Connections Energize Mississippi Recruitment Campaign

Thanks to many dedicated individuals, there are pockets of excellent adoption practice all around North America. In Mississippi, adoption numbers are getting better year by year; from state fiscal year (FY) 2000 to FY 2001, the number of children adopted grew from 274 to 315. Incentive money received through (and tight termination timeframes imposed by) the Adoption and Safe Families Act have helped, as have successful efforts to build community connections.

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For the past four years, Mississippi's adoption exchange has been working with news station WLOX-TV 13, South Mississippi's ABC affiliate, and anchor Rhonda Weidner to promote a weekly waiting child feature. Just this year, solid relationship-building skills at the Adoption Unit of the state Department of Human Services' Division of Family and Children's Services have made good use of this connection and forged several new community alliances.

Early this spring, Picayune adoption recruiter Loretta Shepherd noticed a newspaper ad for Women of Wisdom (WOW) with a tag line that read, "To share, encourage, and pray for each others' needs." Recruiting with prayer appealed to Shepherd, so she called WOW's co-founder and scheduled an adoption presentation at the group's April luncheon. At the luncheon, Loretta met Ruth Packard, the businesswoman who founded Juniper Tree, the charitable organization that paid for the WOW ad. Ruth wanted to do more for children, and soon the Adoption Unit had a valuable new partner in its campaign to find adoptive homes for waiting children.

With philosophical buy in and financial assistance from Juniper Tree, the Adoption Unit then held an adoption media event. The event, advertised on the radio, attracted about 75 participants-including city council members, pastors, youth court judges, adoption advocates, business leaders, and members of the press including WLOX-TV 13's Rhonda Weidner.

At the event, Juniper Tree announced the creation of Mississippi on the Move (MOM), a new organization "leading the way into the new millennium." MOM's goal is to make Mississippi the first state to place all of its waiting children into loving families. The event also included a soloist's rendition of the song "What about the Children," as well as a presentation by Shepherd entitled There's No Place Like Home.

Later the same day, WLOX-TV 13 ran a 30-second spot about the event during the five o'clock news. Since then, the station has invited Shepherd to appear on a call-in talk show and share information about Mississippi's waiting children.

Through MOM, Juniper Tree is facilitating adoption presentations, networking with other charitable organizations and adoption advocates, encouraging employers to include adoption benefits for employees, working to obtain media coverage, and helping the Adoption Unit to set up displays in businesses, malls, and other public places. Shepherd has also started to carry around Cabbage Patch dolls that represent waiting children. "They pique people's interest," she says, "and give me an opportunity to introduce the topic of adoption."

In recent weeks, the Adoption Unit has made more connections. In preparation for its first annual Adoption Gala, the Unit asked local merchants to donate special gifts for families who have adopted sibling groups. At the event, four adoptive families received valuable watches, flowers, and even a recliner.

The lesson in Mississippi's recent experience is that recruiters have the power to create opportunities for helping children find families.

Recruiters can:

* actively seek out partners, even in places with no obvious connection to children
* bring partners together to maximize the resources of each
* ask local merchants for help-many want to help children and families
* sustain relationships through common courtesy, and keep trying to build new connections to benefit children

Through enthusiasm, persistence, initiative, follow-through, and courtesy, Loretta Shepherd and the Adoption Unit have earned many new community friends. And through these willing partners, they are better able to effectively fulfill more children's dreams of becoming part of a permanent, secure, and loving family.