Twenty-six years ago, I became a mom through adoption. My joy spilled over into a lifelong dream – that anyone with a good heart and a sincere desire would be able to fulfill their hope of having a family! My dream started with my own children and has grown into a thousand wonderful families. It began in a small, dilapidated house in Pawlet, Vermont, outgrew four other places, and finally settled into our beautiful, but tired, rented farmhouse in Middletown Springs. Over this quarter of a century, an incredible staff expanded the scope of our work, from creating families to caring for the families we help to create.

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I think back with great emotion to the very beginning … 1978, when I picked up a handsome hitchhiker. We got married and decided that we were ready to become parents. For us, that meant calling adoption agencies. We were told no fewer than 29 times that we did not qualify to adopt: “You haven’t been married the required 3 years? … You mean he’s Jewish and you’re not? … Your income is how much? … Sorry, you can’t adopt.” Short on patience and long on determination, I vowed that nobody in the world was going to tell us that we could not become parents. I realized that I needed to take things into my own hands.

And I did. I talked with friends, family, acquaintances, and strangers. I found legal alternatives to the agencies telling me “no.” And I learned about women who thought we would be just fine as adoptive parents! Although I was teaching kindergarten, my head was in the clouds – dreaming of the day when we would be parents. Tag sales became joyful events as I started filling my bottom dresser drawer with baby clothes. I no longer dreaded getting invited to my friends’ baby showers, knowing that one day soon I too would share in one. And then, on December 30, 1979, we watched our daughter Aura being born through an open adoption. A year later, on March 26, 1981, we picked up our son Isaac at the hospital through a closed adoption. We were parents! A little sleep deprived, a little ragged around the edges, but blissfully happy!

Dawn, Joel, Isaac, and Aura

Then, in 1987, the New York Times ran an article mentioning our story and the phone began ringing off the hook. People from all over, told they could not adopt, were calling and seeking answers. I knew firsthand that with some knowledge and a lot of determination, they too could become parents. Friends in Adoption, and my lifelong commitment to compassionate adoption, took off.

As many of you know, I never stop dreaming! And my dream now, shared by our Board of Directors and staff, is to ensure a permanent home for our alumni and their case files at FIA. It is my deepest hope that you will participate in our capital campaign, helping this dream come true for our adoptive and birth families – past and future – and for all of our children.

Dawn Smith-Pliner
Founder and Executive Director
September, 2005

"There's No Place Like Home"