Finding Friday

David and Dawn have been happily married for 15 years, and anxiously look forward to the blessing and opportunity of being parents. David and Dawn love to have fun, stay active, travel, and each brings many great talents to their partnership. This couple has a large extended family, including several nieces and nephews. While they cherish their roles as Aunt and Uncle, their greatest desire is to become Mom and Dad.

To learn more about this great couple, and to share their information with anyone you know who may be considering adoption, please follow THIS link.

Changes to LDS Family Services Adoption Policy

LDSFS has had several policy changes regarding adoption services.

The following are applicable only for new clients as of August 1, 2010:

1. Couples must seek professional medical assessment and treatment for infertility prior to applying for an infant adoption. Documentation must be provided by a licensed medical physician.

2. A couple may apply for infant adoption if they have two of fewer children. A couple may apply for additional children through designated or special needs adoption.


The following changes are applicable with couples currently in the adoption process:

1. The Adoption Study Summary (home study) expires one year from the date of approval and must be updated with an addendum unless otherwise directed by local government regulations. a $300. fee will be charged for each Adoption Study Update. The adoption study fee will not be credited toward the placement fee.

2. When an adoptive couple transfers to another LDSFS office, a $300 fee to update the Adoptive Study Summary will be charged.

3. The Adoptive Study Summary must be completed and approved within one year of acceptance as a client or the file will be closed.

Q&A- Some questions that have already been asked about the policy change:

Q: There are women who can not have, or have been advised by a doctor not to have, children (or additional children) for reasons other than infertility, will such individuals still be able to adopt through LDSFS?

A: Yes. Such situations will be considered on a case by case bases.

Q: If a couple having no (or any number of) children has a designated adoption, will they still be required to have the medical assessment for infertility?

A: They will still need a medical assessment for the purpose of good health, but not for fertility.

***If you have any questions regarding the policy changes please e-mail us and we will forward your questions to the adoption manager for clarification.

Adoption Training Meeting

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

7:00 pm-8:00 pm

Del Mar Stake Center

12701 Torrey Bluff Drive

San Diego, CA 92130

We will be covering the following topics:

"San Diego County Foster Care"

and

"Foster-to-Adopt (2 yrs and under)"

This meeting is for anyone who is interested in adoption, has been, or currently is involved in the adoption process, and all adoption advocates.

***For couples currently in the adoption process, this class can be applied to the required hours of adoption training.

National FSA Conference Recap (Adoptive Parent Perspective)

I was very lucky to be able to attend the national FSA conference in Layton, UT this summer. The theme was, "Together by Divine Design." They offered a wide range of classes. I attended the following classes:

1. Raising a multi-racial family
2. FSA leadership training
3. Film: Living on the fault line: where race and family meet
4. Latent racism and racial socialization
5."Whole Story:" A panel that shared their adoption story from the perspective of the adoptive parents, birth parents, birth grandparents, and caseworkers.
6. Communication with birth parents:The Secret to a successful open adoption
7. Transracial adoption panel
8. Birth parent panel

As you can see, I was very anxious to attend every class I could about transracial adoption. I have adopted bi-racial and African American children, and will be teaching the adoption training on transracial adoption in January.

There were so many other classes touching on so many different aspect of adoption. I wish I could have attended them all.

For me, the best parts of the conference were the birth parent panel and the keynote address. Every time I have attended a meeting or conference regarding adoption, there seems to always be at least one moment where the spirit of the Lord is truly tangible and is very sacred. I felt that way during each of these events.

The Keynote address way given by former BYU football player, current BYU quarterbacks coach, and father of four adopted children, Brandon Doman.

His address, as well as some of the other classes and handouts from the conference will be available to view soon on the national FSA website, so if you have not yet officially joined FSA, be sure to do so.

I loved meeting so many wonderful people, finding strength in each other, acquiring so many wonderful new resources to apply to FSA and to my own adoptive family, and I must say, the food was amazing!!!. I was able to learn so much more about everyone in the adoption triad and see in greater detail how the Lord is very much in support of, and so perfectly directing the marvelous work of adoption.

Oh, and I was lucky enough to get to know and spend a lot of the conference with a remarkable woman who was a writer for the church news, so that is how our little chapter got our 15 minutes of fame in this article.

Anyone is welcome to attend the conference, so please mark your calendar for next year. The conference will be at the Davis Conference Center in Layton, UT July 29th-30th, 2011.

Pass Through Funds

During our last adoption training meeting, a few questions were asked regarding "pass-through expenses."

According to LDSFS, "Adoptive couples may agree to pay pass-through expenses incurred by the birth mother during the pregnancy and up to ninety (90) days post-partum. Pass-through expenses are expenses submitted by a birth mother to the agency for reimbursement and passed-through to the adoptive couple for payment. Pass-through expenses are limited by applicable law and regulation and not to exceed $3000. Medical expenses are to be covered by the adoption fee."

If you choose to pay pass-through expenses, you will pay the full $3000. to your caseworker when you submit your final adoption fees (at the time of placement.) After 90 days, any unused part of that $3000.00 will be returned to the adoptive couple.

When searching through couple profiles, a birth parent will not see if you have offered to pay for pass-through expenses or not. However; if a birth mother requires the additional financial assistance, a caseworker will aid the birth parents in narrowing their search to couples who have stated that they are able to pay the pass-through expenses. As such, if you are able to pay the pass-through expenses, your profile becomes available to many more birth parents.

If you have any further questions about pass-through expenses, or any other adoption related topics, please e-mail us.