February 22, 2006
Adoption stories: If these walls could talk
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Twenty Child and Family Services of Northwest Michigan board and staff members as well as interested community members gathered a week ago Friday for a luncheon program on adoption.
"If These Walls Could Talk: Adoption Stories" featured a snapshot of agency programs that serve children and families in a 12-county region. The program discussed special needs and infant adoption programs as well as a brief overview of the agency's foster care program.
Todd Endresen opened the meeting by sharing his quest to find his biological parents after he and his twin sister were adopted at 4 1/2 weeks old in 1967. Passionate about adoption, Endresen serves on the board of Child and Family Services in Traverse. Ironically, he and his sister were placed by a small private agency in New Jersey with a parallel history and mission to Child and Family Services.
Because of his personal experience being adopted, he is a strong advocate for whatever it takes to facilitate positive adoptions, whether open as is common today or closed, the paradigm when Endresen was adopted.
"There's no shortage of families who would want to adopt and care for babies," he said. "Birth parents can feel good about that people who are adopting today are screened and very wanting of these kids."
Executive director Jim Scherrer outlined the agency's history, which dates back to 1931 when it Dr. Mark Osterlin founded it. A pediatrician in town who was an advocate for children, the year before Osterlin started the Child Guidance Center.
Child and Family Services roots are in the children's aid societies that sprang up in the late 1800s to help orphans who came by the thousands from urban centers to the Midwest on "orphan trains."
"By the 1940s and 1950s, we had fully developed adoption, foster care and pregnancy counseling programs," Scherrer noted, adding that more recent programs include services for children who have been sexually abused and a save haven family visitation program.
The agency has around 60 employees in two offices: the main one in Traverse City and a smaller office in Harbor Springs. More than 4,000 people are served annually by the Child and Family Services. This includes about 500 children annually that go through the foster care program, served by 160 licensed foster care families.
Carol Lemmen outlined the agency's adoptions programs, both for infant placements and special needs adoptions. The latter category denotes adoptions of older, special needs or children in sibling groups. The agency places between 5-9 infants per year and facilitates 55-65 special needs adoptions annually.
"Part of our services is pregnancy counseling, provided free to any woman experiencing an unplanned pregnancy," said Lemmen, a family resources worker at the agency.
Any family who comes into contact with Child and Family Services becomes part of their extended family, noted Scherrer, who has been with the agency for 26 years.
"Once our family, always our family," he said. "There are some things we just can't not do, we provide a lot of free services to our families."
With tight state budgets over the past few years, it is crucial to keep the needs of children in the forefront of the public and legislators. One of the hardest hit programs financially last year at Child and Family Services has been the post-adoptive services.
"We work with legislative partners to make sure our children don't disappear as a priority in this state," Scherrer said. "We have a tremendous responsibility in this community."
For more information on Child and Family Services of Northwest Michigan programs, services or fundraising activities, call 946-8975 or see their website at www.cfsnwmi.org.