Brunch will celebrate adoption

The One Church One Child program started in the 1980s.

STAFF REPORT

YOUNGSTOWN — November is National Adoption Month, and this year Mahoning County Children Services’ One Church One Child Committee will host an adoption-celebration brunch at Tabernacle Baptist Church at 707 Arlington St., at 10 a.m. Nov. 7.

Those interested in attending should respond by Oct. 24 to John Jemison, Children Services worker and One Church One Child coordinator. Seating is limited. Reservations will be on first-come, first-served basis.

One Church One Child is dedicated to finding adoptive parents for children who have been placed outside their natural homes.

Since the program’s inception in the 1980s, more than 200,000 children across the nation have been adopted. Thirty-two states are using all or portions of the program.

The program began in Chicago in 1981 under the guidance of the Rev. George H. Clements, a black priest, whose goal was to recruit black adoptive-parents through local churches.

Mahoning County Children Services and OCOC want to get the word out and encourage area churches, particularly black congregations, to attempt to make life better for those children who need homes.

Guest speaker will be Judge Michael J. Ryan of Cleveland Municipal Court.

Judge Ryan, who spent most of his childhood growing up in one of the Cleveland housing projects, attended 11 different schools from kindergarten through 12th grade.

He went on to earn his bachelor’s degree in English from Allegheny College in 1993 and his law degree from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1996. He was the youngest person appointed to a full-time magistrate judge position in the history of Cleveland Municipal Court.

He is married and has two children and has a long history of volunteerism in the Cleveland area.

The event also will feature Kenny Wilder as special guest and the 40 children of the Beatitude House Children’s Choir. Wilder is minister of music at Destiny International Ministry in Youngstown.