Adoption News & Events
New Jersey Sibling Match Party
A Sibling Match Party was held Saturday October 25th. This was a Match Party for sibling groups, meaning that the children to would be with their brothers and sisters. Of the 15 sibling groups, 13 were sets of 2, 1 was a set of 3 and 1 was a group of 5. It may have been raining outside, but inside the high school where the party was held, we had a bright carnival atmosphere!
Games were structured to help ease the process of the children and potential parents getting to know each other. And it must have worked -- of the 21 families there, 14 families identified children to get to know better, and all but 3 of the sibling groups received inquiries.
We'd like to thank all those who came out, especially our volunteers and the social workers who took time out of their weekends to help our children.
Adoption Program for Members of the LGBT Community
Finally, just before his 18th birthday, Sheldon got the gift he had dreamed about for twelve years. He walked into Philadelphia Family Court with the two people who would that day become his official, legal parents.
"We were just slightly nervous," remembers his dad. "In the back of your mind is always the thought that maybe they'll figure out some reason we can't do this." But all went smoothly, and there was a party afterward for friends. Two months later, members of both parents' extended families were invited to a "Covenanting" ceremony where Doug Brunk and Lloyd Bowman wrote the words that were in their hearts and committed to being Sheldon's parents forever.
Brunk and Bowman are two of an increasing number of gay men and women who are adopting children who now live in foster care. Their son, Sheldon, now 19, was 17 when he came to live with them. They plan to adopt again.
The National Adoption Center, based in Philadelphia, has launched a program for members of the gay community to advise and support them as they consider adoption and begin their adoption search. Together with the Delaware Valley Legacy Fund, an information session was held in March.
"DVLF incubated the LGBT community assessment project of the City of Philadelphia and The Philadelphia Foundation," said Perry Monastero. "One important finding that Chris Bartlett and his team at the Philadelphia Health Management Corporation uncovered is 29% of households surveyed has a child in the home. Sheldon, one of our board members, comes from one of those households."
While the Center has always welcomed gay men and women as candidates for adoption, it is now becoming proactive, encouraging those who may be considering adoption, but don't know how to begin, which adoption agency to approach and who need support during the adoption process.
There are 114,000 children throughout the country living in foster care who wait to be adopted; 1,600 are living in the Delaware Valley. Most children are school age and many, like Sheldon, are teenagers who still hope for a permanent family. Since 1972, the Center has helped find families for more than 21,000 children.
Sheldon's parents spoke at the March 25 event along with Ken Mullner, the Center's executive director, and Perry Monastero, executive director of DVLF.
For additional information, contact Ken Mullner at 215-875-0323.
Delaware National Adoption Awareness Month
This year, the state of Delaware will be celebrating all our foster and adoptive families at Delaware's National Adoption Day. It will be a fun-filled day with engaging seminars geared to families (foster parent credits will be provided) as well as fun activities for the children. National Adoption Day festivities will take place on Saturday, November 15, 2008, and will be held at Delaware Technical and Community College located in Dover, Delaware. Activities will begin at 9:30 a.m. and will end at 4:00 p.m. Lunch will be provided. During the lunch period, we will have a ceremony to recognize children and their families who finalized in adoption during the year 2008. Many of our Family Court judges are planning to attend to be recognized with the families they have helped to legally create. Throughout the day we will also be celebrating our international families with entertainment and activities geared to various cultures.
Tuesday, October 7th was a fantastic day for everyone who participated in The National Adoption Center’s Annual Tee-Off for Kids! Golf Classic. We are grateful for our sponsors, who, altogether, helped to raise over $48,000 to help find permanent adoptive homes for children currently living in foster care.
The support of our Sponsors is what made the day such a success. We truly could not have done it without you!
Proud Sponsors
President Bush has signed the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 into law! This legislation makes the most significant changes and improvements in the child welfare system in more than a decade by:
- Reauthorizing and updating the adoption incentives program,
- Gradually de-linking Title IV-E (Federal financial subsidies for children adopted from foster care)adoption assistance from income requirements so that all children with special needs eventually have access to this federal support
- Providing for Title IV-E funding of kinship guardianship placements
- Extending direct Title IV-E funding to tribal governments
- Allowing states to receive federal reimbursement for support provided to foster youth up to age 21
- Creating a grant program to support kinship caregivers
- Requiring reasonable efforts to keep siblings together
- Requiring agencies to inform prospective adopters about the tax credit.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) marked introduction of the bill in May.
These improvements encompass many of the critical changes to federal policy that hundreds of former foster youth, adoptive parents, relative caregivers, and others have been requesting of the Congress. We commend all involved for their leadership and commitment to addressing the needs of our nation's most vulnerable children and youth.
Another Bill to Watch: Bill Aims to Increase Number of Adoptive Parents for Foster Children Two U.S. House members, Chaka Fattah and Mark Souder, reintroduced legislation (HR 6459) on July 10 to establish a "pilot program of grants to child welfare agencies to effect long-range improvements in the adoption process by increasing prospective adoptive parent access to adoption information and strengthening agency responsiveness." The Adoption Improvement Act of 2008 was first introduced last November by Senators Hillary Clinton and John Rockefeller. To read the bill, refered to the House Committee on Education and Labor, go to: http://thomas.loc.gov/ and search for HR6459 in the bill text field. As of October 16th, the bill is still before the House Committee on Education and Labor.
"Helping to create new families -- one match party at a time!"
At the first ever Match Party exclusively for Delaware children awaiting adoption, we had an amazing, fun-filled day! 25 families, a total of 46 family members, and 33 children, ranging in ages from 2-14 years old, arrived to participate in carnival-themed games. After interacting at each game, children and families gathered for a lunch of hot dogs, hamburgers, popcorn, and cotton candy! Children got their faces painted and delighted in sharing conversations and games with each family. As the day ended, an amazing 30 children received an inquiry from an interested family. Our greatest success was each and every child enjoying their time and possibly making a connection with a family.
On Tuesday, October 7, 2008 at the ACE Club in Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania, the Center held its annual golf tournament. Nearly $50,000 was raised! Thanks to our golfers for coming out. And thanks to our sponsors! List of sponsors here.
