March 6, 2013 – In the fall of 2012, Bright Futures Adoption Center (BFAC) got a call from a prospective adoptive family.  They wereinterested in learning more about adopting an infant or twins with Down's Syndrome. This is not the first time BFAC has received such a call, but this family's story was anything but typical.  Several years ago, they decided as a family (mom, dad, and teenage son and daughter) to seek to provide foster care for children in need.  They had first-hand experience with a family member with a disability and wanted to bring love and nurturance to a child with a disability.

The family participated in the training necessary to prepare themselves and were just about to embark on the home study process when, in the fall of 2011, the family was struck by tragedy.  Their teenage son was killed in an automobile accident.  The family put their foster care plans on hold and grieved for their son.  As they regrouped themselves and began to move forward with their lives, they returned to their desire to help children in need.  They wanted to do this, not to replace their son, but to honor his memory and commitment to bringing joy to children in need.  They decided to pursue adoption as a more permanent way of helping a child.

While working with the director of another adoption program, Karen Cheyney, BFAC program director had this family on her mind. She asked the adoption program whether they often see infants with Down's Syndrome.  The director mentioned that there were infant twin girls that DCF (Department of Children & Families) was trying to place, one of whom had Down's Syndrome.  Karen called the children's DCF worker to let her know about this family. From there everything moved quickly.  BFAC home studied the family and began to learn about the girls and their needs so that they could assess the pre-adoptive family's ability to raise the girls.  Mom and daughter, especially, were thrilled about the idea of parenting twin girls and the whole family was committed to learning about and supporting the girls' African American heritage, and advocating for the girls' special needs.

Just before Christmas, the family met the girls and a transition was started.  The pre-adoptive family worked closely with the foster family to learn about the girls' likes, dislikes and routine.  The families "clicked" and when the girls (then 14 months old) came home to their forever family in January, 2013, the foster mother was comfortable knowing she would see them again.

The adoptive parents say that they would never have taken this path if it were not for their son.  They plan to teach the girls about their big brother, and although the girls will never know him, they hope that what he stood for will grow in their hearts so that they too will give back to others.

February 14, 2013 – 

February 6, 2013 – Did you know our Fay A. Rotenberg School has a Girl Scout troop?  Did you also know that Friday, February 8 is National Girl Scout Cookie Day, celebrating the world's largest girl-run business and the real purpose of the cookie program: to teach girls five essential skills, including goal setting, decision making, money management, business ethics, and people skills.

The Girl Scouts of Troop 35030 at the Fay A. Rotenberg School recently designed and commissioned a Troop Crest. This crest, which is unique to their Troop, was manufactured using funds received through the Annual Girl Scout Cookie Sale from last year. The girls wrote a little about the process: “This is our Crest. No other Troop in the whole entire world has it. It’s original and it symbolizes us, Troop 35030. We couldn’t vote as a Troop on just one crest because so many were personal to us, so we picked two that represented us the best. The lightning bolt stands for inspiration and creative power. Because we seek inspiration in our lives from each other and we want to give back to others. The white rose stands for new beginnings. Being here at Rotenberg is kind of like a second chance for a new beginning. We couldn’t vote on either so a former Girl Scout from the Troop sketched the outline of what we might have wanted. It was exactly as we had imagined. We morphed the two crests together and created our own crest that defines our Troop.”

January 31, 2013 – Recently, RFK Children’s Action Corps hosted its Annual Meeting.  The event brought together the agency’s Board of Directors, leaders from Massachusetts’ child welfare and juvenile justice agencies as well as political leaders from the Commonwealth.  

Discussion and presentations focused on the work being done in the field, highlighted the Agency’s successes from the previous year and provided a glimpse into opportunities and work in the coming year.

We were thrilled to have Thomas Abt as keynote speaker for the evening to share his insight into juvenile justice from the national level.  Abt serves as Chief of Staff to the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) at the U.S. Department of Justice, where he works on a broad spectrum of criminal and juvenile justice issues.   

Abt shared his experience and hands-on knowledge about the National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention, the expansion of public and private partnerships, and his thoughts on the political landscape of juvenile justice in America.  He also spoke about the White House Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative and how it is impacting communities across America including here in Boston.

Following his presentation, the audience was highly engaged in an energetic and thoughtful questions and answers period; with a recurring theme focusing on prevention and ending the cradle to prison pipeline.

On hand were also young adults who were in RFK Children’s Action Corps programs as youth, and are now staff members at our programs.  Aaron, a former EWT School student, welcomed the guests by playing classical guitar, and Jasmin, a former DDAP youth shared her story of personal change and second chances.