A LIFETIME OF NURTURING.

Byline: BETTIE RENCORET Senior columnist

LANCASTER - Lynn Schwalb has spent a lifetime nurturing the very young.

Her career in adoption services exemplifies the love that many seniors have for children, not strictly their own.

Schwalb thought she had seen it all in the 25 years she worked for the Los Angeles County Department of Adoptions but not so. She had more to learn when, in 1981, she moved to Oregon and became the director of adoptions for a private agency there.

``Adoption is one of the most important ingredients in our society, incorporating children into good homes either because a family is unable to have children or wants to expand,'' she said.

She said there are many aspects of the adoption process and her career spanned the whole array of them.

``Emotions run the gamut,'' she said. ``It can either be wonderfully fulfilling to see a child placed in a good home, or it can be the heartbreaking end of the spectrum. You know if we all had a crystal ball, life would be easier.''

There are many reasons a child may be available for adoption, not all of them because of neglect or abuse, said Schwalb.

``It could be because a tragedy has taken the natural parents, or maybe it's the baby of a very young, unwed mother, who makes a very hard decision in the best interests of her child,'' she said.

She explained how hard it can be when a child is placed in a foster home with foster parents who become inexorably attached, and years ago foster parents weren't allowed to adopt their charges.

``They always knew when they took a child that the goal was for a suitable placement,'' she said. ``Fortunately, there have been a few changes and foster parents are often allowed to adopt.''

For some children, the foster parents provide the only stable and secure family life they've ever had.

``In situations like that, the decisions we had to make were extremely difficult. It meant that when we found good adoptive parents, the kids would have to be uprooted again,'' she said. ``Almost always it was the best thing for them in the long run but, at the time, it was very hard to do.''

In the beginning of her years in the adoption service, having a baby out of wedlock was a very difficult situation for many women.

``Many of the women had come here from out of state, sent off by family to a home where they could not be recognized and where no one would have to know they were carrying a child,'' she said.

``I think for me those were the most difficult times,'' she continued. ``You know, counseling those women in terms of what they thought was going to be the best decision for them. It was so hard for them, at a time like that, to be in a place without the support of family and friends. It was definitely difficult.''

Schwalb said she sometimes wondered if they really made the best decisions, but that it had to be their own choice.

``It was very painful for many of them. For many of them it was not. It was very clear to them that this was what they needed to do for themselves and their child,'' she said.

Schwalb noted recent instances of newborns being found in Dumpsters or dead in landfills.

``The women I worked with at least made a conscious choice for their child's future, and I think it was a very positive decision on their part,'' she said.

Schwalb, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., came to the Los Angeles area with her family when she was 10. She graduated from Alhambra High School in 1958, attended Citrus College and then received her bachelor's degree from California State College, Los Angeles, in 1966. She then went on to get a master's degree in family counseling.

The year she graduated from high school she married Dick Schwalb. They had one son, Jeffrey, now of Ridgecrest, and later adopted a 4-year-old, Sabrina, now of Portland, Ore. Dick owned and operated a paint and hardware store for several years and then became an investigator for the Los Angeles County Department of Consumer Affairs.

After 34 years of marriage, Dick died in 1992. Lynn retired from her adoptions directorship in 2001 and came to Lancaster to live. She has been busy ever since, carving out an active retirement life.

``I'm enjoying not having to have any commitments or appointments I don't want. Every now and then I think hey, I don't have to worry about that, and it's great,'' she said.

Another thing she enjoys now is a group of about 60 friends, nationwide, that she met through the Internet.

``It started out as a Prodigy computer support group. Prodigy doesn't exist anymore but we still communicate. We call ourselves the 'Family of Choice.' We visit in each others' homes and we've all become very close,'' said Schwalb.

She's done a lot of traveling all over the world and has taken 11 cruises. She belongs to the J&J Social and Travel Club and is taking a painting class at the Palmdale United Methodist Church.

She says she's also an avid reader, a collector of antiques and ``a plant person.''

Menus for the week at the senior life nutrition sites in Lancaster, Palmdale and South Valley have been announced. All meals include bread, margarine and coffee, tea or milk for a suggested donation of $2.

Monday: Salmon casserole, parsleyed carrots, three-bean salad, orange juice, fruit cocktail.

Tuesday: Garlic ginger chicken, baked potato, butternut squash, coleslaw, apple.

Wednesday: Turkey, herbed dressing, spinach, garden salad, pineapple juice, peach crisp.

Thursday: Roast pork, sweet potatoes, stewed tomatoes, cottage cheese with pineapple, white cake.

Friday: Taco salad, macaroni salad, pea salad, apple juice, vanilla ice cream.

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

Lynn Schwalb, a Lancaster resident, spent 25 years working for the Los Angeles County Department of Adoptions.

Bettie Rencoret/Special to the Daily News