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News
Fairbanks Counseling & Adoption News:
FCA News - Fall 2007
FCA News - Spring 2006
ANGELS IN ADOPTION: Linda and Dave Huffaker have received the 2007 "Angels in Adoption" award for Alaska. This national award is given by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute to honor families for their advocacy for children through foster care and adoption. Senator Lisa Murkowski plans to present this award to Linda and Dave at Fairbanks Counseling and Adoption at Noon on Saturday, October 27, 2007. Please join them to celebrate this honor. Refreshments will be served. Contact Melody at 456-4729 or fca@fcaalaska.org with questions.
STREET OUTREACH PROGRAM GRANT LOST: Federal funding for Fairbanks Counseling & Adoption's Street Outreach Program for homeless and runaway teens was not renewed. FCA is turning to the community in hopes of raising enough money to stay open at least through the winter. The program has been funded for the past two years through a pair of $100,000 federal grants. The application to renew the grants, which were administered through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and which are very competitive, was recently denied, leaving the program without funding. FCA is hoping to raise $10,000 to keep the program running. Please join us in a Candlelight Vigil on Wednesday, November 14 at 6:00 p.m. at Pioneer Park.
Cindy and Bob Gray with Camille Connelly-Terhune.
Thank you Cindy & Bob for auctioneering “A Taste of Art!”
Jim Matherly (pictured to the left with Camille) has been helping to M.C. FCA’s various fundraisers for over 10 years. We can always count on Jim.
Bill Brophy from The Usibelli Foundation presents Camille with a check for $1,500 to help support FCA’s programs. Thanks Usibelli!
Jinx Whitaker present Camille with a $2000 check from Holland America Westours.
The Family Treatment Department at Fairbanks Counseling and Adoption, which provides individual, marital, and family counseling, has been incredibly busy since the start of 2006. Our team consists of Dr. Mikki Barker, Consulting Psychiatrist; Ed Fitzpatrick, Clinical Supervisor; Randy Lewis, Clinician; Dolly Morris, Clinician; and Mike Magowan, Clinician. Also providing services are Amber Buxton, Assessment Coordinator; Maggie Krieg-Wehr, Assessment Counselor and Linda Huffaker, Counselor. At times, myself, Dolly and Randy have had to remember to exhale. We see children, adolescents, adults and families, all dealing with very significant life issues. And, we are frequently rewarded by the strides which our clients have made within the setting of counseling at FCA. Many, if not most, are seeking lasting, positive change in their lives as they initiate and complete services with us.
The Family Support Program began at Fairbanks Counseling & Adoption in January 2005. Since then Maggie and Amber have assisted many families in the Fairbanks area with services such as: education in family life skills, supportive home visits, and parent advocacy. Linda teaches parenting skills in her Nurturing Parent classes. The goal of our program is to support safe and stable families and to promote permanency for children. This program is funded through a grant from the State of Alaska. If you have any questions please feel free to call Amber at 456-4729.
- Ed Fitzpatrick, Clinical Supervisor
“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.” Mother Theresa
Street Outreach at Fairbanks Counseling and Adoption is growing, one day, sometimes one hour at a time. In short, our staff has encountered and works with youth who come from severely abused homes, isolated from the public eye, to young people living on the streets, seven days a week, 365 days a year. What does someone say to a young man or a woman who lives outside all year, even when temperatures have dropped to negative 50 below or colder? What do we tell a 13 year old that has been abandoned by a parent? How do we break the cycle when resources are limited and fewer become available to communities each day? FCA cannot help these youth alone. If you are interested in donating to the Street Outreach program, we can use good used or new adult sized backpacks, first aid items, individual hygiene items (soap, shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste, etc.), fleece blankets, socks (black or white), hats, and gloves. Cash donations also help towards purchasing these needed items. If you are interested in becoming involved in an individual’s life, please contact Erin or Maggie at: 456-4729. Thank you for your support. “Let us begin!” - Erin Butts, Youth Advocate
Fairbanks Counseling & Adoption staff and Board of Directors would like to thank all of the many volunteers who help each year with our major fundraising event “A Taste of Art”. This year’s event “Aloha Alaska” was outstanding and we appreciate all of you who donated your time to raise funds for services for children and families in need in our community! We couldn’t do it without you! What a great gift to our community!
Thanks go to Curtis Thomas, Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, for volunteering as Honorary Chair and to the Fab Five, Heather Lambert, Elizabeth Schok, Kelly Shirley, Jessica Thomas and Traci Schacle, for chairing this event. Thank you to the Pantheon Steel Drum Band for their wonderful music. Thanks also go to Jim Matherly, our MC and DJ, and Bob and Cindy Gray, our auctioneers, for the many years of
service they have donated to raising funds for FCA. FCA also thanks the many volunteers who have dedicated their time to this event for many years: Mary Bishop, The Carr Family, Pat Carroll, Courtney Carroll, Karen Day, Nancy DeWitt, Mary Anne Fey, Linda Fraini, Diane Hebert, Meg Johnson, Ray Martinez, Marj Moberly, Debbie Mowrey, Judy Stevenson, Bonnie Sullivan and Mt. McKinley Bank personnel. We also would like to thank our newer volunteers who have given so much time & support to FCA. We hope they will continue to come back year after year to be a part of the FCA family of volunteers. And, heartfelt thanks goes to Carol Mattison, who has helped FCA with this event since the
beginning, 17 years ago.
We thank all of our donors for their generous financial contributions and support. There are so many services that we are able to
provide because community members support our work and contribute generously to our
organization.
Speaking of FUNdraising…It’s that time of year! The sun is shining, the days are longer, the snow is melting away and people are out walking and running. It must be MOSQUITO MEANDER TIME! It’s time for everyone to get outside and walk, bike, rollerblade, push the baby stroller or run for fun. So, come and join in the fun with Fairbanks Counseling & Adoption’s annual family fun run/walk. Early registration begins May 30th through June 8. For late registration, the costs go up $5 on June 9. The race begins and ends at Pioneer Park on June 10, 2006. A Registration information is enclosed. Visit our website for more details at www.fcaalaska.org. - Camille Connelly-Terhune,
Executive Director
In 2004 Office of Children’s Services awarded the Permanent Families Contract for the Northern Region to Fairbanks Counseling and Adoption. The purpose of this three year contract is to complete adoption and guardianship homestudies for children in the custody of Office of Children’s Services. A homestudy is always a necessary component of the OCS adoption or guardianship process. The final legal steps to make a child a permanent member of their foster or relative home cannot occur without this family assessment.
During the past three years FCA’s Adoption Department has completed 141 homestudies, resulting in the adoption or guardianship of 182 children. The children involved have often been part of a sibling group adopted together and have ranged in age from six months to seventeen years.
In order to complete the homestudies, FCA adoption staff and sub-contractors have traveled as far away as
Barrow and Kaktovik on the North Coast, Scammon Bay on the West Coast, Soldotna in the South Central region of the state and Juneau in the Southeast. Many of our trips have taken us to the Nome area, where our work has included a homestudy for a family living in Savoonga on St. Lawrence Island and homestudies for families in various coastal villages. Also Kotzebue and numerous villages in that area have been served on a regular basis. The reason the contract work has covered such a large area, is that when an OCS case for a child originates in the Northern Region, services from our region must follow the child to wherever they are permanently placed.
The Permanent Families Contract has required much energy and dedication from our staff and contractors. They are the ones who arrange the extensive travel involved
(often on short notice, with an eye on the weather and a need to consider the individual situations of the families they are serving) and then work hard to complete the homestudies within a reasonable time frame. While there have been challenges in accomplishing the goals of this program, the
rewards have been great, as well. It is very satisfying to assist children and families in the permanency process. - Melody Jamieson, Adoption Coordinator
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