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2002-2003 Annual Report

Open Adoption & Family Services continues to lead the Northwest adoption community in the number of domestic infant placements and in its emphasis on progressive and child-centered adoptions. Fiscal year 2002-2003 was a productive and exciting year for the agency. Below are a few highlights. The goals and actions listed here are part of a five-year strategic plan created by staff and board in late 2001.

Goal: Strengthen program services for all clients. Continue fostering open adoption community.

Actions:

• Created and implemented tools to help adoptive parents assess their readiness for transracial and toddler adoption.
• Created and implemented a post-adoption evaluation for adoptive parents, as well as a section of the web site featuring adoptive parent advice and insight as gleaned from the evaluations. The agency also revised its post-adoption evaluation for birthparents.
• Incorporated presentations by adopted children into the pre-adoption seminar that is mandatory for all prospective adoptive parents. This action was taken in response to clients’ desire to hear more often and more directly from adoptees. To this end, the agency also added a kids’ section, featuring the opinions and talents of children of open adoption, to the Open Page newsletter.
• Created a committee to enhance services to birthfathers and to increase birthfather participation in open adoption. Interviewed birthfathers to assess their perspectives and needs, and created new counseling materials. With $3,000 awarded by Portland’s Collins Foundation, OAF&S will create a new birthfather brochure.
• Formed a committee to create new counseling materials for birth grandparents.
• Created a birthparent mentor group.
• Designed and began using thank you and sympathy cards appropriate for volunteers, outreach contacts, and clients facing disruptions.
• Thanks to the support of individual donors, the agency held its second annual symposium for clients in the fall (attended by 120 people) and its second annual Lifegivers Festival celebrating and connecting birthmothers in the spring.
• Conducted and distributed the client survey “Emotional Intelligence in the Children of Open Adoption.” Thank you to the 171 birthmothers, adoptive parents and children who participated. (The study was released in the Summer 2003 Open Page newsletter and is available on the agency’s web site.) The study contributes important data to the under-researched field of open adoption, especially by providing direct input from adopted children. In addition, the survey lays the foundation for an advanced relationship skills workshop for clients to be offered in February 2004.

Goal: Develop an advertising and marketing campaign to promote the mission and services of OA&sFS.

Actions:

• Began using the phrases, “The Pioneers of Adoption in the Northwest” and “Call the Experts,” for phone book ads and other materials, in order to distinguish the agency from others.
• Worked with the media to generate coverage of adoption-related issues. Successes included a stunning photo and narrative essay chronicling birthmom Marcia Foster’s placement with adoptive parents Judi and Paul Bulski in the Oct. 27, 2002, issue of The Columbian newspaper. Other wonderful open adoption-related pieces included two stories about birthfather involvement in The Oregonian newspaper, and a teen pregnancy series in The Chronicle, (Centralia, Washington’s newspaper).

Goal: Develop an outreach plan to promote the mission and services of OA&sFS.

Action:

• As is done every year, the agency mailed thousands of outreach packets and placed hundreds of phone calls to social service organizations, schools, crisis pregnancy centers and other types of agencies. Areas of particular emphasis in fiscal year 2002-2003 included public health workers, hospital social workers and leaders of progressive churches.
• OA&sFS has always recognized public health workers as a key audience for OA&sFS’ philosophy and ser vices. However, the profession has traditionally been hard to reach because of busy schedules and the deluge of trainings offered them. Thanks to a mail campaign and tireless phone calling by Executive Director Shari Levine, OA&sFS made significant in-roads into the Oregon and Washington public health communities in 2002-2003. Below is a list of the major trainings:

Month	Group	# Participants
July	Multnomah County	100
Sept.	First Steps/Washington	600
Feb.	Oregon mass mailing	550
March	Multnomah County	20
March	Reproductive Health Conf.	79
April	Teen Sexuality Conf.	75
May	Clackamas County	40
May	Washington County	35

• Reached out to hospital social workers, offering adoption options trainings and guidance crafting hospital policies regarding adoption. Hospital employees are important to OA&sFS’ work because many birthparents are referred by them.
• Leaders of progressive churches have been another long-time target of OA&sFS outreach. The All Options Clergy Counseling Task Force and Planned Parenthood of Western Washington teamed up for a clergy training in November; OA&sFS was asked to be a presenter. In addition, the event’s organizer, Rev. Monica Corsaro, provided OA&sFS with her mailing list of progressive congregations in Oregon and Washington.
• Expanded OA&sFS’ web site to include “Dear Birthparent” letters and the capacity to accept online donations. Several major new sections of the web site were launched, including information and resources for adopted children, birthfathers, birth grandparents and professionals working with prospective birthparents or adoptive parents. If you haven’t seen the site lately, please check it out at www.openadopt.org.

Birth grandmother Cyndi, birthmother Jacque, adoptive dad Raven & son Donnelly at Seattle's Picnic.

Thank You, Volunteers!

For sharing your stories, your time, and your hearts. You keep our open adoption community vibrant and thriving.