Sometimes the journey home is a long one. For Gregory it seemed endless. Born with severe physical impairments, Gregory spent most of his early life in foster care. Expected to never develop beyond the stage of crawling, Gregory was listed in a photolisting book with little hope that he would ever be placed in a permanent home. Then one day a family registered with AASK Midwest saw him in a photolisting book and fell in love. Now Gregory has a permanent family, has learned to walk and has a newly adopted "baby brother." A miracle story? No, just another successful day for the staff of AASK Midwest.

AASK stands for Adopt A Special Kid and is a spin off of AASK America started by the DeBolt family in California. The midwest AASK was founded in 1983 by current board president and the founder of Hickory Farms, Richard Ransom, who was so inspired by the DeBolts that he started an AASK branch in Ohio. With headquarters in Toledo, AASK Midwest primarily serves waiting children and families in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois; however, AASK Midwest has facillitated matches between children and families in 41 states.

AASK Midwest is an adoption resource exchange in its truest sense. It is a non-custodial adoption program whose functions include public education and training about the adoption of special needs children, recruitment of adoptive families, advocacy, and the matching of waiting children and families. AASK also houses an extensive collection of photolisting books from around the country, and has compiled a database of hundreds of families interested in adopting special kids.

Driven by the mission to find families for every waiting child in America, AASK's self- proclaimed charge is to "facilitate the connection between children who wait and parents who care." AASK does this through a magical blend of community networking/recruitment and matching. Community networking and recruitment are done by 22 AASK field representative who are located in 12 different states. AASK "reps" are all adoptive parents of special needs children who feel so positive about the adoption experience that they volunteer their spare time to educate families about adoption, and then connect these families with adoption resources and waiting children. Although they are sometimes confused with "actual adoption workers" by eager prospective adoptive families, AASK representatives are essentially adoption advocates who prepare families for adoption, educate families about different adoption benefits (subsidy, respite, etc.), refer families to local adoption agencies, "hold the families' hands" while they wait for a child, and provide support after a placement. You will find AASK reps at all major adoption conferences, either networking or making presentations. Although these advocates get some reimbursement from the home office for "work related expenses," their true reward lies in the placement of a waiting in child in a home that they helped to recruit.

The bulk of the matching work, and the administrative functions of AASK are performed at the home office in Toledo. Here a busy staff of five collects profiles of waiting children and interested families; suggests matches between the prospective parties; assists agencies with special recruitment and raises funds to stay afloat. An average month for the AASK office would include the referral of over two hundred families, the registration of dozens of waiting children, the generation of hundreds of suggested family/ child matches, and the confirmation of at least 10 adoptions that resulted from AASK matches. To date AASK Midwest can proudly say that they have been involved in the successful matching of over 1000 children with permanent families. "It could be more." says Bev Moore, AASK's Adoption Director. "But once a match is proposed we're out of the picture and often times don't know what happens."

AASK works with any waiting child that is in the care of a licensed agency. Children can be registered with AASK at no charge to an agency. Families, both studied and not yet studied, can also register with AASK for free. Matches are made based on the needs of the children, and the ability and interest of the family. A profile of the adoptive family is sent to the child's adoption worker, and information about the child is sent to the family. After that, it 's up to the two parties to decide whether to proceed with the match. In addition to matching, AASK staff select and train field representatives, organize recruitment events and trainings, and provide special contractual recruitment services to agencies, counties and states. AASK recently became licensed as a non-custodial agency in the state of Ohio, allowing it to provide more services to waiting children in this state.

Federal and miscellaneous other grants, contracts for matching and training services, fund raising events, contributions, and volunteers keep AASK Midwest going. Like the adoption workers, families and waiting children who face the child welfare system every day, AASK Midwest confronts several barriers that inhibit the connection of children and families. Interstate paperwork, legal differences between states, the lack of response and accountability by agencies and the specter of block grants which could endanger support to adoptive families are all daily challenges. "It's the child who often gets lost in the adoption process," says AASK Executive Director, Ned Braunschweiger. "If we all improved our customer service orientation, we could open up a multitude of options for waiting children."

With the recent acquisition of a color printer, a strong focus on the recruitment of minority families and the addition of field representatives in new states, AASK Midwest is definitely looking to the future! But it is AASK Midwest's success stories that make it a vital and timeless resource for waiting children. Just take Lake County Ohio's 1995 United Way "poster child," Mary Elizabeth Carmen for example. Born with severe medical impairments, including Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalia, the life expectancy for this little girl seemed grim. But she was AASK match number 426, and now four years later, has survived several operations, and may soon graduate from a wheelchair to a walker with the support of her adoptive family.

To register a child or family with AASK Midwest call 1-800- 246-1731.

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MARE Serves Families, Too

by Nancy Jennings

Once or twice a month, a worker will call the MARE office, wondering if we know of any families that might be appropriate for a child they're trying to place. For example, a worker recently inquired about a family for a sibling group of two: an 11-year-old biracial female, and her nine-year-old African American brother. According to their worker, the children had mild to moderate emotional impairments and would "test families." She was looking for two parent families, studied or not, that might be appropriate referrals for these children. After a quick search of the MARE family database, the worker was provided with information about 53 possible families.

The worker now had a place to start...families to contact, and possibly the opportunity to place this sibling group before the six-month due date.

While MARE's main focus is on waiting children, MARE has always been working to serve families as well. The MARE family book is a publication designed to share information about Michigan families interested in adopting specific types of special needs children. Now with the development of MARE's new family database and the newsletter, Families Across Michigan, our services to families have expanded and are fast becoming valuable tools used in the process of moving waiting children toward permanent homes.

Because MARE is a statewide program, it seemed logical to maintain a central repository of information about families with MARE. If a worker has a child or children for which they wish to find a family (pre-MARE registration, within the 182-day time frame after P.C.), they can call the MARE office and provide specific information (age, sibling status, levels of impairments, and any other special considerations); a search is done of all families that are studied and approved to accept those criteria, and a list of those families is then given to the child's social worker for further consideration.

Where does MARE get the names of the families that are included in the family database? Some families come from the annual Detroit-area Kinship Festival. Others come to MARE via referrals from televised recruitment efforts such as Channel 4's Focus on Families or Target 4 Action specials in the metro Detroit area. MARE also hears about other families from places like the National Adoption Center, television and radio public service announcements, and from general inquiries to the MARE office. Some, but not all, of the families have approved home studies. Some studied families are listed in MARE's monthly family book (a counterpart to the monthly MARE photolisting book). Some studied families don't want to be "published" in the family book, so they're just a part of the database. To date, there are approximately 3,500 families in the database.

The database contains a myriad of information about these families. In addition to basic information such as name, address, etc., it may also contain information about the individuals in the family, including marital status, race, number of children currently in the home, whether the family has an approved homestudy, whether the family is an experienced foster or adoptive family, and even what agency the family may be working with. It contains information about how and on what date the family came to be part of the database (from where the family was referred). If the family was referred on to an adoption agency, that information may also be included.

MARE also makes suggested referrals between studied and approved families from the family book and database, and children on MARE. And because MARE is a member of the National Adoption Exchange (part of the National Adoption Center), MARE is also able to make suggested referrals between Michigan families and waiting children from around the country. Those referrals are sent to the family's worker for further consideration.

MARE does not really "do" anything with these families. Mailing lists are not passed out (unless the family has specifically stipulated they'd like their name released to other social service agencies). MARE does, however, mail their Families Across Michigan (FAM) newsletter to families that request it.

Through recent legislation, MARE is now also responsible for the mandated Direct Placement Family Registry (or DPFR). This registry is a database of studied Michigan families that are interested in direct consent (usually infant) adoptions. Each family pays a $100 registration fee (with $50 yearly renewal fee thereafter) and provides basic information about themselves. Information about these families is available to anyone that inquires, including birth parents, attorneys, and adoption agencies.

If workers have any questions, or would like further information about either the family database or the DPFR, they should contact Nancy Jennings at (517) 783-6273.