LOCAL AGENCIES HOLD ADOPTION CONFERENCE

November is National Adoption Month and local agencies are working together to help families involved with adoption.

On Friday and Saturday a conference, "Adoption: Issues and Insights" was held in Cape Girardeau. The event featured a nationally know adoption advocate, Barbara Tremitiere.

Tremitiere was honored in 1984 with the Distinguished Alumni Award for Practice, which recognized her innovative work in the adoption field.

The conference was sponsored by several agencies, including the Child Abuse and Neglect Council of Cape Girardeau County; Lutheran Family and Children's Services of Southeast Missouri; The Adoptive Family Group; the Work and Family Institute-Department of Human Environmental Studies; and the Department of Social Work at Southeast Missouri State.

Molly Strickland, a child welfare specialist at Lutheran Family Services, said the focus of the two-day conference was "commitment, all the way."

She said local agencies hope to instill in adoptive parents the idea that adoption is a life-long proposition.

Strickland said adoptive parents must be completely committed to the adopted child and be willing to constantly communicate that commitment to the child.

Lynne Cairns, an adoption specialist for the Missouri Division of Family Services, said the director of the division spoke about resources available to persons in the adoption "triad," which includes the birth parents, child placed for adoption and the adoptive family particularly in the case of "special needs" adoptions.

"A lot of people have the space, love and desire for special needs children, but they don't have the financial resources," she said.

Cairns said adoption agencies also work to help educate the public about issues surrounding abortion.

Strickland said more public education about the issue is necessary.

"There's a need for a lot of public education to help them understand adoption as positive for the child and an opportunity to give the child structure," Strickland said.

Tremitiere has since 1977 worked as a consultant and trainer for numerous public and voluntary child welfare agencies, state child welfare programs, and universities throughout the United States and Canada.

Other speakers at the conference included Carmen K. Schulze, director of the Missouri Division of Family Services, and Larry Lowrance, professor of elementary and special education at Southeast Missouri State University.