No Birth Father Legislation This Year

We have removed the previously posted information about House Bill 499. We acted based on some untrue information we received. Please accept our apologies and discontinue your e-mails and phone calls to the Legislators.

The Bill is NOT in the legislature at this time. It was last year, but has not been re-introduced this year.

Thanks for your quick actions!

We'll keep you posted if and when it does reappear.

Finding Friday: Craigslist

Craigslist is another means to promotion and its free! On one of the adoption forums I read, a woman posted that her daughter's birthmother actually found them on Craigslist. She placed an ad in her city under the General category. In this ad, she included her cell phone number, email, and a link to their profile.

Craigslist is divided into sites based on geography. According to their FAQ, you may only post your ad on one of the Craigslist sites for which your ad is most relevant and generally this should be the site closest to where you are located. And remember watch out for scammers.

Finding Friday: CafeMom

I have heard of some couples who have been matched birthmothers on CafeMom. CafeMom is a social networking site for women. One of the features of CafeMom is groups. There are a couple groups I have listed below where birthmothers post looking for adoptive parents and where adoptive mothers post their desire to adopt. If you sign up for these groups you can

• Find a Family to adopt your baby :)
• Adoption Situations and Networking
• Birthmothers trying to find adoptive families for no agency adoption
  

So far I've had some contact with potential birthmothers but unfortunately they were fake. You really need to be careful. Next week I am going to post about how you can

Matching Monday: Cassandra

Click here to access the Wednesday's Child site. Don't forget to w

Finding Friday: Google AdWords

I posted back in October 2009 about using online advertising as part of your adoption efforts. I talked about Facebook, MySpace, and Google AdWords.

Currently Google AdWords is giving away $75 dollars worth of advertising for new customers. Click here for the sign up page and information on how to use AdWords.

I know how much an example helps so I'll share what I'm currently doing. I am only bidding on one keyword ("looking to adopt") and bidding up to a $1.00 a click. Our ad title is "A Family Looking to Adopt" and our text is "Considering Adoption? See how we may be the family for your baby."

Finding Friday: Project Snuggle

I stumbled upon this charity while doing some searching for articles for the blog. This text comes from the Project Cuddle web site.

Project Cuddle® is a nonprofit organization that operates a 24-hour, 7-day a week crisis hotline that works as a search and rescue program.

We search out safe and legal alternatives for women that are contemplating abandoning or dumping their babies.

We work with volunteers to rescue newborns and infants from abandonment. We do not discriminate against anyone who is willing to rescue a baby. Project Cuddle® is a non-profit charity and charges nothing to the girls in need or the Rescue families. The adoption process can cost between $10,000 and $30,000, but Project Cuddle® charges nothing.

You can apply to a "Rescue Family" for these newborns and infants. To apply you need a copy of your current homestudy, a letter to the birthmother, 3x5 family photo, and the 3 page application. Go to this address for the application and for more information about the required paperwork and their process: http://www.projectcuddle.org/rescuefamily.asp

Disclaimer: This organization receives volumes of applications from adoptive couples so the wait could be very long. Also, you will still need an agency/attorney to complete the adoption.

Health Booth Reminder

We hope you each had a wonderful holiday season and are ready for a new year!

FSA will have a booth THIS Saturday, January 8, at the Community Health and Wellness Fair. We would like to thank those of you that have e-mailed a photo for us to use at the booth. If you haven’t had a chance to e-mail us one, please do so in the next few days. We will be printing the photos and using them as part of our table display. (FYI no names or identifying information will be included with any of the photos)

As part of this booth we would also like to display pass along cards. We will have stacks on the table for people to take as they’d like. If you’d like us to display a stack of your pass along cards please get it them to the LDSFS Office sometime before Friday at 5 pm. Please put your cards in an envelope clearly marked FSA. We don’t have any idea how many people will be coming through the health fair, so we are very unsure of how many pass along cards to ask for. We will keep unused cards and they can be picked up at the LDSFS Office, or at the next FSA Activity.

Let us help you promote yourselves; get your pass along cards to the office! If you don’t have pass along cards, but wish you did, they can be made very easily with business cards purchased at any store!