It's been
almost
two years
since
adoption
laws

PHOTO BY DANIEL L IPPITT

JENNIFER FINER
STAFF WRITER

Scrappy,
Alene, Jeff and
Benjamin: A
completed
family.

W

hen Benjamin was
born in August,
Alene and her hus-
band Jeff prayed
the child's birth
mother would not
change her mind.
The couple was nearing the
homestretch of what turned out
to be a five-year process. A last-
minute glitch would have devas-
tated them.
Until the birth mother hand-
ed the newborn over to his adop-
tive parents, the baby was still

hers. And although she made it
very clear she was not interest-
ed in motherhood, her intentions
could have easily changed once
she laid eyes on the child.
With her social worker at her
side, the birth mother briefly held
the baby before giving him to
Alene and symbolically relin-
quishing her parental rights.
"We were on pins and needles
the whole time. We knew she
was committed, but there was
still moments of doubt," said
Alene. She and her husband
don't want to be identified by
their last name because Ben-
jamin's birth mother only knows
them by their first names.
Adoptions are emotional for all
parties involved. But there is a
financial component, too.
Jeff and Alene had costs ex-
ceeding $10,000. As soon as they
decided to adopt, the couple be-
gan looking for an agency that
would best suit their needs. Be-
cause the couple is older than
most parents seeking adoptive

children and because they are
Jewish, they had a more difficult
time finding a birth mother. Most
gentile birth parents want their
children raised in Christian
homes.
Through an adoption fair,
Alene and Jeff came in contact
with Child & Parent Services
Inc., a state-licensed adoption
agency in Bingham Farms.
When the agency opened in
June 1987, Cathy Eisenberg and
her partner Judy Etkin were del-
uged with 200 applications.
"When people heard there was
a new agency, they signed up be-
cause they knew there wouldn't
be a long waiting list," Ms. Eisen-
berg said. The number of couples
seeking children outweighs the
number of birth mothers looking
for homes for their unborn chil-
dren.
Ms. Eisenberg and Ms. Etkin
are both adoptive parents. In the
nine years of Child & Parent Ser-
vices' existence, they have placed
400 children.

Adoptions, Ms. Eisenberg
said, cost between $7,000 and
$16,000. Expenses vary because
adoptive parents can be respon-
sible for the birth mother's med-
ical fees.
The agency recently held its
annual fund-raiser to help off-
set costs incurred through work-
ing with birth mothers who
decide not to go through with an
adoption. They conducted a
small-scale fashion show, rais-
ing $10,000.
"People typically don't donate
to adoption agencies because
they don't feel a sense of obliga-
tion," Ms. Eisenberg said. "Even
though adoption has touched
their hearts, people feel they've
paid their dues."
When Michigan's adoption
laws changed two years ago, it
forced agencies to share their
business with attorneys. The
biggest change in the state's
adoption code is the authoriza-

LAW page 52

