SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Group Will Hold Adoption Workshop

A nonprofit group for couples seeking to adopt children will hold a workshop about the joys and anxieties of adoption Friday at the San Juan Capistrano Regional Library.

Several adoptive families will participate on the panel and discuss their personal experiences in adopting both older children and infants through private and international agencies.

Called Routes to Adoption, the workshop will run from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the library, at 31495 El Camino Real.

“A lot of people come in, especially younger people who’ve been trying to have children through pregnancy,” said Mickey Marko, a volunteer with the Orange County Adoptive Parents Assn. “They’ve probably come from the county or some adoption lawyer who has told them it takes three years to get a child. We let them know there are other options to take.”

Marko said he and his wife were told the same thing when they went through traditional agencies to adopt. The couple went through an international adoption agency and were able to find their daughter in about six months.

“We want to let (potential adoptive parents) know there are other ways and that they’re not alone in their struggles,” Marko said. “I have a long list of agencies that can help.”

The workshop is sponsored in conjunction with National Adoption Week by the Orange County Adoptive Parents Assn., a nonprofit group with membership open to people interested in adopting or fostering children.

Founded in 1968, the organization aims to teach and support current and future adoptive parents and children.

“The children are welcome too,” Marko said. “It’s important for kids to know they’re not alone in this world in being adopted children.”

For information about the event, call (714) 496-0307 or (714) 786-6494.