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—)
tion of direct-placement adop-
tions where the birth parents
can select the adoptive family.
Ms. Eisenberg said their
agency, although non-profit by
state law, hasn't been affected
by the law.
"What affected adoption dra-
matically is that more birth
mothers are opting to raise their
children alone because society
accepts it," Ms. Eisenberg said.
Fear of AIDS, she said, has also
reduced the number of un-
planned or unwanted pregnan-
cies because people are
practicing safer sex.
While their business has been
unaffected by competition from
lawyers, Ms. Eisenberg is still
resentful. Her main criticism is
attorneys are unable to provide
counseling to the birth parents
and adoptive parents and many
don't suggest it.
Monica Linkner, a Berkley at-
torney who specializes in adop-
tion law, is well aware of the
opposition from some adoption
agencies. When she was urging
Lansing lawmakers to adopt the
new adoption laws, the agencies
were the biggest opponents of
the legislation.
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Ms. Linkner, also an adoptive
parent, disagrees with Ms.
Eisenberg's complaints. She rec-
ognizes the need for counseling
and provides her clients with re-
ferrals. She also maintains that
older parents, who may be
turned away by an agency, could
have an easier time adopting
through an attorney.
Rich Bearup, the children's
ombudsman for the state of
Michigan, said he has not re-
ceived a single complaint relat-
ing to an attorney's involvement
in adoption. "That may be a
function of people not knowing
about us yet," he said of his de-
partment, which was created by
the revised adoption laws.
While attorneys no longer
have to go through training to
facilitate adoptions, as they did
when the law first passed, Ms.
Linkner believes an under-
standing of adoption is ab-
solutely necessary. "The law is
complex and the stakes - are
enormous," she said.
The adoptions she's done
have taken between a year and
18 months. The time-span, she
said, depends on how active the
prospective parents are in their
search for a birth mother. Some
parents will place advertise-
ments in newspapers to speed
up the process of finding a child.
Esther Krystal has been do-
ing adoptions at Jewish Family
Service since 1989, a small pro-
portion of the JFS' 60 years of
assisting adoptions.
Before Michigan adoption
laws changed, JFS arranged
several adoptions per year. Pri-
or to that, Ms. Krystal guesses,
JFS assisted in as many as a
dozen adoptions per year. In
1995, the agency didn't facilitate
any adoptions. This year, its
numbers are back up to a small
handful. Ms. Krystal has no ex-
planation for the difference.
What JFS has seen since the
new law took effect is an in-
crease in the number of homes-
tudies it conducts for adoptive
families. Lawyers generate the
bulk of requests the agency gets
for homestudies because agen-
cies tend to be licensed to do the
study or have a cadre of re-
sources for a homestudy.
A homestudy is a series of
meetings, including an in-home
visit with a licensed social work-
er. Its purpose is to determine
whether the adoptive couple is
fit for parenthood.
JFS is hoping to enhance its
adoption program by beginning
an active outreach project to at-
tract birth mothers. Because the
concept is in the early planning
stages, Ms. Krystal could not
elaborate.
"It is part financial," she said.
"But, at the same time, we want
to be able to help create Jewish
families. No one else is out there
with the goal to create Jewish
families but JFS."
The cost to adopt through
JFS has not exceeded $7,000, ac-
cording to Ms. Krystal.
Child and Family Services
allows the birth mother or birth
parents to choose the adoptive
family via videotapes that are
required of prospective adoptive
parents. The tapes serve as
commercials for the prospective
parents who try to "sell" them-
selves to the birth mother or
birth parents. Jeff and Alene
said Benjamin's birth mother
told them she was particularly
impressed by the number of
books the video showed in their
home.
Congress, recognizing the
high costs associated with adop-
tion, recently passed legislation
which will allow adoptive par-
ents within a certain income lev-
el a $5,000 per child tax credic.
for expenses. Those adopting
special needs children will get a
$6,000 credit.
Alene and Jeff did not quali-
fy for the tax credit because Ben-
jamin's adoption occurred before
Dec. 31, the date the measure
officially takes effect.
The credit doesn't mean much
to them. While it would havyt,
lessened their financial burden,
the couple are just happy to
have completed their family. ❑