FREE NOVEMBER 2011 Could You Be a Foster Parent? Why You Need a Will Got (Breast) Holiday Milk? Gift Guide The 411 on Milk Banks Sisters Amber, Rose and Donna are currently in foster care. contents This Month in Metro Parent This Month on the Web: Serving the Families of the Portland Metropolitan Area Exclusively on Metro-Parent.com: Metro Parent Join our Holiday Giving Campaign! Metro Parent is P.O. Box 13660 again matching readers’ donations to JOIN – to enable a Portland, OR 97213-0660 local homeless family to get a new start – and to Mercy Phone: 503-460-2774; Fax: 503-331-3445 Corps – to help those suffering in the Horn of Africa. Publisher Read the details on page 8 – and then visit Metro- Martin Griffy, 503-460-2774 Parent.com to make a difference! [email protected] Enter to win a BIG basket of great baby items – Editor valued at over $400! Visit Metro-Parent.com/contest to Marie Sherlock, 503-460-2774 enter. Contest ends Nov. 30. [email protected] Read a Viewpoint column by Colleen Hermann-Fran- Managing Editor Emily Puro zen, of the American Lung Association of the Mountain [email protected] Pacific. Hermann-Franzen explains why and how to protect your children by creating a “smoke-free zone” in Calendar Editor your vehicle. Teresa Carson [email protected] Stay informed and connected all month long! Family Fun Editor • Sign up for our e-newsletter Sarah Pagliasotti • Follow “Metro_Parent” on TWITTER Contributing Writers • Become a fan of “Metro Parent (Portland, OR)” on Melissa Favara, Anne Laufe, Julia Silverman FACEBOOK Advertising Account Executives Amber (age 15), Rose (12) and Donna (11) are an amazing and resilient Westside/National/Outside Metro Area sibling group eager to find the security of a loving family. If you would like Debbie Dille, 503-997-4044; fax: 503-352-4373 more information on these children, contact Angela Dindia at 503-542- [email protected] 2349 or [email protected]. Departments Eastside/Vancouver/Washington Ali King, 503-331-8184; 360-695-0455 Editor’s Note .......................................................6 fax: 503-331-3445 Could You Be a Foster Parent? ................. 12 It’s Better to Give … [email protected] Becoming a foster parent could be the most challenging Design & Production Susan Bard Parent Postings .................................................8 and the most rewarding experience of your life. Find out For distribution issues, what makes a good foster parent, and how to determine Announcements, community events, e-mail us at [email protected] if you and your family are ready to change a child’s life – fundraisers and other useful information and your own. For calendar submissions, Family Fare .................................................... 32 e-mail us at [email protected] Old Wives’ Tales To subscribe to Metro Parent, e-mail us at: [email protected]. Why You Need a Will .................................. 23 Going Places with Ramona ...................... 34 A one-year subscription is $25. Are you among the 69 percent (!) of Americans with Becoming a School Parent Metro Parent is published monthly by children under age 18 who haven’t yet drawn up a will? Metro Parent Publishing, Inc. and is copyright Then you’ll want to read this article detailing the reasons Angels Among Us ......................................... 35 2011 Metro Parent Publishing, Inc. All rights why all parents of minor children need to take the time to reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part The Children’s Institute without written permission is prohibited. ensure that their wishes are carried out if the unthinkable Metro Parent is distributed free of charge happens. November Family Calendar throughout the Portland, Oregon metropolitan In the Spotlight ............................................... 36 area. Metro Parent reserves the right to refuse Got (Breast) Milk? ......................................... 26 Family Favorite .............................................. 36 advertising for any reason. Distribution of this Family Calendar ............................................ publication does not constitute an endorse- The 411 on Donating to Milk Banks 38 ment of the products or services advertised We all know “breast is best,” but what happens when herein. a mother can’t supply her infant – especially a medically Advertising Sections Metro Parent does not discriminate on the fragile or pre-term infant – with her own milk? For an Holiday Gift Guide .............................19-22 basis of race, color, national origin, religion, increasing number of local families, donated breastmilk is Classifieds ..........................................................47 sex or sexual orientation. Although every effort is taken to ensure the the answer, with at least eight drop sites in the Portland- Advertisers Index ...........................................47 Vancouver metro area and a regional milk bank in the accuracy of published material, Metro Parent Parties .................................................................47 Publishing Inc. and its agents and employees works. cannot be held responsible for the use or mis- use of any information contained herein. The contents of Metro Parent and its Web site are for informational purposes only and are not intended to be a substitute for professional advice or treatment. 4 METRO PARENT • metro-parent.com • NOVEMBER 2011 Specializing in conservative & surgical management G of urinary incontinence & childbirth pelvic floor injury. METRO PARENT • metro-parent.com • NOVEMBER 2011 5 editor’s note It’s Better to Give … As I edited this month’s issue, it occurred to me and southwest Washington topped one million as that, although the winter holiday season is upon growing levels of long-term unemployment forced us, we haven’t included an article with a holiday more and more people to fall into poverty and to theme. Then I took a closer look and thought, “Or seek emergency food.” And a recent article in The have we?” Oregonian described a dramatic increase in student After all, when most of us think of the holi- homelessness in the Portland metro area (data days, we think at least in part about charitable giv- included Oregon cities only), from 8,143 in 2004 ing. We take time from our busy festive schedules to 20,545 in 2011, including over 1,500 students in to consider our neighbors in need and do what Beaverton and over 1,200 in Portland alone! we can to make the world a better place. When I These numbers are daunting, but it’s important thought about it that way, I realized two of our to remember that the numbers represent people – features this month explore the theme of giving, people we see every day in our schools and in our albeit from two very different vantage points. neighborhoods — and to remember that there are In Could You Be a Foster Parent? (beginning countless ways we can make a difference in their on page 12), we explore what it takes to open your lives every day. Check with your child’s school home and your heart to a foster child, one of the to find out about programs directly benefiting grandest gestures of giving one can imagine. In students in your own community, or visit hand- Got (Breast) Milk? (beginning on page 26), we sonportland.org to find volunteer opportunities offer a glimpse into the increasing popularity of around the area. And if you want to get involved donating breastmilk, typically for medically fragile in something larger, many organizations – includ- infants whose mothers can’t provide the breastmilk ing Children First for Oregon (cffo.org), Family their babies need, a simpler but still remarkably Forward Oregon (familyforwardoregon.org), and generous and valuable way to give. So while we The Mother PAC (motherpac.org) – are working haven’t specifically covered the winter holidays in to enact systemic change, including more family- this issue, I think we’ve provided an apt introduc- friendly legislation, in Oregon and beyond. Metro tion to a season focused on giving. Parent’s Holiday Giving Campaign (see page 8) is This year in particular, there’s much we can another way to make a difference. do to help, especially when it comes to alleviat- The focus on helping others is most prominent ing poverty and homelessness in our community. during the winter holidays, but there’s work to be According to Map the Meal Gap: Child Food done year round. What does your family do to help Insecurity 2011, a report by Feeding America, a others in your community? network of over 200 food banks and the largest How are you working to make hunger-relief charity in the U.S., Oregon has the the world a better place? second highest rate of child food insecurity (a.k.a. hunger) in the nation. At 29.2 percent, we’re sur- passed only by Washington, DC. The Oregon Food Bank recently reported, “For the first time ever, Emily Puro, Managing Editor [email protected] distribution of emergency food boxes in Oregon PHOTO BY STUDIO ESS 6 METRO PARENT • metro-parent.com • NOVEMBER 2011 parent postings Celebrate National LGBTQ Families, Financing an Adoption Month Adoption and more. Free. Nov. 6, 11:30 am to 4 pm. Legacy At least two local events will Meridian Park Medical Center, celebrate adoption this month, 19300 SW 65th Ave., Tualatin. both providing a wealth of re- adoptionmosaic.org. sources for adoptive families and those interested in learning more • Oregon Celebrates Adoption – about adoption: Nov. 19. Many of Oregon’s fos- • Coalition of Oregon Adoption ter care adoption agencies and Agencies Adoption Fair – advocates are gathering for this Nov. 6. Meet representatives fun, free and informative fam- from local adoption agencies ily event to celebrate the joys of adoption. Whether you’ve and find out what it takes to SYSTEM RTESY OF LEGACY HEALTH U become an adoptive parent in already adopted a child from foster care or you’re exploring Oregon and southwest Washing- PHOTO CO ton at the area’s largest adop- adoption for the first time, join the fun – including face paint- foster care adoption.