Finding Friday: Pass Along Cards

{Finding Idea: Create and pass out pass along cards.}

Photographers Kim Orlandini and Leisha Kelsey give some fantastic information on selecting perfect photos for Internet profiles, collages and pass along cards.

When selecting photos these are things to consider:

• Is my subject close enough?
• What is the first thing I think of when I see this photograph?
• Does this photograph tell a story?
• What do I like about it?
• What do I dislike about it?
• What about lighting?
• Does the clothing distract?

These are guidelines they suggested when taking photos:

• Move in close to the subject.
• Eliminate distractions from around the the subjects.
• Get on level with the subject.
• Employ the "Rule of Thirds."

Here are a few ideas when it comes to sharing pass along cards. Please share any others you may have in the comments.

• Slip one in any letter or bill that you send out
• Holiday cards: New Years, Valentine’s, Fourth of July
• Hang them up where’er you go: grocery stores, apartment complexes, car washes, community bulletin boards, etc.
• Keep them handy in your wallet or purse.
• Staying in tune for opportunities to share!
• Asking trusted family and friends to share them as well.
• Leave a pass along card with your bill at restaurants.
• If you see a “business card” drop box, drop one in.
• If someone asks about your family, pull out a “family photo” conveniently disguised as a pass along card and leave it with them. Perfect opportunity to talk about your desire to adopt.
• Don’t be afraid, even if you don’t feel comfortable sharing your own story, share the agency cards!
• Email Pass Along Card to everyone in your address book, ask to forward it on!

Kim and Leisha were kind enough to share some of their card designs with all of us. The wording that they used on the cards is wonderful if you are thinking about making pass along cards for yourself. If you are interested in some of their designs, please email Leisha Kelsey Design.

Traditional Designs

Contemporary Designs

Fourth Sheet Information Cards

The information on the above fourth sheet is wonderful in helping your family and friends know how to specifically help your finding efforts.

Hi everyone. We wanted to give you a little update on what is happening with our adoption. We are just waiting (sometimes even patiently). they say the average wait is three years, which hopefully means we are half way there!

We have grown to love adoption and wanted to remind you about Designated Adoption. Designated adoption is when the birthparents and adoptive parents find each other through a third party. We hope that you will keep us in mind if there is anyone you know who is considering placing their child. Feel free to tell the birthparent(s) and adoptive family about each other; sharing information such as first names, personality traits, talents, hobbies, interests, goals, education and involvement with extended family. We would love to share our profile with anyone who s interested. Just let us know and we'll get you a copy.

We are always willing to talk about our adoption and give you more information, feel free to ask us anytime. you or the birthparent(s) may also contact our caseworker of LDS Family Services at any time to request information, including adoption planning. Thank you for your love and support!

Name and Phone Number of Case Worker

Your blog, personal website or internet profile address.

2010 Outstanding Service Awards

The 2010 Outstanding Service Award Winners

Oregon Chapter

The members of the Oregon FSA Board were a vital key to the success of the FSA West and Idaho Regional Conference which was held in Portland, Oregon in November 2009. Throughout a year of continual change and reorganization within LDS Family Services and FSA, Oregon board members maintained their focus and desire to provide a conference of the highest quality and caliber fir attendees. As plans expanded for the conferences to host not just the original 3 chapters but all 17 FSA chapters within the West and Idaho region, they willingly and with unlimited energy dedicated hundreds of volunteer hours to meet the challenge. Despite the year-long preparation and numerous responsibilities added to those already required of them to keep their chapter running well, the enthusiasm and dedication of those involved never waned. They recognized the potential such a conference presented to touch the heart and lives of each member of the adoption triad--adoptive families, birth families and adoptees alike.

Nevada Chapter

The Nevada chapter of Families Supporting Adoption has become part of LDS Families Services' team in delivering quality service. They created a Birth Parent Support and Outreach committee to mentor and provide support for expectant and birth parents, plan activities to include all birth parents, reach out to stakes and community with outreach, and facilitate support groups. They also created a volunteer committee responsible for language interpreters, notary services, and witnesses for relinquishments. They volunteered time to set up displays for adoption month in November and delivered baskets to local hospitals for social work month. They also planned many well planned and attended activities throughout the year. These are just a few of the many accomplishments of the Nevada chapter in the past year.

Logan, Utah Chapter

The Logan FSA Chapter's activities and accomplishments for 2010: They held many activities throughout the year including Girls Night Out, playgroups, Couples in Waiting FHE, temple sessions, Couples Date Night, Summer BBQ, parade float, Fun Run, UAC and others. They provided many services for birth parents: treats for group meetings, bags for birth parents, outreach and Birth Mother's Day celebrations. They actively support legislation, meet monthly for brainstorming meetings and make sure everyone is involved and informed about upcoming events and activities. The Logan FSA chapter is indispensable to our Logan LDSFS. They are committed and excited to serve and enlist others to participate.

Provo, Utah Chapter

For the past several years, the Provo FSA Chapter has hosted a birth mother appreciation walk on Birth Mother's Day. It is widely advertised and well attended. FSA members spend countless hours planning and preparing to make this a special day to celebrate birth parents everywhere. Treats, games, breakfast, fire trucks and a visit with Cosmo make this a fun day for everyone.

Doug & Marianne Zaugg, Colorado Chapter

The Colorado FSA has exploded in the last year. After Doug & Marianne Zaugg attended the 2009 National Conference, a fire was lit. FSA became part of Colorado's Adoption Council which originally consisted only of the adoption caseworker, Kelly Stohl and Lynn, the administrative assistant. The addition of FSA to the team made Kelly's work lighter and more open to birth parent work. Where their FSA Board was basically non-existent, they now have 8 couples. FSA has taken on orientation, organizing temple sessions, planned a very successful regional conference and more especially gained a testimony of adoption and support. The original 6 couples on the board have now all been placed with. Because of Doug and Marianne's hard work and Kelly Stohl's passion, FSA members now feel a commitment to their program. They have a fabulous FSA community.

Todd & Rebecca Harrison, West Region Chairs

Todd & Rebecca chaired the very successful two day FSA Regional Adoption Conference "Adoption by Design" in November 2009, which was held in Portland, Oregon and was attended by approximately 170 people. This conference included FSA chapters in Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Idaho, California and Hawaii. This conference made a significant impact on many families and individuals including adoptive families and birthparents and their families. Todd & Rebecca recently traveled to Seattle and Spokane in support of local FSA chapters, have joined in bridge calls with adoption managers in coordinating FSA chapter efforts, have also worked directly with local FSA chapter leaders in providing support, training and encouragement and developed a conference "template" to assist other FSA groups and chapters in the organization of their annual conferences.

Tawnia Singleton, Seattle Advisor
Tara Larsen, Seattle Advisor

This last year, Tawnia Singleton and Tara Larsen's wealth of experience and knowledge of adoption gave them the unique ability to strengthen FSA in the areas of Education & Outreach. First, they developed an Education Program for Adoptive Couples which has the potential to greatly improve the relationship and overall adoption experience between adoptive families and birth families. These education programs are currently being used as part of the required education program in Seattle and Tawnia and Tara are teaching them to other FSA Chapters as invited. Second, they developed an Adoption Outreach Presentation which can be used to teach adoption in high schools, middle schools institute, or even Young Men and Young Women's classes as appropriate. Tawnia and Tara trained those who attended the meeting to present it. It was an outstanding presentation that also has the added bonus of being easily adapted for use by other agencies in a different state. Those in attendance for the training consisted of adoptive couples, stake specialists and birthmothers as well.

Mike Todd, Canada

Mike Todd has worked tirelessly over many years to further the success of adoption in Canada. He has served birth parents and adoptive parents alike. He has been instrumental in developing positive relationships between private agencies and government departments, especially in British Columbia. He has encouraged the growth of FSA. He has taught and trained agency birth parent reps across Canada and FSA representatives in British Columbia. He has blessed the lives of many families and his influence will continue to be felt through those he has trained and mentored. This award is presented in recognition of his sincere and effective efforts to teach, lift and inspire others, and for the very significant effect he has had upon the work of adoption in Canada.

The 2010 Outstanding Service Award

Q & A: Adopting Children from Foster Care

Questions and Answers: Adopting Children from Foster Care

By Brenda Horrocks, Licensed Foster Parent



Q: We would like to adopt a non-infant child. What is the best way to go about this?

A: My suggestion is to become a licensed foster parent. This will benefit you in many ways:

1. You will have more opportunities for adoption. Foster parents are usually chosen to adopt the child in their care if the court decides to terminate parental rights.
2. Once you are licensed, the state will share your home study with other states. So you can try to find your little one by becoming a foster parent, while at the same time looking at waiting children online to see if anyone is a good fit. (State laws on sharing home studies may vary.)
3. Fostering and the training you receive will provide you with important skills and knowledge that will help you assist your new child in adjusting to a new home. The experience you gain will also prepare you to better help your child with any issues he or she may be dealing with.
4. In the state of Utah, if a child is age five or under, the parents are given only a certain number of months to get their act together before they lose their rights. The judge can always issue a little more time, but federal laws also apply, so the wait can't go on and on forever.
5. Fostering different children may help you get to know the age that is right for your family.
6. Being a foster parent comes with a few perks. The state sends you money each month to help you take care of the child. In Utah, a child under age five is automatically eligible for WIC services, and when you do adopt, your own attorney’s fees will be reimbursed to you. In the end you pay nothing, and the state has "paid" you for your time in caring for your child. These are just perks—money is no reason to become a foster parent.

You will learn more about the help the state can give you to take care of children as you go through training. This assistance will vary from state to state.


Q: We would like to adopt a young child through our state, but we are worried about how we will handle it if we have say good-bye to the child. How do you handle saying good-bye?

A: There is no easy way to say good-bye to a child you love. We were scared about that too and thought we couldn't handle it. We have now said good-bye to two infants who were in our home six and eight months. The first time was really hard, but it was a little easier the second time around. I can now see that the Lord had a plan for each of these babies and that they needed to go back to their families. Their parents are not A+ parents; they are more like C or D parents—but I know the Lord has a plan for each of these children.

Some things that helped us in saying good-bye:

1. We developed a friendly relationship with our foster babies’ parents, and so after they returned to their families, we were still able to find out how they were doing. We even had the opportunity to see one of our foster babies again and to have him at our home overnight.
2. We realized that even thought it was hard to say good-bye, we were thankful for the opportunity to love these children, and we realized that we helped give them a good start. The pain of good-bye was worth it because we got to know them and love them.
3. We connected with others who understood. Blogging about our experience was especially helpful.
4. We kept special little keepsakes to remember our foster babies and our experiences together.

Saying good-bye is hard, but it is important to not let fear get in the way of your family-building efforts. The Lord will help you through your grief.


Q: We are licensed foster parents and would like to adopt a waiting child. What do we do?

A: In Utah, once you are licensed you can contact the Utah Adoption Exchange and let them know what you are looking for. They could be a huge help to you. You can view Utah's waiting children at THIS link. You don't typically see children five years or younger on this site. Because of the way foster care works in Utah (which has better laws than probably any other state), now children age five or younger are usually adopted without needing Utah Adoption Exchange services because most of them are adopted by their foster parents or a family who is already in the system.

Each state has its own way of doing things. If you live outside of Utah, please contact your state’s division of child/family services or find your local heart gallery (waiting children from Utah are listed here also): http://www.heartgalleryofamerica.org/Galleries/default.asp .

Finding Friday: Adoption Open House/Kick Off Party

{Finding Idea: Have an Adoption Kick Off Party}

Hold an adoption open house/special meeting/kick off:

• Invite family and friends to come and listen to an FSA volunteer or an LDS Family Services caseworker give an outreach presentation.
• Explain adoption and how your family and friends can help you connect with a birth family.
• Have a laptop running your adoption web pages so your family and friends can see them first hand.
• Pass out information packets.