Giving more children adoptive families

I spent a chunk of time this weekend watching the A&E documentary series The Day I Picked my Parents, which follows ten children in Los Angeles foster care as they look for adoptive families through the Kidsave Weekend Miracles program.

For those who don't know, we were the DC Weekend Miracles program for five years before we became Family & Youth Initiative. So the A&E series took me back to our roots. Foster care in Los Angeles has significant differences from foster care here; those play out in how Weekend Miracles varied between the two jurisdictions. But it was great to see this program get more exposure.

I am in awe of young people who allowed a camera crew follow them throughout this process of trying to find a family. They, and the adults, were so open and vulnerable. It isn't often that others get an intimate look at what it is like for a teen (most of them are teens) to meet new adults and make a decision - both whether to be adopted and who they want as their adoptive parents. Not all of the teens decide to be adopted; the series illustrates how birth family loyalty can affect these decisions (even sometimes with prospective adoptive families who were supportive of maintaining birth family connections).

To be honest, it is never fully accurate to say that children "pick" their parents. Foster care agencies have to approve all placements. But the premise of the series is that Weekend Miracles is a revolutionary program. It is. There are very few like it across the country.

I hope people will see it and that some will be drawn in by the teens (who like DCFYIers are wonderful young people) and decide that maybe they too can host or adopt. Wonderful teens are waiting.

I hope you will watch. I would love to know what you think when you do.

As always, thank you for support that allows us to continue helping teens locally find their parents,
Susan

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Upcoming Events

Please join us for:

• Kickball, Saturday September 21, 1 PM;
• Cook Out, Saturday October 12, 2 PM;
• Fall Festival, Saturday October 26, 1 PM.

Information and RSVP links on the website calendar.

Get to know DCFYI teens; talk to adult volunteers; get involved. We look forward to seeing you.

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Have you bought your tickets yet?

Only two weeks away!

Establishing Roots is DCFYI's annual fundraiser. Always a fun evening - good conversation, food and drink, a silent auction, and a short program (highlight of which is always hearing from one of the DCFYI teens). The funds raised at Establishing Roots are a critical part of our funding base - allowing us to continue serving teens in foster care for the year to come.

Please come, bring a friend (or three!), and help ensure that more teens have caring adults in their lives! Thank you.

                         Buy your tickets today!

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Thank You

To Ron Clements, author of Home Run on Wheels, for a fun afternoon watching the Washington Nationals play and for using his platform to call attention to - and encourage more people to get involved with - children in foster care and organizations like DCFYI.

The individuals who are working on TWO program evaluation projects for DCFYI this fall.

For a course in project evaluation, a PhD student from the University of Maryland will develop an evaluation plan for at least one aspect of our programming.

A George Washington University Trachtenberg School team selected DCFYI for their "Capstone" project. They will be assessing and giving us recommendations for recruitment of volunteers, especially host and adoptive parents. They look forward to meeting current and past volunteers through a series of focus groups they'll be holding in October.

We are grateful to both and know their help will help improve our programming and make our efforts more effective.