Although I've been a volunteer for the Joint Council for only a little more than a year, I've been inspried by their insight, thoughtfulness, and hard work. Joint Council has a very small staff but makes the most of it, their interns, and their volunteers. Each group contributes to the overall mission of working toward giving each child a safe, loving, and permanent family. Initially begun as a sort of trade organization for adoption agencies it has developed into a leading authority on orphans, worldwide. Not only did it respond quickly to the earthquake in Haiti, it also conducts many meetings with various countries to encourage them to: develop and initiate policies and procedures that would assist families in raising their children, help children without families to find relatives to take them in and care for them as their own, and where in-country resources are insufficient, to find families in other countries to adopt children. Joint Council, besides working with approximately 80 countries, also encourages the U.S. government to take child-centric positions and works with Members of Congress to develop legislation which would assist children in finding safe, loving, and permanent families. This organization truly has the interests of children at the forefront!