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2001-2002 Annual Report

Open Adoption & Family Services continues to be the leading domestic adoption agency in the Northwest, with 57 placements for fiscal year 2002. We are eager to share our accomplishments with you ...

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Priorities for 2002 - 2007

The Board of Directors and staff of OA&sFS met on a snowy day in January for a brainstorming session to lay the groundwork for the five-year strategic plan.

The guiding vision statements of the plan are:

• OA&sFS’ child-centered, open adoption program and services reflect a high standard of quality, integrity, compassion and innovation.
• OA&sFS promotes its services and mission by further developing the concept of child-centered open adoption in order to increase the number of birthparents and adoptive parents contacting the agency.
• OA&sFS creates an open adoption community for its clients, expands services to reach new clients and networks with other organizations and agencies that provide adoption services.
• OA&sFS operates in a fiscally responsible manner and generates the revenue to support its programs and maintain fiscal solvency.
• OA&sFS maintains a fully functioning staff, Board of Directors and volunteer pool.

To follow is a sample of the action items included in the plan:

• Conduct second annual symposium and include children and teens.
• Create a post-adoption evaluation for adoptive parents.
• Distinguish OA&sFS from other agencies that provide open adoption services, i.e., coin and promote a phrase that distinguishes OA&sFS open adoption from others.
• Send appropriate Open Page articles to adoption magazines and publications.
• Develop media contacts and increase media exposure by creating an ongoing system to offer a variety of media opportunities, including newspaper articles, letters to the editor, press releases, letters to local and national columnists. Use clients as resources to write articles or to be interviewed.
• Explore feasibility of providing resource materials at conferences for professionals that serve our constituents.
• Explore feasibility of presenting at conferences that provide continuing education credit for medical professionals.
• Send acknowledgement cards to birthparent referral sources and thank you notes to outreach contacts after meetings and presentations.
• Conduct research project.
• Explore working with birthparents in other states.
• Develop mentor program for birthmothers.

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OPEN ADOPTION COMMUNITY

The highlight of the Open Adoption Community project was the Lifegivers Conference for birthmothers, which was conducted in May at the Still Meadow Retreat Center in Clackamas, Oregon. The conference was sponsored by the agency and facilitated by Brenda Romanchik, a birthmother who placed her son for adoption 17 years ago in Michigan. This was the first Lifegivers Conference offered on the West coast; Brenda also facilitates a yearly conference in Michigan. The conference was funded primarily by grants and individual donors. One of the birthmothers who attended had this to say about the retreat: “It gave me more understanding about my relationship with my birthson and his adoptive parents.”

Efforts to build an open adoption community also moved into planning for a client survey project that will focus on identity formation in the children of open adoption and on the participants’ comfort in the adoption. The project will be implemented in fall 2002.

The third facet of the Open Adoption Community project is a symposium for adoptive parents, birthparents and adoptees, which was held Oct. 12, 2002. A survey to gather input for topics at the symposium was sent in February. After the results were tabulated, OA&sFS staff members began contacting potential presenters and by the end of the year, the agenda was set.

OUTREACH AND MARKETING

More than 800 people attended 33 presentations that were conducted by OA&sFS staff and volunteers throughout the year.

In the Seattle office, efforts were focused on Seattle, Everett, Tacoma, Renton, Federal Way and Olympia. Staff members networked with service providers at conferences for public health workers, medical assistants and youth service workers.

An indoor advertising campaign was implemented in April and will be displayed through the fall in King County restaurants, pubs and health clubs.

Perseverance and persistence paid off in Eugene when the first-ever training for the medical staff at Sacred Heart Medical Center was conducted. This training has been offered by OA&sFS staff every year for at least the last 10 years. This year, Regional Director Margaret Godfrey was successful and sessions were offered in May. Other noteworthy presentations were held at Oregon State University and Lane County Community College.

Margaret also began meeting with the newly-formed Eugene Advisory Committee, which is comprised of OA&sFS clients and community members.

Counselor/Mediator Susan Freeman’s outreach efforts in Southern Oregon were a major factor in growth for our Medford office. More adoptive parents than ever before found themselves driving to Southern Oregon to meet birthmothers—14% of placements took place there this year, as compared to 4% last year.

Executive Director Shari Levine conducted two high profile statewide presentations. In October, she presented to judges, attorneys, mediators and adoption workers. Along with birthmothers Gina Schmelling and Danessa Porshe, adoptive mothers Becky Larson and Claire Lematta and teen adoptee Chris Larson, Shari presented to foster care and adoptive parents, state adoption and CASA workers, attorneys and judges on the benefits of open adoption at the "Shoulder to Shoulder" conference in May.

Ongoing training with Planned Parenthood workers in the Portland area continued, and presentations were held for public health workers in Multnomah, Clatsop and Washington Counties. The session in Multnomah County, Oregon’s most populous county, is particularly notable since the more than 100 workers who attended were incredibly eager to present adoption to their clients.

We contacted the Interstate Compact Offices in states across the country to inquire about how to offer our services to birthparents nationwide. We hope to provide our progressive program to birthmothers who do not have access to open adoption services locally. Oregon and Washington are two of only five states that offer legally enforceable open adoption agreements to birthparents.

WEB SITE

The OA&sFS Web site now features a section just for birthparents. The new section was redesigned to include more comprehensive information for birthparents. Our indoor advertising campaign and new outreach poster complement the Web site.

The latest Web site information also includes “Dear Birthparent” letters from some of the families who hope to adopt through OA&sFS. By posting letters families significantly increase the number of birthparents considering them. As access to the Internet increases, this is an avenue that more birthparents are using. In fact, a birthmother recently contacted OA&sFS because she was immediately drawn to a family whose letter was posted on the Web site. Subsequently, she choose the family and a placement occurred.

MEDIA

The “Hear from Birthparents,” section of the Web site was created from the series of commercials that were placed on Portland radio station Jammin ’95 and KNRK-FM.

Word about open adoption and the services of OA&sFS were spread through articles in Adoptive Families magazine, Social Work Today magazine and the American Adoption Congress Newsletter.

This was a banner year for OA&sFS. Thanks to everyone who contributed to our success!

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The Year in Review

Total placements	57
Girls	37
Boys	20
Racial/ethnic background of children
African American	1
Asian	2
Caucasian	41
Hispanic	1
Mixed/bi-racial heritage	11
Age of children at placement
Newborn	51
1 week to 4 months	6
Other
Avg. age of adoptive parents	39
Avg. age of birthmother	23
Avg. age of birthfathers	26
Percentage of birthfathers involved	42
Average visits per year	3
Families who adopted for 2nd time through OA&sFS	5
Services
Calls from birthparents	301
Calls from adoptive parents	784
Prospective adoptive parents who attended free information meetings and seminars	326

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Thank You Volunteers!!

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The New Birthparent Outreach Poster