Mark your calendars! Online registration coming soon.

July 30-31, 2010

Davis Conference Center

Layton, Utah

We are looking for art to put on display during our annual Families Supporting Adoption Conference this July. All are invited to share their love for adoption through art, whether by craft, photography, sculpture, poem, or paintings. We encourage children's drawings to be submitted for a Children's Wall Display. Click HERE for more details.


We are gathering items for Birthmother Baskets and school supplies for The Christmas Box House as our Service project this year. Click HERE to view the items we will be collecting.

MEET THE WHELCHELS - RECIPIENTS OF THE 2009 OREGON FSA CHAPTER AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING SERVICE.

If you had attended the FSA West Regional Adoption Conference held in Portland, Oregon in November 2009, you would have seen wonderful pictures of children that were placed in various rooms throughout the conference. The children in those pictures were children photographed by The Linn County Heart Gallery showcasing children available for adoption with the state of Oregon. You would have been privileged to hear Lyn Welchel talk about her experience volunteering with The Heart Gallery as well as her amazing experience adopting two wonderful girls through the state of Oregon. You would have also seen Lyn and her husband, Tom become the recipients of the 2009 Oregon FSA Chapter Award which is given in recognition of outstanding service in support of adoption provided to the community and the membership of Families Supporting Adoption.

Tom and Lyn Whelchel have been married for 23 wonderful years. They have 4 biological children, 3 adopted children, and 2 foster children. From oldest to youngest, they have Mandie 24, Josh 21, Manika 15, Reegan 13, Alyssa 9, Bella 7, Olivia 6, and foster children N and K under 3 years of age. Their oldest son, Josh just recently returned from serving a full time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Denver, Colorado.

Lyn’s inspiration for adoption and foster care came from her Grandparents who took her and her two brothers at a young age into their home after losing their mother to cancer. As Lyn was growing up, their home and hearts were always open to additional children. This was an impactful example to her.

Lyn had the opportunity to work as a Funeral Director for many years, and felt she had found her niche serving and comforting others during one of the most difficult times of their lives. She has always felt drawn to helping others.

A few years ago, Lyn and Tom were asked by their Bishop to take in three children while their mother worked on becoming healthy and able to care for her children. It turned into two years of challenging, yet rewarding foster care. A whole new world opened up for them and they realized their mission in providing forever families for so many children. Eventually, the three foster children returned home to their mother who had made the necessary changes to care for them properly.

Lyn and Tom continued to feel a need to grow their forever family. Lyn started volunteering with The Oregon Heart Gallery and The Lane County Heart Gallery by taking photos and videos of children in need of adoption or foster care. She opened up store fronts in Shopping Malls advertising these children that desperately needed loving homes. Lyn had the unique blessing of taping her own adopted daughters, not knowing that someday, these little girls would become part of their forever family. Bella and Olivia have been such a blessing in the Whelchel family.

Tom is a dedicated father and husband. He works as a Carpenter who owns his own Cabinet shop. He has supported Lyn in her work with Heart Galleries and feels equally passionate about finding forever families for foster children.

About four months ago, they received a call from a caseworker that told them of a fourteen month old niece of Bella and Olivia was in need of a home, and that there was also a little brother to be born in August that would also need a home. Lyn and Tom prayed for inspiration, and felt they needed to take both of the children home.

The last four of Lyn and Tom’s children are African American. Lyn has taught herself to care for their skin and hair and gives classes through DHS to teach other parents. Lyn has also been asked to become a mentor to other adoptive or foster care parents who have special needs children, or are struggling with a particular child in adjusting to foster care or adoption.

The Whelchel’s have been incredibly blessed by these opportunities to bring these precious children into their home, and help others find and adjust healthily to their new families. They thank Heavenly Father each day for such blessings.

http://www.oregonheartgallery.org/

OUR MISSION:
A Family for Every Child
Is Dedicated to Finding
Loving, Permanent Families
For Every Waiting Foster Child.

The Adoption Conference Was Wonderful! :-)

Families By Divine Design was the theme of the 2009 FSA Regional Adoption Conference for Oregon, Washington, Alaska, California, Idaho, and Hawaii held in Portland, Oregon this past November. It was definitely divinely inspired. In fact, Rebecca Harrison, one of our Regional Co-Chairs, said how amazing it was to be involved with this conference and how she truly felt the Lord's hand in the planning of it. More than once she marveled at how smoothly things would fall into place after initially not knowing how to make it all come together. She felt strongly that there were people in attendance at the conference whose hearts needed to be touched by the information shared there.

We had over 170 attendees from Idaho, Washington, California, Oregon, Arizona and Utah. Amazing! We were blessed to be able to hear from so many amazing presentors and to hear such inspiring stories from adoptive professionals, adoptive parents, adoptees and birth parents.

Here is just a sampling of the feedback we received from attendees:


Adoptive Applicant- "I liked having Elder Brinkerhoff speak about how adoption relates to the gospel. I also liked the theme of Divine Design of Adoption."

Adoptive applicant- "Loved Lindsey Redfern, Growing Up Adopted panel, hearing from the Family for Every Child rep, birthparent panel, DHS, Hearing about people's experiences, experts with varied experiences & different perspectives."

Friday night Adoption Triad speakers with our Regional Co-Chairs

Adoptee- "I liked the triad speakers a lot! EXCELLENT! WONDERFUL SPEAKERS!

Adoptive Parent- "Well organized & variety of classes. Exceeded expectations."

Adoptive Applicant- "Very beneficial. Multiple concerns of mine were addressed; most of which I came to the conference praying to know what to do."

Presenters from Adopting through the State.

Adoptive Applicant- What they liked most about conference- "Interacting with other people in our similar situation, presentations given from different perspectives, valuable information"

Birth Parent- What they liked most about the conference- "How open everyone is. I felt very welcomed and got to talk with alot of educated women and men about adopting and about parenting."

Adoptive Applicant- "It exceeded our expectations. We loved it. Classes and panels were excellent. Speakers presentations were great and gave very valuable information. The talks on the triad were amazing."

Lyn Whelchel from Lane County Heart Gallery shares information and her story.

Class Presentor/Adoptive parent- "I loved the idea of having a birth mother and new adoptive couple applicant come to the pre-conference training. It was truly inspired! I loved the fsa store. I loved the whole set up of the fireside on friday night (it was like a date night--dinner and fireside, great idea!). I loved Monica Blume's class. I loved the mingle part of it and I adored the lady that did the Heart Gallery. Loved that she was lds, loved that she has foster children, loved that she was able to share so much. brilliant."

Adoptive Applicant- What they liked most about this year's conference- "Better understanding the perspectives of the birth parents, adoptive parents & adoptees."

The Growing Up Adopted Panel.

Adoptive Applicant- "We have been investigating and going through the adoption process for almost 2 years. We learned alot of new things this conference."
What they liked most- "Everything was fantastic! I have to say the panels of the birth mothers /father was very helpful to get a first hand response and comments from them. Also the adopted children was just as first hand and fascinating."

Investigating Adoption- "It was beneficial to share real life experiences and get a true and accurate picture of how the process affects all parties."

Adoptive Applicant- "The conference was very enjoyable and informative! The breakout sessions were very helpful in presenting info I wasn't aware of. The general sessions were very spiritual and uplifting!"

Wow! The conference is this week! Be sure and click on the link to the right if you have not registered yet. Don't miss out on this amazing opportunity to hear from so many fantastic speakers and presenters all at one conference. Come get to know others whose lives and hearts have been touched by adoption- adoptive families, birthparents, adoptees and the many others who support the adoption triad. So far, we have 135 speakers, presenters, and attendees traveling from California, Idaho, Arizona, Utah, Washington and throughout Oregon. We would love to see many more! Come join us!

Check out the list of door prize donations!
*Free Oregon or Clark County, WA Adoption Finalization (base fee of $850 minus filing fee) from SCOTT ADAMS, Adoption Attorney.
*$250 worth of plants from Gold Hill Nursery. Donated by Jim and Clarka Hill.
*Yummy, tasty sweet breads from Tanasbourne Great Harvest Bread. Donated by Craig and Lynnette Hardy.
*3 personally signed Adoption CD's, "A Loving Choice" by Diane Burbach.
*Monica Blume's book- "For The Love of A Child: The Journey of Adoption" personally signed.
*Custom home teeth whitening kit from Sandy Family Dentistry valued at $250.
*A necklace from the rhouse Couture.
*The child's adoption book, "I Wished For You- An Adoption Story" by Marianne Richmond. .
*$250 worth of Mary Kay pampering items donated by Rebecca Harrison.
*Wonderful Scentsy items to enjoy.
*14 Guest Passes to shop the Columbia Sportswear Employee Store. Located minutes from the conference. Think Christmas!
*Computer speaker sets from Intel!

Wow! The conference is just over 5 weeks away! People have started registering and final preparations are being made - this is going to be GREAT! It is a TON of work to organize and orchestrate but we look forward to seeing everyone from around the region. Be sure to click on THAT LINK ----------------->
to read all about it!

New Speaker Confirmed for the Conference!

Wahoo! Monica L. Blume, co-author of For The Love of a Child: The Journey Of Adoption, has agreed to speak at the conference! She is WONDERFUL (and we are not just saying that because we know her.... :-) She will be teaching two sessions: One geared towards birth parent and their journey through adoption, and one geared towards adoptive parents, and their adoptive "journey".

btw - for questions about the conference, feel free to email us at FSA-OR@ldsfamilyservices.org or call 1-877-936-7537 :-)

Our Regional Conference Information and Registration Website is LIVE!!!

Wahoo!!! The regional conference website is live! There are still some session and speaker details to add to it, but the bulk of the information is there - we are excited about how good the page looks - not bad for web novices!
Check it out and learn about the conference by clicking on the top button on the right side of the page - it links to the conference information web site! (it is also where you can go to register for the conference!)

We are working hard to make sure we have substantial content for each of our target audiences, presented by high quality speakers.
The audiences we are planning for include: couples currently interested in adoption, families with adolescent adopted children, and birth parents!

We already have some wonderful, extremely well qualified speakers, and are waiting for confirmation from more. Personally, I am hoping that former Senator Gordon Smith will be able to come - stay tuned to find out if that happens!