Jean Erichsen, MA, LBSW
Contributor Information:
Phone: (281) 363-2892
E-mail: JErichsen@losninos.org or JErichsen@comcast.net
Web: http://erichsenbooks.com and www.losninos.org
BIOGRAPHY
In 2007, Jean was a recipient of the National Council for Adoption Hall of Fame Award and received an award at the International Rights of the Child Conference in Mexico. She is currently working with the National Council for Adoption to obtain US citizenship for thousands of children and adults at risk that she terms “Alien Adoptees.”
As one of the few adoption agency directors that is also an author, Jean Nelson Erichsen treasures opportunities to safeguard adoptees. She is a certified social worker, a Board Certified Professional Counselor, and holds a master’s degree in human development. She is the author of five books, two curriculums, and numerous articles on international adoption. With over twenty-seven years of social work and writing experience, she continues to help children find families. She has touched the lives of nearly three thousand of children directly, by visiting them in institutions abroad, preparing their adoptive parents, and counseling the families. Thousands more have been touched through her books, articles, and personal guidance.
Since 1981, Erichsen has done hundreds of interviews for local and national newspapers, radio, and television. She has appeared on Univision and CNN International. She encourages families to promote adoption by telling their heart-warming stories to the media.
Erichsen’s recent works include, Inside the Adoption Agency: Understanding Intercountry Adoption in the Era of the Hague Convention, and two Hague-compliant adoptive parent training curriculums. One is Special Needs Children, Exceptional Parents: Their Personal Stories; the other is the script for The Intercountry Adoption Journey, an interactive website of the National Council For Adoption for clients of adoption agencies.
Erichsen is the author of a book considered the “bible” on the subject, How to Adopt Internationally, which is in its fourth edition. Butterflies in the Wind: The Truth About Latin American Adoptions is the personal record Erichsen kept on their adopted and biological children. The Reluctant Warrior: Former German POW Finds Peace in Texas, is her husband’s memoir. Her first book was Gamines: How to Adopt From Latin America, Dillon Press, 1982.
Jean Nelson Erichsen is a graduate of Metropolitan State University, St. Paul, Minnesota, and St. Mary’s College, Winona, Minnesota. She and her husband, Heino, live near Houston in The Woodlands, Texas. They are parents of three biological, three internationally adopted children, and ten grandchildren from diverse racial and religious backgrounds. Jean’s happiest hours are spent with her children and grandchildren.