BEEN BUSY LATELY

January  always  brings a new  flurry of  adoption  activity.  I think is partially  based  on time people  spend with family and friends over the holidays.  Even work  parties include families and their children nowadays, so the desire to parent or enlarge a family takes center stage. I do  so  many  more  consultations  on  adoption options,  adoptive parenting and, of  course homestudies  at  the  beginning  of a new year compared to the time between Thanksgiving and December 31^st.

I am conducting new homestudies and updating ones that have expired or for families pursuing a second adoption. Visiting families has its benefits.  I enjoy hearing stories about what life was like when they were growing up; where they came from; who was in their family. I learn about new professions and hobbies. I get to see apartments and home layouts. Sometimes we discuss about the best place or room for a new child. I love hearing what’s been going on for families I am visiting again. And, yes, I love meeting the pets in the home, as well.  So far this year, 7 of my families have brought home new babies or children: 4 newborns, a 1-month old, a 3-month old, and an 8-year-old (from overseas).  I have been visiting new parents, meeting their sons and daughters and watching siblings welcome the new family member. These visits are always enjoyable, even if new parents are exhausted or still figuring how to juggle new schedules and getting everything done.

Some days I feel as if I’m on one of those tourist trips where you stop in a new city each day. I worry that if I don't check my calendar carefully, I might go to the wrong place. In the past month, I have been to Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Westchester, Rockland and Nassau Counties and New Jersey. I have the advantage of going to new communities and seeing the areas in which a child will grow. 

I am so fortunate to love the work I do and that I have been able to help singles and couples adopt for over 32 years. I have and continue to work with a group of amazingly devoted professionals. Mostly, I am lucky to have experienced adoption myself, adding 2 daughters to my own family.

Never give up your dream. There are kids of all ages out there waiting to joing a family. While you wait and as you become parents and add more children to a family, I will continue to look forward to many more years of working in the adoption community.

Kathy Ann Brodsky, LCSW is a New York and New Jersey licensed social worker, adoptive mom and advocate for ethical adoption practice. Through her private practice and agency affiliations, she has prepared  thousands of adoption  homestudies, counseled  expectant, birth, pre/post adoptive parents and  adopted  persons, as  well  as trained  professionals  to  work  with  adoptive  families. She  was Director of the  Ametz  Adoption  Program of  JCCA and a member of the Advisory Board for POV’s Adoption  Series and is currently a  member of the  Adoption  Advisory  Board  of  Path2Parenthood, Adoption   Professional   Advisory  Council  of  HelpUSAdopt  and  active  in  the  Adoptive Parents Committee in  New  York.  Her  blogs  and  written contributions can be seen throughout the Internet, including  her  BLOG  and  as  Head  Writer  for  ADOPTION.NET   She  was  named  an  “Angel in Adoption” by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption in 2001. You can reach her directly EMAIL