Families Supporting Adoption

More national conference info!

2011-07-11T23:41:00.001-07:00

Original post found here.

"First Class Talent at FSA Conference! Part I

If you've ever been to conference, you already know that some of the best LDS music artists share our love of adoption and, because of that, they are willing to share their talents with us at the national conference. We are pleased to announce one of the groups who will be joining us this year:

One Clear Voice

With a combined total of over 100 years in performance and 75 years of studio vocal work, One Clear Voice unites four of the LDS music industry's most recognizable female voices—

Tanya Barkdull began a professional singing career at the age of twelve. Since that time, Tanya's voice has been heard on over 1,000 recordings from television, film, and radio including; The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Touched by an Angel, The Oprah Winfrey Show and Disney's 101 Dalmatians. Her voice has been heard from Canada to Mexico, and throughout Europe. She has sung with amazing recording artists such as Billy Dean, BB King, Collin Raye, Donny Osmond and Gladys Knight. The accomplishment she is most proud of is her family. She and her husband, Gavon, are the parents of four wonderful children.

Johanne Fréchette Perry was born in Montréal, Canada and grew up in the Los Angeles area where she joined the church as a teenager. She has traveled the world with the BYU Young Ambassadors and graduated with a BFA in Music Dance Theatre. For over 20 years she has been a studio singer and has been featured as a soloist on many LDS recordings. She has delighted audiences across the U.S. and on PBS with her portrayal of early Utah settler Polly Matilda Merrill Colton in the show Polly: A One-Woman Musical, written by her husband, Steven Kapp Perry. When not singing she keeps busy with her four children, organic vegetable garden, and teaching genealogy and drama at American Heritage Academy.

Tammy Simister Robinson, a Music Education graduate and vocal instructor, began writing and arranging songs in high school. Her works have earned numerous Awards of Distinction in the annual LDS Church Music Submissions. Her song May I Serve Thee was twice broadcast worldwide during the LDS General Women's Meeting and was printed in the Ensign magazine. Her voice has been heard on hundreds of recordings for over 20 years and she has released three solo albums of original songs and hymn arrangements, including The Color of Hope and In Thy Hands which together earned a combined total of four FCMA Pearl Awards. Tammy and her husband live in Midvale, Utah and are the parents of two children.

LaRene Tinney has traveled and performed in the U. S., Asia, Israel, Europe, the former Soviet Union and many other parts of the world. Before graduating from Brigham Young University, she was a member of BYU’s Young Ambassadors. For more than ten years she has enjoyed doing back-up and choral work with many talented artists, her favorites being the other OCV ladies. As an accomplished dancer and actress, LaRene has a long list of musical theater experiences. One of her proudest moments came on national television as she was asked to brag about her family on the “Oprah Winfrey Show”. She and her husband reside in Orem with their 4 children.

Since their 2006 debut album, One Clear Voice has earned four distinguished awards for: Inspirational Album, Sacred Song, New Artist, and Group of the Year. Their second album, “Go Without Knowing” was released in December 2009. You can find out more about One Clear Voice at their website.

Don't forget to enter to win a pair of tickets to the conference! For information on keynote speakers, childcare, the 2nd annual adoption art display, or the new expo, check out the links on the left sidebar. "

Giveaway- 2 free tickets!

2011-07-11T23:34:00.000-07:00

WIN A PAIR OF NATIONAL CONFERENCE TICKETS

The National Conference is quickly approaching.

The national FSA blog is doing a giveaway!

They are giving away a PAIR of National Conference tickets to a lucky blog reader ($80 value)!

Even if you have already purchased your tickets, you would get a refund!

Check out the details here!

Avoiding Adoption scams

2011-06-02T21:31:00.000-07:00

Adoption Advocate No. 36: Avoiding Adoption Scams
Published June 2011 by Hal Kaufman†

"Introduction

Most adoptions go well. The adoptive family has good intentions and works with adoption professionals who help address everyone’s needs and legal rights. However, the fact remains that adoption fraud does indeed exist. Creating a legally binding family through adoption isn’t always easy, and the existence of adoption fraud can make the process even more challenging. "

Read the full article here.

FSA T-shirt design contest!

2011-04-22T23:34:00.001-07:00

Families Supporting Adoption is looking for a new original design to print on shirts. The new design should promote a positive view of adoption. You can use the "Adoption: It's About Love" slogan, or make up a new one. Shirts with the new design will be available for purchase at the annual conference and through the website. If you have an idea you'd like to submit, send it to fsashirtdesign@gmail.com by April 30, 2011. The person with the winning submission will be given a $30 gift certificate to the FSA store and one free registration to the FSA Conference in Utah on August 12-13.

2011 FSA Conference - mark your calendars

2011-04-22T23:22:00.000-07:00

2011 Families Supporting Adoption International Conference

"Rooted in Love"
Friday, August 12 at 8:00am - August 13 at 5:00pm
Location Davis Conference Center
1651 North 700 West
Layton, UT

Opening Keynote Speaker:
Sister Julie B. Beck,

General Relief Society President of

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Saturday Morning Keynote Speaker:
Dr. Karyn Purvis, Texas Christian University

Adoption links and info

2011-04-22T23:07:00.000-07:00

Thanks again to Heather and Adam R. for sharing their experiences of adopting through Adoption Advertising at our most recent FSA class held on April 14, 2011. It was eye opening to hear about another option for hopeful adoptive couples. There were a lot of suggestions that came up during the class, and we wanted to share all the great information with you.

Adoption Advertising (*Can be a quick but expensive process. It is free to sign up with them):

http://adoptionadvertising.org/

Recommended N. California Adoption Attorney: (she is also an adoption facilitator)

Nanci R. Worcester

http://www.adoption-center.com/

Other mentioned adoption agencies:

Premier Adoption Agency (sliding scale for adoption fees based on income):

http://www.premieradoption.org/

The Birth Connection:

http://thebirthconnection.org/

Little Angel Adoptions:

http://www.littleangeladoptions.com/

Adoption postings - Attorney Mark Miller (located in Jacksonville, FL):

Email him to be added to his contact list for adoption postings. He sends out detailed information about possible adoption situations, and couples can apply for specific situations.
miller@fordmiller.com

Spreading the Word

2009-05-03T21:07:00.000-07:00

I thought to get us all blogging, it would help to introduce a topic that we can all comment on

The question: What are you doing as a couple to spread the word about your desire to adopt?

Here is what we have done as a family:
1. We mention our desire to adopt in our family Christmas letter and have just told everyone we know that we want to adopt.
2. We have an adoption blog
3. We have given our close friends from across the country adoption packets including several birth mother letters and copies of our photo pages.
4. We have spread the word using face book.
5. When I send an email my signature says "just waiting for our baby" then gives the link for our blog.
6. Our Bishop gave our birth mother letter to our Stake President and all the Bishops in our stake.
6. We found a second agency that would allow acceptLDSFS' home study and required no upfront costs, most importantly we felt right about them from our initial phone call and especially after we prayed about it.

As you comment please leave a link to any adoption blogs or adoption websites you have if you would like me to post them on this sight.
Thanks so much,
Kim Jones

An Adoption Story

2009-04-16T19:28:00.001-07:00

Walking out of the court room the day David's

adoption was finalized.

We fell in love and married, expecting that within a few months we would be pregnant and on with what we pictured our life would be. When it didn’t happen and, in fact, years passed without children, we began to wonder what the Lord had in mind. How could this be? We were faithful members of the church and loved each other deeply. We would be good parents. Why, oh why, wouldn’t our Father in Heaven bless us with children?

Then, one day a friend mentioned the idea of adoption. After a flurry of emotions that overwhelmed us – anger, terror, disappointment, frustration, feeling powerless, feeling inadequate and less than, confusion – we began to pray and ponder the possibility. And we called LDS Family Services. As we sat in the orientation meeting and the first speaker said how it may feel to couples like they were heading on a joyful trip to Italy and instead landed in Holland, we sure knew exactly what he meant. We didn’t know the language and customs of adoption, and while “Holland” was, we were sure, a fine place to be, we had packed and were planning on “Italy”. We really wanted to be in “Italy”.

A year after that November meeting, after getting up the courage to apply and having waded through massive amounts of paperwork that our caseworker declared at the outset would feel like way too much and unfair to have to do, we were approved for adoption. And then, said our dear caseworker, came the hardest part: Being ready to bring a baby into our home at any second, but going on with our lives. For a year and a half, the cradle sat in the corner of our bedroom next to the rocking chair and diapers sat on the closet shelf next to stack of baby clothes (mostly yellow and mint green, so they would work for either a boy or a girl).

Over time, we became more and more willing to let go and do whatever we felt prompted by the Lord to do. At one point that meant hosting a five-day-old baby and his adoptive parents because we were foster-care certified for California and they were from out of state. It was so painful to see them with their baby and want ours, but it was also joyful to be that instrument for the Lord. Another time it meant being willing to send an e-mail out to EVERYONE we knew asking that they keep an eye out for a pregnant woman who might be considering placing for adoption (instead of the dozen we felt comfortable opening up to that way) and tell her about us. And, it meant taking classes in our county to become certified as foster parents.

We had two classes left when one Tuesday afternoon in May at 3 p.m. we got a call that changed our lives forever. A young birth mother who had tried so hard to keep her baby for a few weeks, knew now she couldn’t and wanted an LDS couple who couldn’t have children to have him…a little boy just a few weeks old. Within ten days we held our little David in our arms and were meeting the birth family. The Spirit was so strong as they said they knew we were his parents. Within six months the adoption was final and a few weeks later we were sealed in the Sacramento Temple as an eternal family.

As we look back at the process of our amazing little baby David coming into our home, we see the perfection in timing and path – but we sure didn’t along the way. He is our child, and this is precisely the time and way he was meant to come. Some of the actions we took didn’t have a direct effect, such as sending out that vast e-mailing, but others did. We see that we were prompted to take the foster training classes, because the knowledge and familiarity of the legal system and foster care world, as well as a certain comfort level with it, helped us create a better welcome for our son since he came through both foster care and LDS Family Services.

We don’t know all of why things happened the way they did, but we sure do know three important things we learned along the way.
1. Surrender completely to Heavenly Father’s way of bringing your child to you and take each action you feel inspired to (even if it makes no sense and requires you to leap way beyond your comfort zone).
2. Don’t feel pressure to do what you don’t feel inspired to do (even if everybody else is marketing themselves perfectly and you are sure if you don’t do it just like them you will never get your baby.
3. Never ever give up faith in the perfection of the way and time the Lord will bring about your miracle. We are the living breathing example of these simple truths.

With love and hope,

Ian, Heidi and David

The Gift of Adoption--Ensign Article

2009-02-24T11:55:00.000-08:00

In the February 2009 Ensign magazine there is a very touching collection of articles about adoption. The articles share, in a very personal way, what the experience of placing a child in an adoptive home was like for a birth mother, a birth father, and a birth grand father. The last article is written by an adult adoptee. In the article these birth parents describe the depth of their love for their unborn children and how extremely difficult and yet rewarding the experience was for each of them. The birth father shares how much he admired the birth mother and her ability to go through this difficult ordeal. The grandfather talks about what an incredibly spiritual experience it was for his family to support their daughter as she placed her baby with a loving family. The adoptee talks about how her parents always shared her adoption story with her. She always knew she was adopted and she always knew she was loved.

As adoptive families and hopeful adoptive families these stories provide very valuable insights into adoption. Hopefully, these articles will also touch other members in the church who may at some point be in a position to be supportive of a potential birth family.

Here is a link to the Ensign article:
http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=45169d9ff732f110VgnVCM100000176f620a____&hideNav=1

After you have read the article please also send an e-mail to encourage the Ensign writers to continue to promote adoption!

merrillme@ldschurch.org

New Profile Site

2009-02-16T15:30:00.000-08:00

LDS Family Services has improved it's adoption website. Couples can now post many more pictures and a lot more information. The applications are very user friendly. There are more resources available to birth families as well as adoptive couples. The site allows birth families to register on the site, this will make it possible for Family Services to contact theses families as needed and it will help keep track of potential birth families. The site is awaiting final approval for the church. In the meantime, you can check it out at beta.itsaboutlove.org. Contact your case worker for information on how to register on the new site.