As I’ve been working with my co-leader Anna on building up our adoption support group, Oregon Adoptive Parents Network. To keep our group growing and thriving, here are some things we found needing attention:
Advertising: How are people expected to attend a group they know nothing about? Currently with November being National Adoption Awareness Month, my co-leader Anna and I are really beginning to push advertising. We’ve made our fliers and have distributed them with local adoption agencies, and community resource places. We have also put an ad in the local paper. Most people who’ve come to our group have been referred through a major adoption resource provider in our state or by word of mouth from a friend or case worker.
Our Mission: It’s important to know not just what your mission is, but who your mission is for. With such sensitive information being discussed in group, we did not want just any person with an interest in adoption to be invited in. We’ve decided it would be best for pre-certified families only to attend. The aim of our group is to provide resources, encouragement and support for families who’ve adopted or are waiting to adopt.
Organizing: Being organized does not have to be complicated. If we are too ridged in organization, I think we might lose much of the laid back and comfortable feel of our group. Anna and I stay organized from the outside. With just two of us, it makes it easy to decide who will take on a specific responsibility in keeping things going behind the scenes. We have our group reminders set to go out prior to group, our room reserved, and resources handy.
Our Environment: We want a place where people can come sit down, and put their feet up on a chair if they want to. We try to make sure there are snacks available to our group as well. There are those who haven’t been able to attend due to child care issues, so we are working on providing an option for those families.
Networking: By connecting with other groups, organizations and individuals, we have been able to get the word out on our group. Groups that allow information distribution on our group are likely to get distributions made through our group as well, in turn, benefiting each other.
Melissa is a Families.com Christian Blogger. Read her blogs at: http://members.families.com/mj7/blog