Warm Regards,  

 

Marketing Update          

 Outreach News 

To educate others about open adoption and services available at our    agency, OA&FS staff conduct outreach presentations and free trainings throughout the region year-round. In doing this, they form important relationships that benefit all who receive services from OA&FS. 

• Portland counselor Sari Prevost, spoke to a family development class at Concordia University on October 8. She presented an informative and deeper look at adoption as a pregnancy option and engaged the 20 students in discussion about the prevailing misconceptions about adoption. The students were very interested and shared personal stories and asked insightful questions.
• On November 5, Seattle counselor Courtney Moscariello met with 17 members of the Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest Teen Council in Everett, Washington. These students were very interested in learning about open adoption. They spent time with Courtney discussing some of the more complex issues in adoption, learning about empowering adoption language, and hearing sample stories.
• On November 6, Seattle counselor Courtney Moscariello met with 15 staff members of Auburn Youth Resources in Auburn, Washington at their weekly staff meeting. Courtney presented information about open adoption and options counseling services. Staff were especially interested in OA&FS' ability to work with clients as an alternative to CPS involvement or an involuntary state adoption. Courtney used an activity to help staff picture all members of the triad, and how openness can positively benefit each of them in the long-term.
• On November 7, Seattle counselor Courtney Moscariello presented to two resident doctors and two other staff members working with the teen pregnancy clinic at Providence St. Peter Family Medicine in Olympia, Washington. Courtney provided information on open adoption, options counseling services, OA&FS' services and values, and went through an activity that uses sample vignettes to depict the range of joys, challenges, and benefits of open adoption.
• On November 7, Eugene counselor Irie Hoffman presented information about Open Adoption & Family Services and open adoption in general, to three classes of Intro to Human Services at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon. Irie was asked to speak as a Human Services professional but the students (made up of traditional and non-traditional students) were particularly interested in the OA&FS program and each step of the process. A number of students approached Irie afterwards asking for contact information and expressed wishes that they would have known about OA&FS when they faced untimely pregnancies in their past.
• On November 8, Portland counselor Katie Woodward presented to three students at Portland Community College in Portland, Oregon. The students are enrolled in the teen parent program and were interested in learning about open adoption. After the presentation, they said they felt more equipped and comfortable talking about options counseling and open adoption with their peers.
• On November 9, Seattle counselor Heather Goldy attended the annual Microsoft Adoption Fair in Redmond, Washington. She spoke to approximately 20 prospective adoptive parents and also participated in a panel discussion on adoption. OA&FS was the only agency at the fair that truly represented the full spectrum of openness.
• On November 13, Eastern Oregon counselor Angie Lunde presented information about our services to five new nurses at the Umatilla County Health Department. These nurses work in the clinic with women who have just learned they are pregnant and at the school based health center in Pendleton, Oregon.  Though our brochures have been on display at this public health department, these women were grateful to learn the story behind the brochures. One of the things that most impressed them was that our data verifies that we provide no pressure options counseling.  The nurses left the training with enough knowledge about our agency services to confidently refer women to us. 
• On November 14, Executive Director Shari Levine presented to 15 students at the Birthingway Midwifery College in Portland.  The students were extremely knowledgeable and asked great questions about our open adoption process. It was clear that they wanted to equip themselves with extensive information regarding pregnancy options that would be helpful to their future patients.  
• On November 14, Seattle counselor Heather Goldy led a discussion about open adoption and options counseling techniques to four social workers at Multicare Auburn Medical Center in Auburn, Washington. The providers asked many questions about the current way adoption works and seemed to most appreciate the information about how OA&FS counselors can assist in providing options counseling to their patients. 
• On November 14, Portland counselor Katie Woodward attended a presentation hosted by the Early Childhood Learning Community in Gresham, Oregon. In addition to learning about ways to support parents who have experienced trauma, Katie passed out OA&FS' options counseling and open adoption brochures to five social workers who work with parenting and pregnant women and couples.
• On November 15, Portland counselor Katie Woodward presented to six professionals in Silverton, Oregon. The group, ranging from dental hygienists to school nurses to volunteers at the local high school, was interested in learning more about open adoption and ongoing open adoption relationships. All participants said they felt better educated on the topic and prepared to share OA&FS' information and resources with others in the community.
• On November 18, Seattle counselor Courtney Moscariello presented to the Peer Mentoring class at The Northwest School in Seattle, Washington. The 22 students were very engaged in the presentation, asking thoughtful questions throughout. They learned about open adoption, empowering language, and went through scenarios using their new knowledge to "practice" talking with others. The students were especially interested and surprised by the statistics regarding teen pregnancy and pregnancy choices.
• On November 20, Seattle counselor Maria Villegas joined Amara, Seattle Neufeld Community, and Adoptive Friends and Family of Greater Seattle (AFFGS) at Giddens School Adoption Night, organized by adoptive parent April Rauch. Adoption night is an evening dedicated to providing information to the community on adoption, parenting support, and education for adoptive parents. Maria was happy to represent the open adoption community at this wonderful event.
• On November 20, Portland counselor Katie Woodward conducted a pregnancy options workshop for six service providers and managers at Multnomah County's Health Department. All participants were given tools to use in options counseling, information about each pregnancy option, and an extensive packet of OA&FS materials. They were receptive and eager to meet with clients and use OA&FS as a referral for those interested in planning an open adoption. OA&FS appreciates having a close connection with the Multnomah County Health Department and hopes to provide additional trainings and presentations in the near future.
• On November 25, Seattle counselor Courtney Moscariello presented information about open adoption to three new employees of Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest. Employees practiced using empowering language to discuss the option of adoption while providing accurate information during role plays with partners. They asked many great questions and appreciated having an updated view of adoption.
• On November 25 and 26, Eugene counselor Irie Hoffman presented information about Open Adoption and OA&FS specifically, to four different health classes at Thurston High School as a part of their "3 Options" series in which all the options available to women facing an untimely pregnancy are discussed. Each class contained between 25 and 30 Junior students and all of the students participated in exercises around adoption beliefs, discussed the effects of specific circumstances on their beliefs and asked thoughtful questions based on their own experiences with adoption. Irie finished each class with two videos from the new DVD and many students were surprised at how "easy" and "loving" open adoption relationships can be.  

Gatherings 

Attending gatherings is an important way to be better equipped  and prepared for adoption. Plus you get the benefits of developing friendships within the OA&FS community!  We look forward to seeing you.

Portland

Date: Wednesday, December 11, 6:30-8:00 pm

Topic: "Struggling with the wait". The struggle is relative to each person's experience, but in the group everyone will be invited to share their feelings and thoughts, hopes and fears (whether sad or happy, hopeless or hopeful).

Where: Portland OA&FS office, 5200 SW Macadam Ave., #250. Please RSVP to Lori Maas at lori@openadopt.org  by Monday December 9. 

Feel free to bring a small snack or drink to share.

Eugene & Seattle   

Out of State Waiting Families

Date:Tuesday, December 17, from 4-6:00 pm PST.  

Topic: This month's meeting will be facilitated by Seattle counselor, Maria Villegas, and will be an opportunity to ask any questions that are on your mind. As always, there will be time to check in generally as well about how each of you are doing.  

Teleconference Instructions: The OA&FS conference call-in room number is 530-881-1000, use participant code 252531#. Please RSVP to Lori Maas at lori@openadopt.org. 

Check out the following community events and resources    organized by other OA&FS adoptive parents in your area:

Portland

Portland Adoptive Families group will not hold a potluck this month, but will resume getting together in January. 

Announcements

Congratulations: 

• On October 29, adoptive parents Sofia and Gebhard Miguel, birthmother Kaleigh and her family welcomed Matthew and Jacob Miguel into their family. Sofia, Gebhard, and Kaleigh were brought together by Kaleigh's aunt and uncle. Kaleigh's uncle is a cherished friend of Sofia and Gebhard's, and was also the officiant at their wedding years ago. While they met through their uncle, they developed their own connection over the past few months, and all eagerly awaited the arrival of Jacob and Matthew. At the hospital, Jacob and Matthew were doted on by everyone, and all were fortunate to have two weeks together before Sofia, Gebhard, Jacob and Matthew headed back home to Washington. While Kaleigh and family live across the country in Massachusetts, all are confident their relationship will continue to grow and deepen. Kaleigh already has travel plans and thanks to modern technology, other "visits" are easily done through FaceTime . . . which they already use often. Additionally, Sofia and Gebhard look forward to nurturing a relationship with Jacob and Matthew's birth cousin who lives in the area. All look forward to building many more family memories.

• After time spent building a beautiful open adoption relationship with their daughter's birthmother and family, Molly and Dave Hayden were present as their daughter entered the world on November 24. The hospital was filled with oohs and aahhs over Corazon Jane Louise's perfection. Prior to leaving, everyone contributed to a thoughtful entrustment ceremony and there were tears, joy and confidence that they are officially family!

•  On the first of December Kacy and Marcus Hendrickson didn't expect to start the morning with a 4 a.m. phone call letting them know birthmother Katelynn was in labor. They quickly got their belongings together and raced up to Portland for the birth. After 20+ hours of labor Kacy and Marcus met their son Jaxson Anthony Norman Hendrickson for the first time. They all spent as much time as they could together while caring for Jaxson. When the day for entrustment came Kacy and Marcus honored Katelynn with a beautiful necklace with the letter "J" so that she would always have a memento of Jaxson close to her heart. As everyone left the hospital they all expressed excitement and hope to see each other a lot over the coming weeks, months, and years. 

OA&FS News & Resources

Shutterfly books online viewer issue resolved.  

Recently there were technical issues with the online viewing functions for Shutterfly family books. We're happy to report that after countless interactions with their tech support team, all of the Shutterfly books are now working properly. 

To recap, Shutterfly made changes to their programming in October that had the unanticipated side effect of breaking book viewers embedded into third party websites. They were not aware of this issue until we brought it to their attention. We were very active in troubleshooting with Shutterfly, and pushed them to develop a solution sooner rather than later. Since this viewer technology is not controlled by OA&FS, we're dependent on vendors to be responsive when problems arise. During these Shutterfly interactions, we never let them forget the importance of this exposure to our families, and their obligations to follow through on the promised features of their product. And we'll do the same in the future if need arises.

In tandem with this, some of the Blurb books have also had malfunctioning viewers. We're following the same protocol, and will not stop until Blurb fixes their code. Thanks to those of you who've provided your account info to Lori for both Shutterfly and Blurb. We appreciate your willingness to help, and your Zen-like patience.

Screening Calls

A few of you have called in with concerns about the lack of screening emails since early summer (June/July). Rest assured that we continue to receive a record number of intake calls every month (38 calls in September, 36 in October and 28 in November).  

You haven't heard about these cases because drug and alcohol exposure, mental/developmental health concerns and medical conditions have all fallen within the "none" to "mild" categories. Therefore, we have been able to send your letter out to every pregnant woman or couple that calls us without screening you first. (Reminder: We screen families when we are working on a "moderate" or "severe" case when the family has marked "moderate" or "severe" on their screening tool).  

Since screening emails are often a reminder that things are happening over here, we highly recommend you reach out to your counselor if you're feeling weary or concerned. We are here and happy to update you on everything that's going on!  

It's holiday party time!

A highlight of our holiday season is spending time with the OA&FS open adoption community! Lori is ready to receive your RSVPs at lori@openadopt.org. Please let her know if you're coming by the Monday prior to each event.

EUGENE HOLIDAY PARTY BEING RESCHEDULED! 

Due to weather forecasts predicting a significant amount of the snow, the Eugene holiday gathering is being rescheduled for January 11, and will be held at Bounce Gymnastics. Look for details in next month's bulletin. We look forward to seeing you there!

The OA&FS Portland community will get together for the holidays on Sunday, December 15 from 2-4 pm. Kaye Abramowitz, (wife of board member Roy), has graciously donated space for our community to gather at the Ater Wynne offices in the Pearl District, 1331 NW Lovejoy St. Ste. 900. Presto the Magician was such a hit last year, he's coming back with his bag full of fun and tricks. We're looking forward to hearing the kids belly laugh, and visiting with everyone.  

Some Portland party notes ... there's generally street parking available around our location. However, if you'd prefer a parking garage there's one connected to the Ater Wynne building. The entrance to this is on NW 14th between Lovejoy and Marshall. Please don't park on the third floor - this is reserved for Safeway customers.    

Please join us Saturday, January 11 from 11 am to 2 pm at the 2100 building for the Seattle Holiday festivities. Xakary the Magician will make an appearance from 12:15 to 1:00 pm so don't be too late! We will also have our usual array of trucks, trains, blocks, books, and stuffed animals in our play area. This is a wonderful opportunity for families new and old to connect. Looking forward to catching up with your family!   

Adoption Related Events 

Path to Parenthood Though 

Open Adoption.  

This work group provides a place for learning and support with your process of pursuing open adoption. 

Contact: Michele Greco, Mindful Somatic Coaching, michele@michelegreco.com, 503-880-4868.

When: Wednesday, January 8, 2014, from 7-8:30 pm  

Where: Legacy Emanuel Hospital, Medical Office Building 2 (501 N. Graham).  Look for NAFA signs -- park in Parking Structure 2.  

Topics: Guest speakers and NAFA volunteers present on various topics: Transitioning Baby and Child Home, Baby Sign Language, Infant and Child Safety, Adoptive Family Panels, Behavioral Issues Related to Adoption, and How and When to talk to Your Child About Adoption. Meetings are free for anyone interested.  

Contact: nafawait@gmail.com, or 503-819-5209.