LilMtnCbn
06-24-2004, 09:00 AM
Holy crap! From below:
"The abiding frustration, for me, is that for unmarried females who do not
choose to abort, only about 2 percent choose adoption," he said. "It seems no
matter how strong we are making the case for adoption, we can't get those
numbers up."
http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-15/1088090871271890.xml
TIME TO BE A GRANDPA
Thursday, June 24, 2004
By Morgan Jarema
The Grand Rapids Press
JENISON -- A local man who started the region's first for-profit adoption
agency is retiring.
Richard Van Deelen will retire July 12 as executive director of Adoption
Associates Inc., headquartered in Jenison.
"It's bittersweet, but it's more sweet," said Van Deelen, 61, the father of
three children and grandfather of seven. "This, today, is a large, stable
agency, and I have to be more of a grandpa."
Before he started Adoption Associates, Van Deelen served as associate executive
director at Bethany Christian Services. He started there in 1969, two years
after earning a master's degree in social work from Michigan State University.
It was a career that in the beginning he didn't consider long term, he said.
When abortion was legalized in 1973 and welfare programs made it easier for
women to head households, Bethany noticed a large drop in infants available for
adoption.
"I remember saying to someone, 'There's no future in adoption,' " Van Deelen
said.
But instead of leaving the field, his passion for adoption started to take
root, he said.
He left Bethany in 1989 because he wanted to specialize in adoption, he said.
Bethany also offers foster care, refugee placement, pro-life pregnancy
counseling and child-welfare programs.
Glenn DeMots, executive director of Bethany Christian Services, started there
around the same time as Van Deelen.
He credits his former colleague as being "one of the keys" for Bethany in
making connections with agencies in other states and orphanages overseas to
boost availability of infants.
Since Van Deelen founded Adoption Associates in 1990, the agency has placed
more than 2,000 children through domestic and international adoption.
The agency has four branch offices -- in Saginaw, Lansing, Farmington Hills and
West Hartford, Conn.
"I wanted to help children and birth mothers and families as a professional
social worker specializing in adoption," he said. "But it was kind of like
there was a target on my back for criticism (for being for-profit)."
Although the agency could solicit for public funding, Van Deelen says it has
never done so.
"The problem with publicly funded programs is they seduce organizations into
providing the services and then pay them 85 percent of what it costs to run
them, so they have to get into the never-ending fund-raising aspect to keep
things going."
Though he sees "nothing but growth for international adoptions," Van Deelen
leaves the agency with one nagging thought.
"The abiding frustration, for me, is that for unmarried females who do not
choose to abort, only about 2 percent choose adoption," he said. "It seems no
matter how strong we are making the case for adoption, we can't get those
numbers up."
Jane Bareman, associate executive director and a 13-year Adoption Associates
employee, will take over Van Deelen's role, although he plans to keep an office
in Jenison and serve as part-time development and marketing director.
While her predecessor shied away from seeking public funds for programs,
Bareman said the agency might consider it once she takes over.
"I think it's important to get the community involved in recognizing the
importance of adoption," she said.
"We could use funds to promote special-needs adoptions, and we would love to be
able to contribute to orphanages overseas. These things would only help grow
adoption as a whole."
-------------------------
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail . . . but, a true friend will
be sitting next to you saying, "Damn . . . that was fun!"
-----Unknown
"The abiding frustration, for me, is that for unmarried females who do not
choose to abort, only about 2 percent choose adoption," he said. "It seems no
matter how strong we are making the case for adoption, we can't get those
numbers up."
http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-15/1088090871271890.xml
TIME TO BE A GRANDPA
Thursday, June 24, 2004
By Morgan Jarema
The Grand Rapids Press
JENISON -- A local man who started the region's first for-profit adoption
agency is retiring.
Richard Van Deelen will retire July 12 as executive director of Adoption
Associates Inc., headquartered in Jenison.
"It's bittersweet, but it's more sweet," said Van Deelen, 61, the father of
three children and grandfather of seven. "This, today, is a large, stable
agency, and I have to be more of a grandpa."
Before he started Adoption Associates, Van Deelen served as associate executive
director at Bethany Christian Services. He started there in 1969, two years
after earning a master's degree in social work from Michigan State University.
It was a career that in the beginning he didn't consider long term, he said.
When abortion was legalized in 1973 and welfare programs made it easier for
women to head households, Bethany noticed a large drop in infants available for
adoption.
"I remember saying to someone, 'There's no future in adoption,' " Van Deelen
said.
But instead of leaving the field, his passion for adoption started to take
root, he said.
He left Bethany in 1989 because he wanted to specialize in adoption, he said.
Bethany also offers foster care, refugee placement, pro-life pregnancy
counseling and child-welfare programs.
Glenn DeMots, executive director of Bethany Christian Services, started there
around the same time as Van Deelen.
He credits his former colleague as being "one of the keys" for Bethany in
making connections with agencies in other states and orphanages overseas to
boost availability of infants.
Since Van Deelen founded Adoption Associates in 1990, the agency has placed
more than 2,000 children through domestic and international adoption.
The agency has four branch offices -- in Saginaw, Lansing, Farmington Hills and
West Hartford, Conn.
"I wanted to help children and birth mothers and families as a professional
social worker specializing in adoption," he said. "But it was kind of like
there was a target on my back for criticism (for being for-profit)."
Although the agency could solicit for public funding, Van Deelen says it has
never done so.
"The problem with publicly funded programs is they seduce organizations into
providing the services and then pay them 85 percent of what it costs to run
them, so they have to get into the never-ending fund-raising aspect to keep
things going."
Though he sees "nothing but growth for international adoptions," Van Deelen
leaves the agency with one nagging thought.
"The abiding frustration, for me, is that for unmarried females who do not
choose to abort, only about 2 percent choose adoption," he said. "It seems no
matter how strong we are making the case for adoption, we can't get those
numbers up."
Jane Bareman, associate executive director and a 13-year Adoption Associates
employee, will take over Van Deelen's role, although he plans to keep an office
in Jenison and serve as part-time development and marketing director.
While her predecessor shied away from seeking public funds for programs,
Bareman said the agency might consider it once she takes over.
"I think it's important to get the community involved in recognizing the
importance of adoption," she said.
"We could use funds to promote special-needs adoptions, and we would love to be
able to contribute to orphanages overseas. These things would only help grow
adoption as a whole."
-------------------------
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail . . . but, a true friend will
be sitting next to you saying, "Damn . . . that was fun!"
-----Unknown
