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We've been to a matching picnic in So Cal. We were told by our adoption worker before we went that there were probably not going to be children who fit our family. We were interested in a single child under the age of three.
Even knowing that we went since we didn't want to miss an opportunity to find our child. Also we thought we might help in providing a fun day to the foster children.
My impression of the day was that it was a great event if you are interested in meeting an older child. We were assigned to work a booth for a portion of the day and interacted with the children who played that booth and then we were also assigned to a small group of children as they rotated through the games.
I have to say there were WAY more prospective adoptive parents there than there were children. Grown ups were practically tripping over each other and at times it seemed that some children had a small crowd of adults around them. The children probably had a great day since they had so many grown ups paying attention to them, but I felt so bad for the older ones. They had to know what was going on and really didnt' try to interact with the prospective famlilies too much. They stuck close to their social workers since that is where they felt most comfortable.
It was a good chance for us to spend some casual time with our Adoption Worker having lunch as they were all there.
There were some younger children there, but were all part of larger sibling groups. We didn't have the room to adopt more than one, so that made a sibling group impossible for us.
As we were leaving we were given a packet with information on each of the children. It was so sad to read about them as we had a good chance to spend some time with a handful of little boys who were just great little guys, but hadn't had many chances in life. I still find myself thinking about a few of them and pray that they found a family.
I would encourage you to attend if possible. Even if you don't think you'll meet the little one who will join your family, I think it's a wonderful experience just to interact with these special kids!
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