Jewish Adoption

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Comment by Debbie Schwartz on May 15, 2012 at 1:09pm

More than 75 kids and adults are already registered for the Fourth Annual Forever Families Weekend, which is less than one month away!  Come join other Jewish families who have adopted internationally (from six countries and four continents!), domestically (through agency and private adoptions), and from foster care.  Our all-inclusive weekend offers A-to-Z fun (seriously...from arts & crafts to zip lines!) and workshops for kids and adults in which we discuss what it means to be part of the adoption community and the Jewish community at the same time.  And, oh yeah, we have s'mores and a bonfire, too...

The Forever Families Weekend flier is here: FFW2012.pdf and you can learn more online.

Comment by Debbie Schwartz on March 28, 2012 at 7:55am

Just a quick update to say that we've already registered a bunch of new families in addition to many returning ones!  Joining our staff of facilitators this year is Deb Shrier, Director of Post-Adoption Services for Jewish Board of Children's Services in Boston.  We have a great group of people and activities planned for June!!!

Comment by Lorin F. Sharp on March 8, 2010 at 3:21pm

Thanks, Debbie, I will email you!

Comment by Debbie Schwartz on March 8, 2010 at 2:58pm

Lorin, I'd be happy to email you a sample schedule. You can email me (so you don't have to post your email address here if you don't want to). In general, the weekend is split into "together time" for families and "separate time" when the kids are grouped by age and participate in age-appropriate activities (some adoption-related and some just general camp fun). At your daughter's age, the adoption-related activities would be developmentally appropriate things like art projects, etc. The camp facilities are open all weekend. If you look on the camp website you can see a complete list, but in short it includes pool, lake (boating, water slide, jet skiing), arts and crafts, zip line, ropes course, nature hikes, skatepark (well, only if she's a really BOLD 4-year-old!), games, music, cooking, etc. Family fun includes a camp-wide scavenger hunt for all ages, campfire and singalong, entertainment, etc. Hope this gives you a quick overview...and whets your appetite for more!

Comment by Lorin F. Sharp on March 8, 2010 at 2:42pm

Hi, I am the adoptive mother of a girl born in China. She is almost 4 years old, and we just passed our 3 yr. anniversary as a family (Jan. 28, 2007). We live in the San Francisco Bay area, and I am always looking to make connections locally in particular, but anywhere in general. My husband and I are both Caucasian and Jewish, so it's always good to know of families that more closely resemble ours, and activities that we can share. We are both from the East Coast (NY) and all our family is still back there, so we still maintain that connection, but traveling often enough can be difficult, and oddly enough, the culture is also miles apart! It seems harder to find Jewish-Chinese families here and don't personally know any Jewish adoptive families (although they obviously exist!). We don't belong to a synagogue, which I'm sure is part of the problem. As secular humanists, my husband and I have a hard time participating in services of worship. Certainly no organized network for Jewish Adoptive families exists here. I would be very happy to get more information about the Forever Families Weekend, as it is focused on Jewish families. I looked at the website and flyer and would really like if there was a schedule of activities to review (more detail on the weekend). What type of activities would be available for a 4 yr-old? If not this year, it sounds like a great opportunity for the future (especially when our daughter approaches bat mitzvah age). Thanks! I look forward to future discussions on this site!

Comment by LJ on July 13, 2009 at 10:24am

Who else is here?

Comment by LJ on July 13, 2009 at 10:24am

Funny! I just started my own Jewish Adoption group on this site and I was searching to see if I did it right and THIS group came up! Well, I got rid of my site and joined this one.

I hope this will be a good place to visit.