[SadieJMomma]

May 17 is a Valley Matching picnic. (Sacramento area) Looking for insight...what's it like?

[Mommajanet2006]

I only went to one matching event. And it was fun. You meet a lot of children and you interact with them. But there isn't any pressure. Good Luck.

[kayb]

sw metioned there's one in late oct. sac area coming up. We are looking for 0-2 (0 preferably) and she said there would be under 2....Has anyone seen a baby there? I thought this was for 2+. Feedback please!
I'll cross post this. Thanks, Kay

[Sunshinemom]

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!

[Mommy2Be76]

My SW told us aboutthe Valley picnic. October 17th at McKinley Park. Although she did say they usually ask for families that want 5 and over or sib sets. I am not sure if that applied to this one.

[Happy_Camper]

Picnics are a great way to meet children in a fun and playful way without putting too many expectations on the child or family. It may allow you to find the right child. You never know who you may meet.

[frida_94601]

Hello I went to a matching picninc in sac, it was very overwhelming for me. Thier was a ton of kids as well as potential parents..they had activites where the child can interact with foster-adopt parents. It was hard for me to see some parents being over bearing and aggressive. It was not what I expected at all. I am not the aggressive type so this did not fit my style. It was great to see the children laugh and play. There was also sw taking copies of homestudies for the children as well. It was interesting I guess. I would never go again though. Thats just me.

[GivingHope]

My husband and I went to the picnic. It was very over whelming. I agree with the previous poster that some of the parents were very aggressive. Almost to the point that if I was a kid it would have scared me. There were a lot more parents than kids. My husband did have fun playing volleyball with some of the older kids. We did not find any children that matched what we were looking for. It was fun watching the kids play.