ABOUT KATIE PAGE SANDER:
Katie Page Sander earned both her Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology (1995) and a Master of Social Work degree (1997) from the University of Michigan. She has twenty-seven years of experience in the field of child welfare, including direct practice, supervision, training, community organization, program management, and policy development. Her work spans across the fields of foster care, adoption, youth development, parenting education, wrap-around programs, prevention services, and family and youth advocacy.
In addition to adopting two children through Hands Across The Water (once internationally and once through the agency's Waiting Child program), Katie held numerous positions at HATW since 2002 before having the honor of becoming the agency's Executive Director in 2016.
RESOURCES:
Hands Across The Water Contact Info
Hands Across The Water on Facebook
Hands Across The Water on Instagram
TRANSCRIPTION:
David Fair: This is 89 one WEMU, and the month of November is National Adoption Month. There are roughly 15,000 adoptions annually across the nation. About a third of those adoptions are foster care adoptions. I'm David Fair, and welcome to this week's edition of Washtenaw United. There is always a great need for foster and adoptive parents. For the last 25 years, Ann Arbor-based Hands Across The Water has been one of those connections. And the word connections--that's going to be an important word in our conversation today. Katie Page Sander is the executive director of Hands Across The Water and our Washtenaw United guest today. And thank you for making time! I appreciate it!
Katie Page Sander: Thank you for having me!
David Fair: I just gave some national numbers. How many children do you get through the adoption process each year at Hands Across The Water?
Katie Page Sander: Through our agency alone, we serve about 50 young people a year in our foster care adoption program.
David Fair: When a child is put into the foster care system, are those foster parents the most likely candidate to become the adoptive parent?
Katie Page Sander: Not always. One of our priorities for the young people who enter foster care is to continue to look for family connections for that child. So, we're always looking first at that child's established network of family or supports in their community. If we can't find a family member, we would look then to foster parents to provide care for children. So, yes, foster parents can and do adopt. But we also are really prioritizing family members to come forward and provide long-term care for kids in foster care first.
David Fair: When that doesn't work out, it kind of plays into another part of the mission of Hands Across The Water to support and empower children and families through strength-based services that is inclusive--children, foster parents and adoptive parents all looking for connection and bonding. So, how do you create that through the process?
Katie Page Sander: 25 years of service to children and families in this community--Hands Across The Water--has a large network of individuals who have received services through us, and we're always trying to connect them through additional services. We have provided family playgroups, mental health services for individuals and families. We've provided trauma-informed yoga and mindfulness classes, art therapy, ways for our community to continue to connect across their lifespan--so not just during the time of their adoption process, but really for their whole lives.
David Fair: This is 89 one WEMU, and we're talking with Hands Across The Water executive director Katie Page Sander, as we acknowledge National Adoption Month on Washtenaw United. How did you come to the decision, Katie, to work with kids in need of families?
Katie Page Sander: Gosh. Well, I went to the University of Michigan, both for my undergraduate and graduate degrees. I always had the idea that I would want to do meaningful work in the field of social work, but I really didn't know what area I would pursue. And in fact, I was told by lots of people, "Don't do child welfare. It's way too stressful." And a friend got me an interview to work in the foster care system. And about halfway through that interview hearing, the interviewer talked so passionately about the impact the work can have on kids and families across generations. I started to really think this might be something I'd like to do, and I guess the rest is history. I first started working as a foster care case manager. And for my whole career, for the past 27 years, I've worked in the child welfare system.
David Fair: Ultimately, you chose to be a foster parent and adopted two of your own, right?
Katie Page Sander: That's correct! At some point in my career, I was feeling like, "Well, I could impact things professionally." I really felt a desire to be there for a child in a personal way as a permanent family for a child. So, my two oldest children were adopted by my husband and I. And so, I am very lucky to be able to do something professionally that also is so meaningful to me personally.
David Fair: I have anecdotally heard about the adoption process as both long and frustrating. What was your experience?
Katie Page Sander: Oh gosh! I wouldn't necessarily say that either of our processes for adoption were particularly long, though that can be the case. For some people, it's not exactly what they expected because at the center of the process is always the child. And so, sometimes, there are things that might slow a process because of a child's needs. Sometimes, unfortunately, it is slowed or frustrating because of bureaucratic things or paperwork issues. I think I was a bit of an advantage because I knew how it was supposed to go, and I was able to advocate for myself. So, we hope at Hands Across The Water that we also have the family's experience and the child's experience centered, so that we are always working hard to make sure that the process can be as smooth as possible for everybody involved.
David Fair: This is Washtenaw United on 89 one WEMU, and we're marking National Adoption Month in our conversation with Katie Page Sander. Katie is executive director of Hands Across The Water in Ann Arbor. What is the vetting process Hands Across The Water uses to ensure children are placed safely, either into foster care or ultimately with an adoptive family?
Katie Page Sander: Sure. As you mentioned before, it's not a simple process. We make sure that, if a child is not able to stay with their biological family, that the family that we placed them in is as safe and prepared as possible. So, that involves a significant amount of training for families to understand better some of the challenges that adoption can bring. Because at the heart of every adoption, while it can be joyful, it's also rooted in loss--so loss of biological family for our kids in foster care. Sometimes, there can be multiple losses: loss of connection to community, connection to friends or family members, sometimes siblings, unfortunately. And so, we try to prepare families as much as we can through training and connection to other families who've been through the process. We also require a family to provide a number of different things to help us assess them--so talking to families about their own experiences as children, how they plan to parent, getting references, talking about finances. So, it is not an easy process. We really ask families to be open about really every aspect of their life, so that we can assess the environment that we're placing their child into.
David Fair: You mentioned the grief or sense of loss. Does moving through that trauma together enhance connection in the family?
Katie Page Sander: Absolutely, it can! For our youth, I think it's important to understand the family's role is really to show that families can be safe, families can be permanent., that you don't have to fear anymore that they'll be moved or hurt again. And so, that really takes not just the family, but that family supports to really committing to that child long-term. Well, that can be incredibly challenging and not necessarily an overnight change. Really, we see across a lifetime that family growing stronger, facing those challenges together.
David Fair: Kids in need of families come in all different colors. Does Hands Across The Water apply a diversity, equity and inclusion process to adoptive kids?
Katie Page Sander: For us, it's really important to acknowledge that, in our child welfare system, there's a disproportionate number of families of color that are impacted by removal of children into foster care. So, we try really hard to keep that as a focus in our work, whether that be by hiring and retaining diverse staff, recruiting and retaining diverse foster families. We try to make sure that, when a child and family come into that system, that they have people who are either racial or ethnic mirrors to them or people who are really challenging their own biases. We also see and overrepresentation of LGBTQ children in the foster care system, and we also really keep our commitment to providing an affirming space for those youth and families as core to our mission.
David Fair: For those who have been listening and may be interested in pursuing a path as a foster parent or as an adoptive parent, what is the first step they should take?
Katie Page Sander: It can be pretty simple. They can go to our website, which is www.hatw.org, and fill out an inquiry form there or call our main office at 734-477-0135 and speak with somebody in our office about how to get started. It really begins with an orientation. And then, we go on from there through the process.
David Fair: Well, thank you so much for the time today in the conversation, Katie! I appreciate it!
Katie Page Sander: Thank you!
David Fair: That is Katie Page Sander. She is executive director of Hands Across The Water in Ann Arbor and our guest on Washtenaw United as we mark National Adoption Month. For more information on the foster care and adoption services at Hands Across The Water, pay a visit to our website. We'll get you all linked up. Washtenaw United is produced in partnership with the United Way for Southeastern Michigan, and you hear it every Monday. I'm David Fair, and this is your community NPR station 89 one WEMU FM, Ypsilanti.
WEMU has partnered with the United Way for Southeastern Michigan to explore the people, organizations, and institutions creating opportunity and equity in our area. And, as part of this ongoing series, you’ll also hear from the people benefiting and growing from the investments being made in the areas of our community where there are gaps in available services. It is a community voice. It is 'Washtenaw United.'
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