Angels in - Pound Pup Legacy

Tom and Jennifer Rudolph
Senator Don Nickles
Jennifer and Tom Rudolph exemplify the true spirit
of adoption with their unfailing love, commitment,
and dedication. Last year their hope to adopt a
child in need of a loving family was delayed by the
suspension of adoption in Cambodia. Instead of
giving up, they persevered to adopt Avery Michelle
even though they had no guarantee that the
adoption would ever happen. Their tenacity ended
happily in January 2003, when they traveled to
Cambodia to complete the adoption of Avery and
bring her home. The Rudolphs took their love for
this child even further by helping to start Tabitha
USA, a non-profit foundation aimed at enhancing
the lives of the people of Cambodia by addressing
their needs in a holistic and sustainable manner.
Jennifer and Tom were instrumental in founding this
organization and now serve as board members.
They envision a day in which the help given to the
people of Cambodia to reach their own dreams will
mean fewer children will be in orphanages and
need homes.
Oregon
Susan Cox
Senator Ron Wyden
Susan Soon-Keum Cox, Vice President of Public
Policy and External Affairs for Holt International
Children’s Services, has been an adoption advocate
for over 25 years. Her life in adoption began in
1956 when she was one of the first Korean
adoptees to come to the United States. She has
since dedicated her life to finding homes for
homeless children and advocating for the world’s
most vulnerable. She is recognized as one of the
top adoption professionals in America today and
her work has gained the respect of the international
adoption community as well.
Her first exposure to child welfare was at the
age of 27, when she became the first Korean
adoptee to sit on the Board of Directors of Holt
International Children’s Services. After serving on
Holt’s Board, Ms. Cox became the Director of
Development. Ms. Cox is a nationally and
internationally recognized public speaker on
international adoption and child welfare issues. For
over a decade Ms. Cox has advocated for the rights
and needs of adoptees. She is a delegate to The
Hague Conference on Private International Law
Special Commission on the Practical Operation of
the Hague Intercountry Adoption Convention. She
has lobbied for laws that protect internationally
adopted children such as the Immunization Act of
1997, the Citizenship Act of 2000, granting
automatic citizenship to internationally adopted
children, and the International Adoption Act of
2001. In 2000, Ms. Cox was invited by the White
House to sit on the President’s Advisory Commission
on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders to
represent the Asian adoptee population. Within the
adoptee community, Ms. Cox is seen as a leader.
She is the founder of the Gathering of Adult
Korean Adoptees (Washington, DC, 1999 and Oslo,
Norway, 2001) and the Reunion of the Vietnamese
Adoptees 2000 in Baltimore, MD. These events
have changed the international adoptee community
and served as the catalyst for other adoptee
conferences and gatherings throughout the nation.
Franklin Hunsaker
Senator Gordon Smith
Franklin Hunsaker and his wife Nancy are the
adoptive parents of five children. Two of their
children were the result of private-placement
adoptions, two were the result of agency adoptions
(one was an international placement), and one
(who is now deceased) was the result of a special
needs placement through the state. He is a strong
adoption advocate and encourages couples to
consider adopting at every opportunity. In his law
practice, he has represented adoptive and birth
parents in facilitating adoptions. In 1998-2000, he
represented, on a pro bono basis, a group of
Oregon birth mothers who filed a lawsuit
challenging the constitutionality of an Oregon law
that was enacted in 1998 and that retroactively
opened sealed adoption records. In that legal
challenge, he worked closely with the National
Council for Adoption, which filed a friend-of-thecourt
brief in support of the birth mothers.
Although that legal challenge was unsuccessful, he
continues to offer support to birth mothers in
coping with the new Oregon law and also with
birth parents attempting to prevent the enactment
of similar laws in other states. He volunteers his
time and efforts in assisting birth parents in this
regard because of his strong belief that reunions
between adoptees and birth parents should be
based on mutual consent.
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