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Adoption Announcements!

Your Daddy & Mommy
Wanted someone to love
So we prayed for an angel.
A special one from above.

God said, "I'll answer your prayer
And send you one of my own.
An angel I've saved
For just the right home."

We said "Thank you Dear Lord.
We'll never forget this gift you gave
We'll take the angel home with us
And someday we will say

‘Your Mommy & Daddy
Received and angel to love
After we searched the world all over
God sent you from above.'"

Abigail, Cynthia, & Duncan

Cynthia will be 11 this month! Happy Birthday Cynthia! Cynthia is also very pretty and says that there is nothing that she doesn't like. She's content to play outdoors all day long. She likes sledding, biking, climbing trees, gardening, camping, and riding in the car/traveling. She's also into games, crafts, Barbies, cooking, and photography. Cynthia is very creative with a wonderful imagination. She also enjoys singing and acting. While she has all of these outside interests, Cynthia is also a good student who likes math and loves to read. She does well with other children and is a big help with very young children. She would prefer a two-parent family.

Duncan just turned 9 in July. He's quite a little charmer! He really loves the outdoors and will try anything new. He likes riding his bike and rock climbing at the gym. Duncan is a very good hiker and tends to take a leadership role. He has a good imagination, and, like his sisters, enjoys acting. And, of course, Duncan loves his Spider-man costume, but does not like broccoli and spinach. Duncan is looking for a family that will take him on picnics, out shopping, and out fishing. He would like to have both a mom and a dad.

The Department would like to have this sibling group adopted together. Adoption subsidies may be available. Interested families should contact Lorianne Whitney, Adoption Caseworker, DHHS, Biddeford at 1-800-322-1919 or you can call her direct phone at 286-2494.

Thank you so much to the volunteers that help get this newsletter out each month. A special thank you goes out to Anita West, Betty King, Kayla Curtis, and Kristen Moran for their tremendous help with the August edition of Family Ties.

AFFM extends another special thank you to two businesses now offering discounts with the AFFM discount cards. Sonny's Driving Range and Training Center in Winterport is offering $1 off every bucket of balls. And Reflections in Ashland is now giving a 25% discount. Thank you both for your support!

AFFM would also like to thank CWTI for donating materials to our library.

In addition, AFFM has also purchased a variety of new books, for both parents and children, that are now available to be signed out. Call 1-800-833-9786 to see about signing some new material out.

Hoops 4 Hope

Juvenile Fire Setters Awareness:

The United States Fire Administration reports that between 25-40% of all fires are set by children. These numbers have grown and the Child Welfare Training Institute (CWTI) is holding four trainings to give parents a better understanding of this and some intervention strategies they can use.

The workshop is presented by Bill Leighton, a Fire & Life Safety Education Coordinator from the Maine Fire Training & Education Program. Bill is a retired Fire Lieutenant from the Bangor Fire Department with 27 years experience.

The workshop will cover the best way to understand a child's firesetting by looking at the context and motivation for the behavior. Bill will also help to sort out the myths from the realities of juvenile fire setting.

The first two of these workshops will be September 20th from 6:00-9:00 PM at the Biddeford DHHS building and September 27th form 9:00-noon at the American Red Cross in Topsham. Contact Jeanine Brown at 1-866-354-0084 or email jeanine.brown@maine.gov for information and registration. The next two workshops will be in November and December in Augusta and Bangor. More information will be available as they approach.

Facilitating Attachment in Foster and Adopted Children:

The Child Welfare Training Institute (CWTI) will hold a training at the DHHS office in Lewiston Friday, October 14th, from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM.

The training will be presented by Ellen Crosby and Eileen Fair, both LCSWs in private practice with many years of experience working with children and families.

They will give a brief overview of attachment theory and the continuum of attachment disorders. They will discuss the qualities needed to establish an emotionally healthy attachment relationship as well as take a look at the impact of loss, separation, and trauma, and how they effect a child's emotional development and ability to attach.

The main focus will be on the ways unhealthy attachment experiences can manifest in a fostering environment, as well as strategies for foster and adoptive parents to meet the challenges and needs presented by the children. The workshop will include discussion, case material, and videotapes. Contact Jeanine Brown at 866-354-0084 or email jeanine.brown@maine.gov for information and registration.

Simple Strategies for Mini-Miracles:

Foster parents (successful ones) don't expect or demand huge miracles. They look for the small successes that may lead to miracles.

This workshop offers tried and true strategies for handling some of the stress points of foster parenting. Parents will leave with new tools and strategies for tackling homework struggles, self-esteem, bonding, and other issues that are common in foster parenting. All participants of the workshops are asked to come with one idea written down to share with the group.

The presenter for this workshop is Gail Underwood Parker who has raised nine children as a single, working mother. She is very familiar with the time and money constraints that most parents have to work with. She has a lot of tricks and tips to share from special projects, to supporting special needs children within the family, to building bonds. Ms. Parker offers a wide range of possibilities that can both make the child feel special and ease some of the more challenging behaviors parents face.

The first of these workshops is October 1st from 1:00-4:00 PM at DHHS in Rockland. Contact Jeanine Brown (CWTI) at 866-354-0084 or email jeanine.brown@maine.gov for information and registration. There will also be more of these workshops coming up in November and December in Lewiston and Biddeford.