI Accordion

If there could be one greatest thing in the way of combined electronic and acoustic accordions, MIDI accordion is the right name to mention. Well, MIDI accordion is considered as one of the latest inventions in the music industry, although they’ve been around a number of years now. Perhaps this is due to the fact that with this instrument, you can play all your standard MIDI synthesizers, whether it is standalone module, rack-mounted, or having a keyboard attached. What is best is that you can also obtain the original acoustic accordion sounds as well.

MIDI actually stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. It is a serial or electronic bus standard that was designed for musicians. It is typically equipped with a switch on every key and button. Note that a small circuit board and a switch for every key and button are all electronics required inside the accordion. As such, there is no minimal weigh added to the accordion. In addition, the circuit board of a MIDI accordion functions to scan the keys and sends out MIDI “Note On” or “Note Off” messages every time a change in the state of a key is detected. The change actually comes out every time a key is pressed or released.

In a MIDI accordion, a cable that connects the accordion to the synthesizers is always present. This cable is just a relatively thin cable which weighs similar as to that cable used on the old Cordovox accordions. Also, with a MIDI accordion, you have the option to get wireless transmitters for the instrument and this is commonly considered so that you have no cable going out of it at all.

There are a number of positive things or advantages for a MIDI accordion, and one of those stems from the fact that the synthesizer technology is continually growing at a much more rapid rate than is acoustic accordion technology. Therefore, is you have a standard accordion that you really love; you don’t need at all to trade it in every moment there is a development in the synthesizer. All you need to do is to keep the same accordion and just upgrade the synthesizers so to make a MIDI accordion.

Another nice highlight of MIDI accordion is that they make an ideal MIDI controller, which is in some ways better than a typical keyboard controller. With this instrument, you can also set up the MIDI channels for chords, for bass, treble and solo, effectively making the sound of the accordion like a five piece band, counting the acoustic accordion as one instrument.

Gabbanelli Accordion

As you may know, accordion is one of the very popular musical instruments that have been made available in the market for years. With this, it’s no wonder that many different brands of accordions are in the market these days. Italian and German brands of accordion seem to dominate the market. And, one of the highly acclaimed brands of Italian accordions is the Gabbanelli.

The Gabbanelli accordions are generally designed and manufactured by the International Music Company S.R.L. Italy, which is a family owned factory of Gabbanelli Accordions in Houston, Texas USA. As maintained, the innovation of design, the finest tonal qualities, and the thoughtful professional features of Gabbanelli are what set them apart from the rest of accordion brands. The company started to manufacture and produce accordions in the early days of 1960s, and since then they have always had a clear focus on what they do best, that is, designing and distributing accordions and instruments with superb quality.

According to its history, the production of Gabbanelli accordions originated from the mind of John Gabbanelli, the owner of Gabbanelli Accordions. He was brought into the trade at a young age, learning and developing the craft under the guidance of his late father. After forty years of experience in the music industry, John Gabbanelli decided to build the company, and since then the Gabbanelli Accordions have formed a solid reputation for premium quality hand made instruments as well as customer satisfaction.

The Gabbanelli accordions have been renowned for a richer sound, which comes with an option of having two sets of keys instead of one. This composition means that the players don’t have to be carrying two or more accordions around if they play in different keys. All they need to do is to press a button, and they convert the accordion from a GCF to an FBE. Aside from such excellent feature, the Gabbanelli accordions are fancier to look at, with a lot of glitter.

Today, the Gabbanelli accordions are used in a number of musical concerts, not just in Italy but worldwide. They come in different style and built, which include the Cajun king accordions, chromatic, diatonic, midi, norteño, piano, vallenato, and bajo-sexto. All of these Gabbanelli accordions were designed with the customer satisfaction in mind. And, with the strong dedication of the company to individualism, it is no wonder that Gabbanelli is able to set a new level of standard in the music industry.

Hohner Accordions

Hohner is basically a company well-known for its high quality accordions. Based on the company’s history, the first model of Hohner accordion was designed and manufactured in 1893, when the original founder Matthias Hohner passed away. His sons were the ones who decided to expand the company to include the manufacture of a new reed instrument, the accordion. Since then, Hohner quickly built a parallel reputation for excellence, and they have been well-known as a top accordion maker due to their string dedication to quality that continues up to these days.

Well, for nearly a century, it has been noted that the world’s top musicians have revered the unique sound of Hohner accordions. Speaking of “Hohner sound”, for which the company’s accordions are acclaimed, it is noted that it originates from the responsive and precisely tuned Hohner reed, as well as from the resonant construction of the woodwork. It has also been claimed that shortly after the company started manufacturing Hohner accordions, such distinct sound launched the company’s accordion to the top of the international market. It is where the Hohner accordions continue to be the world’s leading brand.

There are specifically two types of Hohner accordions: the Diatonic and Piano accordions. In terms of Diatonic accordions, there are about 13 Hohner accordion models in the current list. These include the HA-3522 Corona II Classic, HA-35 Corona II, Corona III, HA-3100 Panther, HA-2815, HA-3000 Erica, HA-1600 Corso, Double Ray, HA-114, 3002 and 3002B Ariette, and D40 Concertina. Of these Diatonic Hohner accordion models, the Corono II top the list and has in fact became an official Classic. Perhaps, this is due to the fact that the Corono II is capable of giving you the full resonant sound you should expect from Hohner, as well as a celluloid covered, wood keyboard, double strap brackets, improved bellow straps, and a lot more.

In the Piano Hohner accordions, five groups or series are now available. These include the Morino Piano models, Amica Series, New Bravo Series, Hohnica Accordions, and the Nova Series Chromatic Accordions. Of these series, it is the Morino Piano models that have been world acclaimed as the best Piano Hohner accordions on the market.

Today, these models of Hohner accordions are sold worldwide with aluminum framed plastic carrying case, at reasonable prices. However, the prices may vary depending on the suggested retail. Therefore, it is necessary to contact your local music dealer for consumer pricing in your area.

The Cajun Accordion

For long years, Cajun accordion has been well-known throughout the world as one of the interesting, fun to play type of reeds. Stories have been told that this instrument is actually by origin and definition as “melodeon”, meaning an instrument with fundamentally melodic potential, incompletely supported by tow simple harmonies. This is also the reason that many people call it the Melodeon.

The History

The Cajun accordion or melodeon is actually a small diatonic accordion initially manufactured in Germany in the second half of the nineteenth century. It has been commonly noted that the first instruments available during that time carried the trademarks Bruno, Lester, and Pine Tree. These instruments had the inconvenience of being pitched in A or F, which are keys practically impossible to accompany on the fiddle. Then, it wan not until the dawn of this century that Buegeleisen & Jacobson of New York brought in the Monarch and the Sterling in C and D. The Cajuns then nicknamed them “Tits Noirs” meaning “Little Blacks” on account of their size and color. These later on became the Cajun accordions and they required a great reputation, justified by the quality and reliability of their reeds.

Physical Features

As a small diatonic instrument, the Cajun accordion is features a one row keyboard with ten buttons on the right hand treble side. Each button controls two notes according to the motion of the bellows, whether they are pushed inwards or pulled outwards. The Cajuns call this as the “single action”. Aside from that, the Cajun accordion also has four stops on the right hand casing which bring into action four banks of reeds tuned in octaves associated to each other. It is important to note that the different banks of reeds in Cajun accordion are tuned in perfect octaves known as “dry” tuning.

On the left side of the Cajun accordion is a keyboard in the form of a hand-grip. This keyboard has two buttons giving respectively two bass notes as well as two chords. Other than that, the keyboard on the left side offer an air button for the thumb which enables the rapid opening or closing of the bellows during the playing.

Strengths of Cajun Accordion

Compared with the fiddle, the Cajun accordion is highly noted for its superb reliability and robustness. It has four reeds for each note, so even some of them were broken there are still others that are enough to make music. What’s more, this is also the only instrument which could endure the humidity of any region. The Cajun accordion only need the minimum maintenance and was easily repairable. Lastly, it was fully in tune and ready to play while the section of the basses efficiently backed up the melody and offer a fullness as well as resonant power which could not be matched by the fiddle.

Excelsior Accordion

Established in New York in 1924, the Excelsior Company has long been serving the market with great accordions. The company considered expansion of their production and sales in 1948 and since then, excellent sound, quality and fine look of the Excelsior accordions have been appreciated all over the world. It was in fact noted in one of the resources that the greatest popularity of Excelsior accordions was reached after the Second World War as they became a “must” for any big orchestra with Charles Magnante and Art Van Damme as a few among the many popular accordionists who prefer Excelsior.

As commonly claimed, all of the professional models of Excelsior accordions are very prestigious instruments. The selection ranges from the top-quality 960 (922 in button), highlighting tone chamber or cassoto and five sets of reeds that appear both in treble and bass, to the lighter 911 with 610 in button that is recommended to folk and modern music players. Aside from that, there was the glorious AC, popularly known as “Continental”, which has long been deemed as the one of the best accordions ever made in all times. Specifically, this model boasts its hand made sets of reeds in treble and six in bass, tone chamber, and lightest keyboard. It is these features which sets the Excelsior Continental the most appreciated by jazz and classic music lovers.

On the semi-professional side of Excelsior accordions, it is worth noting that all of the Excelsior accordions under this category are deigned and crafted according to the same quality standards applied to professional accordion manufacturing. It also covers a wide range of models which generally offered matches to any requirement that the forthgoing students or experienced amateur may have.

Just recently, Excelsior proudly introduced their new Conservatory series that is composed of six new mid priced convertor accordions. This particular series of Excelsior accordion was actually produced after many years of cooperation with teachers and professionals as well as by using only the quality materials and skilled craftsmen. This series is now well-known for its superb tonal quality and elegance that are coupled with its reasonable price.

The Excelsior accordion company today goes ahead in its tradition of quality and prestige, but all of their products are still crafted with selected materials and in accordance to the best traditional craftsmanship approaches as well. As you may know, to own an Excelsior accordion these days is like owning a prestigious instrument and following the path of the best accordion players of the past and present.

Tips for Buying an Antique Accordion

Thinking for a purchase of an antique accordion? If so, then you should note first that there are some helpful steps to consider when buying an antique accordion. Few of them are mentioned below.

Examine the Carrying Case

When you purchase an antique accordion, don’t forget to check the condition of the carrying case. Look for broken or missing hardware as possible. Note that a musty smelling case or bellows is one of the many indications that the accordion or other instrument may have been improperly cared for and stored, probably in damp basement. A musty case may also cause damage to the wood and leathers in the interior of the instrument. With this, it’s not impossible that the reeds may be rusted.

Check the Body of the Instrument

When we say antique, we are referring to something old, thus a certain defect is possible, unless the thing is really properly cared for. So, in terms of buying an antique accordion, looking for chips missing from the corners, cracks in the celluloid, scratch marks indicating abuse, and others is a pretty nice move to take. If possible, check the condition of all the leather straps, especially the ends that go through the metal holding brackets on the accordion, both top and bottom. If you find that the straps are much worn, then I think it is safer if you remove them entirely than risk their breaking while you are wearing the antique accordion.

Eyeball the Bellows

When you consider buying an antique accordion, try looking for signs of wear, especially on the folds at the base, as well as on the belt buckle wear (facing the chest of the player). Aside from this, check the corners of the bellows and look for corners that are missing or coming loose. Also make sure that in an antique accordion, all the bellows pins are still present and they are not folded or frozen in place with rust. Also note that in a piano accordion, for instance, the air release button is found poking through the bass cover at the left hand side towards the top of the instrument when held in playing position. So, if your antique accordion doesn’t have one, then this is a serious design flaw.

Look at the Keyboard

When checking the antique accordion, try looking at the keyboard edge on, especially the white keys. Note that a properly labeled keyboard is unusual in a very old instrument, unless it has been well cared for. So, check for keys that are out of level as the irregularity of the keys will impede performance in general.

Play It Yourself

It is often said that the best to check the performance of an instrument is to play it yourself. Try listening for the intonation, overall tone, dynamic range, volume, balance between the left and right sides, and the action of the antique accordion. Or, let another person play it, and listen to the sound.

Button Accordion

Accordions generally come in different style and forms. There are the Piano accordions, diatonic, chromatic, and a lot more. And, one of the families of accordions which developed in the late nineteenth century is the button accordion.

The button accordion is actually an adaptation of the older and more basic melodeon. Physically, it is noted for having an extra row of buttons, pitched a semi-tone above or below those of the melodeon. It is also noted that two notes can be sounded on one button by way of manipulating the bellows, and this is what gives the accordion greater articulation as well as economy of fingering.

Button accordions come in variation. There actually exists a wide variation on keyboard systems, tuning, action as well as construction of these instruments. One of the most notable types of button accordion is the Diatonic button accordion which has a melody-sized keyboard that is limited to the notes of diatonic scales in a small number of keys, which is sometimes only one. It is worthy to note that the bass side of this instrument usually contains the principal chords of the instrument’s key, including the root notes of those chords.

The diatonic button accordions are generally bisonoric. This means that every button produces a couple of note: one is produced when the bellows are compressed, while the other is produced when the bellows are expanded. However, there are few diatonic button accordions that are unisonoric, like the garmon for instance, with every button producing the same note regardless of the direction of the bellows. Others also have combination of two types.

Another well-known variation of button accordion is the chromatic. This is a type where the melody-sized keyboard is composed of uniform rows of buttons arranged so that the pitch increases chromatically along diagonals. Note that the bass-side keyboard of this instrument is typically the Stradella system, which is one of the many free-bass systems, or a converter system.

One of the very well-known forms included among the chromatic button accordions is the Russian Bayan. It is noted that sometimes an instrument of this class is simply known as “chromatic accordion”, even though the other types, such as the piano accordion, are fully chromatic as well. The chromatic buttons actually are highly preferred by a number of classical music performers since its introduction. This is mainly for the reason that the treble keyboard of this instrument is denser than that of a piano accordion, allowing a much greater range.

Today, various cultures have made their own versions of button accordions, and all of their inventions are adapted to suit their own music. Russia alone has a number of accordions, such as the Bayan, Garmon, Saratovskaya Garmonica, and Livenka.