"It's a myth that Jews won't adopt disabled children."
Children in Israel. "It is due
o the destructive negative
stigma and the myriads of
ignorance and misconcep-
',ions so rampant in our so-
ciety."
Just as society has mis-
conceptions about the dis-
abled, so too, many hold the
mistaken notion that Jews
to not want to adopt dis-
abled children, Mrs. Krausz
believes.
"There's a myth that Jew-
ish families won't adopt spe-
cial needs children," she
says. "But we did. And if
there's one of us out there,
aybe there are two or
hree or four."
In fact, Mrs. Krausz now
has a list of more than 300
Jewish couples interested in
this type of adoption. •
JCAN owes its start to the
little girl the Krauszes
adopted. Her name is Eli-
sheva.
A beautiful child with
chestnut hair and soft
brown eyes, Elisheva had
een abused by her Jewish
birth parents before, at 4
months old, she became a
ward of the state. Denver
Social Services was about to
place her into a Christian
home when the Krauszes in-
tervened. It took 19 months
of fighting with Social Ser-
vices before the Krauszes
were allowed to adopt Eli-
sheva. The problem: they
were not the first approved
ouple on the adoption wait-
ing list.
"To them (adoption work-
ers), her Jewishness was a
minor detail, like the color
of her hair," according to
Mrs. Krausz.
Today, Vicki Krausz and
her husband, Stephen, are
the parents of four children,
both adopted and- biological.
Though her budget already
is strained because of the
limited grants she receives
for JCAN (the agency does
not charge fees), Mrs.
Krausz struggles to resist
adopting every special-needs
Jewish child who can't find
a home.
"I've got half a mind to
take her myself," she says
of a little girl who has wait-
ed years for adoptive par-
ents.
Mrs. Krausz encounters
all kinds of problems when
trying to place children.
Some of them have to do
with the variations in state
laws regarding adoption.
For example, all interest-
ed couples must undergo a
home study to determine
whether they are qualified
to adopt. But because there
is no standardized nation-
wide home study, the re-
views can vary dramatic..qlly.
What constitutes an accept-
able adoptive home in one
state might not be in anoth-
er, which can pose tremen-
dous problems for couples
wishing to adopt out-of-state
children.
Mrs. Krausz cited the case
of a social worker "who
threw Jewish families out
(as possible adoptive par-
ents) because she didn't like
the home study of this or
that state. That is absolute-
ly abusive."
Sometimes, it is the farri-
flies themselves who present
the stumbling block to a
quick, successful adoption.
Cases in point:
• A Reform Jewish moth-
er placed her profoundly re-
tarded child up for adoption.
He was already 4 and would
require extensive medical
care for the rest of his life.
JCAN found a home for the
boy, but the mother reject-
ed it because the adoptive
parents were Orthodox.
• An interracial Jewish
couple in Florida put their
newborn up for adoption.
They insisted that the adop-
tive parents be interracial,
that they be non-smokers,
and that they live in Flori-
da.
Mrs. Krausz is troubled
by such notions.
"Adoption is not a car lot,"
she says. "You don't go in
and say, 'I want a Cadillac
and I want it to have a radio
and an air conditioner' and
then you put together the
car you want. The only chil-
dren that are available are
the ones who really exist,
and the only families avail-
able are the ones who real-
ly exist."
Another problem in ar-
ranging Jewish child-Jew-
ish parent adoptions is time.
It can take months to find
an appropriate Jewish fam-
ily, during which time any
number of Christian parents
may express interest in the
child. Adoption workers are
often hesitant to postpone
placement simply because of
religion.
As a result, countless —
and they are literally count-
less, because of the secrecy
mandated by federal regu-
lations regarding adoption
— Jewish children are being
raised in gentile homes.
But is that such a terrible
thing, if the gentile parents
are loving and supportive?
Rabbi Hirshel Jaffe won-
ders.
Rabbi Jaffe continues to
advocate on behalf of the
Orzechowskis, the Catholic
couple refused permission to
adopt the Jewish girl, Nelli
K. He even helped the fam-
ily file a lawsuit challenging
the decision.
"Religion should be a fac-
tor, but not the overriding
faCtor" in adoption, he says.
"What's ultimately most im-
portant is what is in the best
interest of the child."
He labeled the decision by
Jewish groups to protest the
Orzechowskis' adoption of
Nelli as "very unfortunate
and regrettable." The cou-
ple, he says, would have
made excellent parents.
"What they were doing was
a mitzvah."
Though Rabbi Jaffe be-
lieves it's appropriate to try
and match children with
families of the same religion,
he sees a kinship among all
human beings that super-
sedes religious considera-
tions.
"We're all suffering chil-
dren of God," he says. "And
in my religion, God wants
heart and compassion above
all the technicalities and le-
galities."
er refrigerator
is her bulletin
board. Her chil-
dren delve into
her purse during interviews.
Her telephone is constantly
Hillel Rosenfeld
Eliezer Goldstock
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 25