Feting the families that blend.

Byline: Jim Feehan The Register-Guard

Elise Crum of Eugene has seen the furtive glances and discomfort some people exhibit in the presence of her adopted children.

Crum, who is white, adopted two black children, 4-year-old Mia and 15-month-old Kahlil. She also has a 10-year-old biological son who is half black and half white.

While most Eugene residents accept Crum's blended family, others act awkward or downright rude.

`I had one person in the grocery store say, `Do you love your birth child more than your adopted children?' ' Crum said. The person asked the question in front of her adopted children.

Crum was one of about 60 adults and children from adoptive families who gathered Saturday at the Washington Park Community Center to share their experiences, listen to the storytelling of Springfield librarian Paulette Ansari, and learn a few steps from an Indian dance troupe. Adoptive Families of Lane County, a Eugene-based adoption advocacy group founded in 1989, sponsored the event.

About 1.6 million children in the United States are adopted. Approximately 100,000 are adopted each year. About 42 percent are adopted by stepparents or relatives, 14.5 percent are adopted out of foster care and 5 percent are international adoptions, said Sue Barnhart, an adoptive parent and a member of the board of Adoptive Families of Lane County.

Seven years ago Barnhart adopted Jyoti, a 1-year-old girl from Calcutta, India. The Barnharts know only the first name of Jyoti's birth mother and nothing about her father, she said.

"India in many ways is still closed when it comes to adoptions," Barnhart said, referring to the amount of information the adoptive parents receive about the birth parents.

Susan Schulz of Cottage Grove, on the other hand, met the biological mother, grandmother and great-grandmother of her adopted daughter, Lena, two weeks after the child's birth.

Lena's birth mother was a teenager unable to raise a child. So she gave Lena up for adoption, said Schulz, who also has an 18-year-old biological daughter.

The three women of Lena's family in Georgia have been in constant contact with Schulz and Lena since the adoption eight years ago. Last summer during a trip to Europe, the Schulzes stopped by Atlanta to visit Lena's birth family. Schulz said she was welcomed in black neighborhoods and shunned in white neighborhoods.

Staying connected with her daughter's family is a priority, Schulz said.

"It's very important for Lena to know her heritage and her parents," she said. "They value having her in their lives, even if it's far away."

CAPTION(S):

Julia Mauro, 11 (from left), Callie Solberg, 3, Jyoti Barnhart, 8, and Maya Stewart, 4, fill out name tags Saturday at the Adoptive Families of Lane County Winter Celebration. The Damaka Bhangra Dancers junior group performs at the celebration at Washington Park Community Center.