Robin Hilborn

It wasn't always thus. In previous lives he was (among other things) a student at McMaster University (Hamilton, Ont.), assistant editor of a children's magazine in London, England; a disk jockey in Switzerland; a federal information officer in Quebec City and Montreal; a writer for tea marketing in Tokyo; and a legal secretary in Toronto.

He now works for himself, publishing and editing Family Helper magazine (the amalgamation of Adoption Helper and Post-adoption Helper) and running Family Helper web site, www.familyhelper.net.

He writes this in "How to Judge a Web Site", www.familyhelper.net/heart/rrh/sitejudge.html:
"If you ask me why I run my web site, Family Helper, the answer is: to give people information about adoption they can't find elsewhere, because no-one else, including government, has compiled the sort of in-depth information I have, and put it all in one place. I also use the site to sell editions of Adoption Helper and Family Helper, which helps pay expenses."

From 1978 to 1986, in his spare time Robin published 27 editions of a newsletter about his family history, Hilborn Family Journal.

He used to think he could call himself retired ... but being self-employed means he works even more hours than nine-to-fivers. From 1999 to 2003 he worked part time as Content Specialist for Ontario WorkInfoNet (www.on.workinfonet.ca). From 2003 to 2006 he worked under contract as Content Specialist for the Adoption Council of Canada, (ACC) www.adoption.ca, writing the news items and organizing the content at the site. He continues to help ACC as a volunteer.

From 1994 to 1996 Robin volunteered on the Information Resources Committee of Toronto Free-Net.

As a volunteer he designed and laid out the Newsletter of the Adoption Council of Canada (and designed its logo). He edited numbers six through ten of the ACC newsletter (Oct. 1995 to March 1998).

In 2005 Robin worked three afternoons a week from March to June as a volunteer at the archives of the Bruce County Museum and Archives, where he helped catalogue the holdings for eventual posting of the catalogue at the museum web site.

Starting in November 2006 he volunteered for the committee planning the 150th Anniversary Celebrations of Southampton in 2008. He's working on the calendar, the events flyer and the web pages. Through Family Helper he hosts the interior pages of the web site.

In September 2007 Robin returned as a volunteer at the Archives, scanning photos and entering photo descriptions into the photo database.

He has given workshops at these conferences:
   1992 NACAC Conference, Ottawa
   1994 National Adoption Conference, Calgary
   1997 NACAC Conference, Toronto
   1998 National Adoption Conference, Edmonton
   2002 National Adoption Conference, Toronto
   2003 NACAC Conference, Vancouver
   2004 National Adoption Conference, Saint John NB

Robin is a member of CIRA, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority.

And he is the happy dad of David Jones of Toronto, adopted from Peru in 1989, and Cristopher Jones, adopted from Guatemala in 1996.

You can reach him at Box 1353, Southampton, Ont. N0H 2L0, or at helper@familyhelper.net.

AWARDS

1995 -- Adoption Helper magazine received an Ontario Adoption Award from the Adoption Council of Ontario, "in recognition of its outstanding contribution to the adoption community of Ontario."

1997 -- Jennifer Smart, editor of Post-adoption Helper, received an Ontario Adoption Award from the Adoption Council of Ontario for her work on behalf of adoption causes.

2001 -- Robin Hilborn, editor of Adoption Helper, received an Adoption Activist Award from the North American Council on Adoptable Children for "dedicated work in making adoption information more accessible and providing materials for post-adoptive support".

	Family Helper www.familyhelper.net			A WEB RESOURCE FOR FAMILIES SINCE 1996 VISITS SINCE NOV. 16, 1999
				About us    Copyright    Privacy    Disclaimer