RONNA HALL

Special to The Jewish News

A

Adoption procedures
in Michigan — and a
lack of infants —
cause long delays in
creating new families

Lisa Levy, 7, above,
and Nicole Levy,
almost 3, are sisters
through adoption.

doption.
It is the exhilarating con-
clusion to a long and frustrat-
ing time for a young couple who
have had to deal with infertility, the
eventual realization that they can
not conceive, the lengthy red-tape of
adoption, and the interminable wait-
ing game.
Because of the limited number
of babies placed for adoption, and
the virtual non-existence of adopta-
ble Jewish babies, the agony is
magnified for Jewish couples.
Like many young couples, De-
nise and David Levy of Farmington
Hills were anxious to have a family,
but when it did not happen after
several years of marriage and
numerous doctor visits, they decided
to put' their names on a waiting list
with an adoption agency.
"Family and Childrens' Services
of Oakland contacted us for an ini-
tial interview a year-and-a-half la-
ter," says Denise Levy. That wash'
early 1978. We brought our daugh-
ter Lisa home more than a year
after that."
Adoption is a long and arduous
process for couples who have strug-
gled through the painful realization
of infertility. After years of trying to
conceive their own baby, they still
feel they have the ability and the
need to share themselves and their
love with a child. Unfortunately,
through the adoptive process, it may
take five to seven years or longer be-
fore they can become parents.
In Michigan, all adoptions must
be processed through a licensed so-
cial service agency. These agencies
handle all the legal paperwork of fil-
ing petitions with the court and then
represent the adopting couples at the
final adoption hearing. They also
interview, and in some cases heavily
screen, prospective adoptive couples
as well as birth mothers and birth
fathers if possible.
ThiS process can be difficult for
the adopting couple. In most cases,
they must reveal their life history
and medical records. The Levys did
not find the process difficult or un-
pleasant. But one adoptive mother
said, We must prove we'll be fit
parents, when biological parents
never have to. They're just able to
produce their own child.It's very un-
fair to be judged this way."
The bottom line, however, is
that very few babies are being
placed through agencies. In Oak-
land County, in the year ending
1985, only 157 children were placed
in adoptive homes by social service
agencies and that figure includes
both domestic and foreign adop-
tions," says Eugene Thompson of the