Winter 2009 Newsletter

Hot of the press, come and get it! The FrameWorks Winter 2009 Newsletter has been completed! We hope you take a few minutes from your busy day to read our newsletter. Just click on the image above and a PDF file should open. Please let us know what you think and if there is anything you would like to see in future issues of "Open Your Life."

Thanks and Happy Holidays!

Foster Parents Forming Statewide Group

An article was posted in the Charleston Gazette today about the new group that is being formed in West Virginia. To read all about it, please click on the following link: http://wvgazette.com/News/200912040573

We hope you give us a call at 866-CALL-MWV and speak with Rachel if you are interested in participating!

A recap of The National Adoption Day Event!

WOW! The 2009 National Adoption Day event went better than we could have asked for! Almost 200 adoption/foster care supporters came together to celebrate the love and joys of adoption while remembering the thousands of children in the U.S. who are legally eligible for adoption and waiting for a forever family.

The event started off with two hours of play time at the Clay Center Discovery Museum. At approximately 5 o'clock, all of the children were asked to participate in a craft in which they decorated a luminary for the candlelight vigil. While the craft was going on, participants were treated to light snacks of fruits, vegetables and a delicious cake.

During the vigil, the luminaries surrounded the statue of children in the front court of the Clay Center. Being in the presence of so many wonderful families and children was inspiring and heartwarming. Seeing the candles lit at the vigil provided a beautiful image of how important it is to be the light of a child's life, which was the theme of this year's event. Following the same theme, all of our speakers beautiful stories provided a light of their own as we all reflected on the importance of opening our lives to children who are waiting for a family.

Speakers at the event included Michelle Bush, CASA Executive Director, Barbara Pryor, Legislative Assistant, David & Dawn Heatwole, Adoptive family and 2009 Angels in Adoption Recipients, and adopted teen Amber Beal spoke about adoption and the importance of coming together to celebrate such a special cause.

Thank you WVDHHR and the WV Retention and Recruitment Collaborative for sponsoring the event and thank you to every member of the R&R Collaborative - this was definitely a group effort and everyone did such a wonderful job helping out! Also, thank you to the Clay Center for your hospitality. We can't thank everyone who helped out enough!

Below are pictures of the event and we promise to keep them coming! If you took any pictures at the event and would like to share them, please send them to us - Email: crobey(at)missionwv.org

2009 National Adoption Month Drawing Contest Winners Announced!

Thank you to everyone who helped a child participate in this contest and thank you to all of the children who participated! Overall, we received 36 entries and choosing winners sure wasn't easy. We are posting the Grand Prize Winner and each 1st place winner in each age category. All winners, 1st through 3rd in each category, are posted on our website: 2009 Drawing Contest Winners.

Each participant who won will receive a prize donated by Sheetz and the grand prize, a digital camera with memory card, was donated anonymously. We would also like to thank our great judge and talented artist, Amanda Jane Miller of S.Charleston, WV. Thank you all so much!

The theme for this year's contest was "My Dreams"

The Grand Prize goes to Philip, age 11. Titled: "A New Beginning"

Age Category 4 - 6. 1st Place: Hayden (age6)

Age Category 7 - 9. 1st Place: Austin (age 7)

Age Category 10 - 13. 1st Place: Emma (age 11)

Age Category 14 - 18. 1st Place: Natasha (age 14)

Adoption Month Press Conference

A National Adoption Month Press Conference was held yesterday at The Supreme Court Chambers in Charleston, West Virginia. The purpose of the conference was to promote awareness of the thousands of children in foster care and encourage West Virginians to consider adoption.

Speakers included, Steven Canterbury (Administrative Director), Chief Justice Brent D. Benjamin, Justice Workman, and concluded with a touching adoption story from the E family about their special choice to adopt two different sets of siblings after first having a biological daughter. Spoken with love and compassion in his voice, the adoptive father's story was very touching and when his 9 year old adoptive daughter spoke, almost everyone in the crowd was in tears. His daughter, spoke of the many homes she had lived in while in foster care and about how happy she is now that she has found love in her new adoptive family with her new mommy and daddy.

Above: The E family with Justice Workman
Chief Justice Benjamin and Justice Workman spoke about their personal experiences with adoption as well as their professional experiences helping children who have been abused and/or neglected. As they mentioned, there are thousands of children in the foster care system and approximately 1,000 of them in WV are legally eligible to be adopted and waiting for a permanent family. Chief Justice Benjamin mentioned how important it is for West Virginians to help our children and realize the small things that are important in the life of a child. A child who is waiting to be adopted doesn't have a family of their own to come home to after school, a family to eat dinner with, or a family to be encouraged by.

Those who spoke, urged everyone listening to open their lives, hearts and homes to West Virginia children. There are so many wonderful kids in our state who are legally eligible for adoption, but sadly, their age or other circumstances keep them from finding a loving family. We at FrameWorks encourage you to please visit our website (click here: Waiting Children) or visit the State's site http://www.adoptawvchild.org/ and learn more about the children in West Virginia who are waiting for a loving family. Also, our number is 866-CALL-MWV and we are waiting to hear from you.

A special thank you to Nikki Tennis and staff of the Administrative Office of the Supreme Court of Appeals of WV for organizing and hosting this wonderful event.

Event Reminder!

We hope to see you on Saturday at the Clay Center in Charleston, West Virginia for our big National Adoption Day Event! Below is a recap of the schedule:

Starting at 3 PM, event participants will have free access to the Discovery Museum, followed by refreshments and a luminary project for children at the Intermezzo café from 4:45 to 5:30. The celebration will conclude outside with a candlelight ceremony.

We hope that if adoption has touched your life in any way or if you would like to open your heart and life to adoption, that you join us.

If you have thought about adoption, what kinds of questions do you have? Please feel free to comment on our blog and we can get some discussion going! Or, if you feel more comfortable making a phone call, our number is 866-CALL-MWV. Thanks for reading our blog and we look forward to seeing you this Saturday at the Clay Center in Charleston, WV!

A BIG THANKS to IHOP of Barboursville, WV!

Above: IHOP's friendly Staff

We had a wonderful event last night at the IHOP in Barboursville. We had several people show up in support of the event and met lots of new people. The highlight of the evening was seeing the Bo family with their daughter J. J’s adoption was finalized yesterday morning and we celebrated with cake and balloons!

Above: The B family entering IHOP

20% of proceeds between the hours of 5 to 9 PM will be donated to FrameWorks. The IHOP staff worked really hard for us and were very accommodating. We are most appreciative for everything Barboursville IHOP and their wonderful staff have done to help us empower the lives of West Virginia Foster Children.

Above, FrameWorks adoption worker, Carol Phipps,

talks with adoptive parent and friend of FrameWorks, Rita Boyles.
And below: Kellie Booton and Patti Harold, WVDHHR Social Workers

came out to support FrameWorks!We would like to thank everyone who came out in support of FrameWorks last night!

Have you ever thought about adoption or fostering?

The FrameWorks PR Director and Americorp VISTA spent Nov. 5 - 8 at the Huntington Mall table fair. Shown above is a photo of the FrameWorks display and Mini Heart Gallery of WV. The Mini Heart Gallery, just like the large Heart Gallery, displays photos and profiles of children/youth in West Virginia who are currently legally eligible to be adopted and waiting for a family. If your business or organization would like to display the Heart Gallery at an event of conference, please give us a call.

We would like to thank the Huntington Mall for inviting us to this event and to all of Huntington Mall's Patrons who stopped by to talk to us about adoption and foster care in WV. Overall, the table fair was a great success and we sent out several information packets this morning to people who are interested in fostering and/or adopting.

If you missed us at the mall, we would love to talk to you about adoption or foster care - just dial 866-CALL-MWV. With approximately 1,000 children in the West Virginia Foster Care System who are legally eligible for adoption, we ask that if you are considering adoption, you stop waiting and pick up the phone!

Dine for Kids

Please join us for another great opportunity to Dine for Kids on Thursday November 12th! That's right, all you have to do is go out to eat, have fun, and you are helping empower the lives of foster children! On November 12th, the IHOP at Barboursville Mall in Huntington, WV is donating 20% of all proceeds between the hours of 5 to 9 p.m. to FrameWorks.

FrameWorks is a nonprofit organization located in Hurricane, WV that works state-wide to find loving permanent families for children who are waiting in foster care and are legally eligible for adoption.

We hope you can join us and spread the word about our upcoming event. Thank you IHOP!

Mark your calendars! 2009 National Adoption Month Event

Please join us on Saturday November 21st at the Clay Center in Charleston, WV for an Adoption Month Celebration. Starting at 3 p.m. with free admission to the Discovery Museum for Adoption Month Event participants followed by refreshments and a luminary project at 4:45 and ending with an outside candlelight ceremony from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.

This event has been organized and sponsored by the WV Recruitment and Retention Collaborative and the WV Department of Health and Human Resources. For more details, please click on the image of the flyer to open a larger/printable PDF file or call 866-CALL-MWV. We hope to see you there!

FrameWorks Features Families - WV adoptive families!

Pictured Above: The Boyles Family

Last year, FrameWorks started an Adoptive Family Portrait Project to showcase the positive aspects of adopting through the foster care system. As a part of our 2008 National Adoption Month event, we displayed these photos throughout the lower rotunda of the WV Capitol Building and it was very inspiring to see so many loving families who have opened their lives and hearts to foster children. As a part of that project, the families agreed that we could continue to use the photos and their stories to continue this showcase of love. While not all of the participating families have yet been added to our website, you can read several stories by visiting our website, click here: WV Adoptive Families.

2009 Drawing Contest Update!

We have great news! Sheetz is making a donation to the 2009 National Adoption Month Drawing Contest for the purchase of gift cards for prizes! We now have a very nice Sony Cybershot Digital Camera with a memory card for the grand prize winner, and funding to provide gift cards to many of the children who participate!

We are excited about this year's drawing contest as entries have slowly started making their way into our mailbox, however, we feel that more time should be allotted for the children/youth to submit their art and we have extended the due date until October 28th. We will be accepting art for the drawing contest as long as it is post marked by October 28th! So please, spread the word and submit your children's/youth's artwork - they have a great chance of winning a prize. Also, art is such a wonderful creative outlet of expression and with this year's theme "My Dreams" we hope that the children and youth who participate are able to realize their strengths and know that their dreams and goals are limitless.

We are so grateful to the donor of the digital camera and to Sheetz for providing prize money for this great cause. Thank you to everyone who has helped out, we can't wait to post photos of the art after the final submissions are made. To learn more and download the entry form, please click here: 2009 Drawing Contest.