Adoption and Foster Care Depart-
ment of the Probate Court of Oak-
land County.
Legalized abortion has contrib-
uted greatly to the decline in the
number of adoptions. "But," adds
Nancy Rebar, supervisor of chil-
drens' services at Oakland Family
Services, "society's attitude regard-
ing single parents and teenage pre-
gnancies is the primary reason why
so few babies are released for adop-
tion. The attitudes of grandparents
are more liberal than 20 years ago
and many offer assistance and sup-
port to teen birth mothers."
Family and Childrens' Services
of Oakland, a non-sectarian agency,
placed 16 children for adoption last
year — 14 were infants, according to
Mary Jane Clarke, program director
of foster care and adoption.
That agency's requirements to
adopt specify that the couple must
be residents or work in Oakland
County at the time of application
and at finalization of the adoption.
The couple must be married at least
two years at time of application and
must not be older than 42 years of
age when the child is -laced with
them. No life-threatenn-g illnesses
can be present in either parent and
this must be substantiated by a
physician. At the time of the first
home study interview, the couple's
infertility is established through a
physician's verification. In addition
_ to this, "Several of our friends were
required to supply Oakland with let-
ters of recommendation regarding
our parenting capabilities," says De-
nise Levy.
"When we finally brought Lisa
home, our friends and family felt the
same joy and anticipation because
we had all waited a very long time."
Oakland monitors the care of
each child on a monthly basis for the
first year as part of its home study.
Parents must also be the primary
care providers during the first six
months the child is in the home.
"Regrettably," Clarke says, "many
times this means a parent must take
a leave-of-absence from his or her
job. However, the long period of
waiting is used by many couples as a
time to plan for the child when it
does arrive."
\__
An adoptive couple can return
their name to an agency's list once
the adoption of their first child is
finalized. The Levys did just that.
"Our wait for Nicole, our second
daughter, was much longer. It was
another four years until she became
part of our family," says Levy.
According to Michigan law, all
children placed for adoption must
live with foster parents for at least
six to eight weeks. The Levys were
fortunate to receive early photo-
graphs of Nicole, taken by her foster

Continued on Page 70

Linda Radin

Lisa and Nicole share
a book with their
mother, Denise Levy.