Jewish agency adds adoption program

     By Sonya Padgett
     View staff writer
      Adrienne Rosenberg knows firsthand the emotional pain of infertility.
      She also knows the unspeakable joy of adopting a child.
      That knowledge is one reason why, when she became director of the Jewish Family Service Agency of Clark County in 1997, Rosenberg began laying the foundation to add adoption services to the many programs offered by the agency.
      Her goal became reality in February when the state licensed the agency -- a nonprofit, nonsectarian professional social work and counseling agency -- to run an infant adoption program for Jewish families.
      "Infertility is a big problem in the Jewish community," said Rosenberg, whose two children, now in their 20s, were adopted as infants after Rosenberg and her husband struggled with infertility. "We had a number of requests for (adoption services) from Jewish couples with infertility problems."
      Rosenberg came to Las Vegas from Cherry Hill, N.J., where she was director of a Jewish service agency that did adoptions. She felt the local agency's services were incomplete without an adoption program.
      "I believe in adoption," she said. "We like to say now we serve from the womb to the tomb."
      The agency provides a variety of services and programs to the Jewish community, including counseling, senior programs, a job bank and a limited food bank.
      The adoption program fills a need in the Jewish community because there are certain customs of the Jewish faith related to childrearing. Rosenberg said the agency's staff is more in-tune with these customs than other adoption agencies. Such customs include naming, where girls are given their Hebrew name, and the brit milah, where boys receive their Hebrew names and are circumcised.
      "It doesn't mean that Jewish families wouldn't choose other agencies," Rosenberg said. "Having been an adoptive parent, I would hope that a Jewish agency would better understand."
      Lisa Burpee, a licensed social worker who has worked in adoption for the state for 10 years, now heads up the agency's adoption program.
      "Our focus is to assist with adoptions for Jewish families," Burpee said. "The intent is to raise the child in a Jewish home."
      The service has been so successful that Burpee has had to create a waiting list for adoptive parents.
      "We are bigger than we ever hoped to be sooner than we thought," Burpee said. "It began as a part-time program because we wanted to see where it would go. It really snowballed."
      The agency had an adoption service until 1996, Burpee said.
      The demand for the adoption service was always present, even when the service wasn't available, she added.
      "I was fortunate to get the program up and running," Burpee said. "It was an opportunity I couldn't pass up."
      While the agency deals mainly with infants, adoptive children can range from newborns to age 2, depending on the situation.
      "A lot of times, a woman will have a sibling group that she wants placed," Burpee said.
      The children don't have to come from Jewish birth parents. The agency provides nonsectarian birth parent services to pregnant women who are considering adoption. The women usually hear about the agency through doctors, hospitals or word-of-mouth.
      "They come to us because they're in crisis and looking for adoption placement," Burpee said. "We know our birth parents and provide services they wouldn't get elsewhere. That's why I like working with a small agency like this."
      Adoption fees are based on a sliding scale and range from $4,000 to $7,500. The fees cover legal, medical and administrative expenses.
      The process for approval, including extensive background checks of the adoptive parents, takes approximately three months.
      "It's a labor intensive process, as it should be," Burpee said.
      Those interested in the program can call Burpee or Rosenberg at 732-0304.