Jewish Post, Indianapolis, Marion County, 6 June 1969 — Page 6

THE JEWISH POST AND OPINION

Friday, June 6, 1969

Adoption Survey: Waiting Period Shortened

NEW YORK (P-0) -- Jewish parents wanting to adopt a child are not on long lists in most large cities in the United States. But there are few Jewish babies waiting to be adopted, the P-0 learned by talking with five Jewish adoption agencies in various cities. WHILE THE agencies surveyed handle children who are not from Jewish backgrounds, they place the children only with families who will raise them as Jews. Few inter-racial babies (where the mother is Jewish and the father Negro) are handled by these agencies. “We have great difficulty in placing an Inter-racial baby,” said Mrs. Annett Baran, supervisor of adoptions for Vista Del Mar, a multi-service children’s agency in Los Angeles. “We don’t have as much of a problem placing an Oriental baby whose mother or father is Jewish,” she said. Of the agencies surveyed in Detroit, Dallas, St. Louis, Memphis and Los Angeles, only the California agency said it had a long waiting list. “THERE ARE A greater number of unmarried mothers who are keeping their babies,” according to another spokesman for Vista Del Mar. “But there are more Jewish babies available in California today than five years ago,” the agency’s supervisor of adoptions said. “It all depends on how flexible the parents

are. “If they want a baby whose parents were both Jewish, college educated and who have shown some degree of advancement naturally the waiting period will be longer.” THE FIVE agencies estimated the average waiting period for a Jewish couple whose application has been processed is about nine months. But this varies depending upon the location. In Memphis the waiting period for a Jewish couple is less than nine months, according to Jack Lieberman, executive director of the Jewish Services Agency, the only Jewish adoption agency in Tennessee. He says the chances for a Jewish baby are very small in his agency which places children outside of the Memphis area. Like most agencies, the Memphis agency has fewer restrictions for adoption today than in the past. “When there were 20 or 15 applicants per child available, the restrictions were greater,” Lieberman said. HE SAID THAT in some areas in the South there is almost a 1-to-i ratio of children available for adoption to parents seeking a child. “Many couples want Jewish children,” Lieberman said. “But the rabbis here encourage couples to adopt a child who is not Jewish

and raise him to be Jew.” Mrs. Charlotte Schwartzberger of the Jewish Family and Children Service in St. Louis said that nearly one half of the children who are adopted through her agency are Jewish in the sense that either the mother or father was Jewish. She said the waiting period is much less today than it has been in the past and estimated about nine months for the waiting period in St. Louis. IN DETROIT there is a very small waiting list of couples waiting for a child or waiting to be processed as acceptable parents. “Usually the couple wants a baby whose mother was Jewish,” said Miss Rose Kaplan, casework director of Jewish Family and Children Service in Detroit. “We never have a problem of placing a Jewish baby,” she added. One of the trends that most of the agencies have been experiencing is children with neither parent being a Jew. The number of mothers who want their children in Jewish families is rising. It’s much easier to place a baby with parents who don’t care what sex or religion the baby is,” said Mrs. Sheri Portwood, Jewish Family Service, Dallas. “We have few Jewish Children waiting to be adopted, but we don’t have a long waiting list of parents either.

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Davis Cup Hopes Are Shattered BUCHAREST — Israel’s stay in the Davis Cup competition was short-lived as Rumania wiped the slate clean with a 5-0 victory over the Jewish squad. Israel had beaten Portugal in the first round play.

Second In A Series 27 Jews In Past 5 Years Join Unitarian Church By ANNE HENKIN to Christianity is the Unitarian social action, it is attractive to NEW HAVEN, Conn. (P-O) — Church. Because it is liberal in a non-committed marginal Jew. The closest step from Judaism its doctrine as well as in its How true is this theory? For confirmation, we inter-

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viewed Dr. Wayne Shuttee, spiritual leader of the Unitarian Society of New Haven. This is the largest Unitarian church in New Haven and consists of a membership of over five hundred. WITHIN THE past five years 27 persons of Jewish background have joined the Church. According to Dr. Shuttee, about half have joined because of intermarriage, the other half because they wanted a freer, more liberal approach to religion which they felt even Reform Judaism did not provide. During the past year eight persons have joined the church who came from Judaism. None of these, except for one couple, involved intermarriage. Of all who joined in the past five years, three have returned to Judaism. All the rest are still members of this Church or are no longer members because of moving to another city or state. DR. SHUTTEE stated that to the best of his knowledge and there may be more, there are at present 13 couples of mixed marriage in the congregation. In every case, their children are enrolled in the Church school program. In general, all of these come from an upper middle class strata and in general are professionals (doctors, university professors, teachers, social workers, scientists.) No rabbi in New Haven will officiate at mixed marriages, therefore Dr. Shuttee is often called in, which primarily take place at Yale University here. In the past five years he has performed ceremonies for 21 such couples who were not members of his congregation.