We had 26 members in attendance at this week’s meeting. There we no guests or visiting Rotarians.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Rich Lalley said there was a great opportunity to hear Sylvia Whitlock speak at Rotary International in Evanston on Tuesday, August 7 from 2 to 3 p.m. She became the first female president of a Rotary club in the late 80s. She was among the first women who were invited to join the Duarte (CA) Rotary club resulting in the club being “excommunicated” from RI’s official roles. It took a Supreme Court ruling in 1987 to open membership to women. In the same year Ms. Whitlock was elected president of the Duarte club.
HAPPY BUCK$: Tony Kambich contributed Happy Buck$ to commemorate the saving of the player and coach of the Thai youth soccer team trapped in a cave. Heather contributed in honor of England’s soccer team’s success in the World Cup.
SPEAKER: The speaker of the day, Sharon Komlofske, was introduced by David Birkenstein. Sharon is the Director of Development for the agency “Gift of Adoption,” and is the mother of Mary Komlofske, the Program Director at the WYO who frequently represents the ‘YO’ at Rotary meetings. The number of international adoptions has decreased dramatically in recent years. Russia has stopped allowing Americans to adopt Russian children, and numerous foreign countries are building stronger domestic adoption programs. Today most international adoptions are of older children and those with special needs. Two changes in our country are higher fees and longer delays in the adoption process.
Domestically, more children are going into foster care due to the opioid crisis. In 2016 275,000 children were placed in foster care. Adoptions are more difficult when children are in foster care, so pregnant women who are planning on giving up their child can avoid foster care if they immediately place the baby up for adoption.
Some states remove parental rights if the mothers have a drug addiction. Unfortunately, siblings are often split up when parental rights are removed, causing the children psychological difficulties.
Sharon mentioned a number of statistics: 80% of the prison population spent time in foster care. -- There are 153 million orphans in the world, 400,000 in the U.S. -- Less than 3% in foster care will earn a college degree. -- 50% of those in foster care will be unemployed at 24 year of age. -- 25% will experience mental illness. -- One third of the girls who age out of foster care at age 18 will be pregnant by the time they are 21.
The adoption process is expensive and can be a barrier for a family seeking to adopt. The average cost for domestic adoptions is $29,000, while international adoptions are about $36,000. There is a lot of paper work and checking the financial health of the adopting parents; also, home inspections. International adoptions also involve the cost of travel, visas and passports. Someone wanting to adopt a child from Uganda must spend a six-month residency in the country. Sharon’s organization, “Gift of Adoption,” raises funds in order to help families with the costs of the process. Each qualified family receives a grant of $7500. The priorities for Gift of Adoption are 1) for children destined to foster care, 2) to keep siblings together, 3) children with medical needs and 4) for children ageing out of an orphanage or foster care. The agency helped 365 children to be adopted last year and be placed in a loving home.