Forever Families Through Adoption, Inc.
Welcome to the home of Forever Families Through Adoption, Inc. My name is Joy Goldstein, and FFTA is a New York and Connecticut-licensed, not-for-profit, adoption placement agency and resource center located in the Rye Brook/Port Chester area of Westchester County only 35 minutes outside of New York City. FFTA was founded by my husband, Michael and myself in 2007, recognizing that every child has the right to grow up in a loving, nurturing, secure and forever home.
After more than 25 years of helping to create "forever families" through adoption and over 2,500 successful placements through Michael’s law firm, we had earned a reputation within the adoption community for unsurpassed personalized service and operational excellence. As a three-time adoptive parent, I feel that I am uniquely qualified to help guide prospective birth and adoptive parents through the adoption process and am confident that the committed and capable staff I have assembled at FFTA of adoptive parents, social workers, attorneys and adoptees, will help to create many forever families for years to come.
Whether client or colleague, you become a member of the FFTA family the moment we begin to work together. As such, FFTA pledges to be available to you so that no matter what, when or where your need, we will be there for you. We will continue to commit ourselves to being the best in our field, and to working tirelessly to ensure that all of the children we help place will grow up in their "forever families."
Adoption helps make dreams come true for everyone involved. Forever Families Through Adoption, Inc. is a dream come true for us and we hope for you, too.
Meet Our Forever Family
Although Michael and I married in 1978, we decided to wait until he had graduated from law school to begin building a family. Thus it wasn't until 1981 that we happily began the road to parenthood. How excited we were when, only three months later, we were able to announce to everyone that we knew that we were pregnant and going to have a baby! Unfortunately, the sad news came along very quickly and continued through several more pregnancies: although I had the ability to become pregnant, I wasn't able to carry a pregnancy to full term.
So after many miscarriages - including an especially heart-wrenching second-trimester miscarriage, as well as an ectopic pregnancy - we knew we were meant to form our family by adoption. What a blessing it was for us that adoption, although an emotional experience, was not a lengthy one! Within the span of three years, we had not one, but three beautiful sons, each adopted as newborns from the U.S. We chose domestic adoptions because, for us, it was important to be able to share medical and background information with our children as they grew and matured.
I am pleased to say that all three of our boys are now happy and healthy adults. Almost twenty-five years after beginning the same process that you may be considering now, we can tell you from personal experience that ADOPTION DOES WORK! We were persistent and pro-active, and placed ads in newspapers until we connected with the "right" birth families. With two of our sons, we experienced adopting children from a "word-of-mouth" or "networking" connection with a birth family. We are a very close-knit family, and our sons are not only brothers, but the best of friends. As adoptive parents and social workers, Michael and I felt a very strong calling to become professionally involved with adoption.
We have dedicated our professional and personal lives to working and volunteering for many adoption related groups and causes, so that we can help all involved in the adoption circle - birthparents, adoptive parents and, of course, the children - experience the joy and fulfillment that we have with our Forever Family. Not surprisingly, our children have been involved, as well, and from a very young age. We are proud to say that all three boys have been panelists discussing adoption, and each of them has volunteered weekends at conferences and workshops to teach and educate others about adoption issues.
We Started FFTA For the Children
The goal of Forever Families Through Adoption, Inc. is to find a home for every child that is eligible for permanent adoption regardless of age, racial or ethnic background, or physical or emotional challenge. To that end, FFTA works closely with national, state and local agencies to facilitate the safe placement of all children free for adoption, including those with special needs. We are well known within the adoption community for having a particular fondness for – and expertise in – harder to place children, including those that have been drug exposed or are the result of rape or incest or the offspring of incarcerated mothers or who are black or bi-racial.
Among those we have touched in the over 2,500 successful adoptions we have helped coordinate to date are birth parents, children and adoptive parents from both the United States and around the world. We have been involved with both agency and private independent adoptions. We have navigated readoption, one parent, two parent, second parent and foster care situations. And we have represented many single and same sex clients, taking great pride in the fact that we treat all persons with the respect and compassion they deserve regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, age, nationality or disability.
Forever Families Through Adoption, Inc. will ensure, to the very best of our ability, that the dream of building families through adoption becomes a reality. We feel certain that the counseling, guidance, education and comfort we provide to our clients will make the sometimes complex adoption process, a wonderful, rewarding and successful experience.
Shelly Perlman Foster
We are very sad to report the untimely death of Shelly Perlman Foster on Monday, March 8, 2010. Shelly was President of the Board of Directors of FFTA and one of its strongest supporters since its earliest days. Shelly fought a brave and courageous battle for three and a half years and did so with dignity, a positive spirit and always with a smile on her face. Shelly will be sadly missed by the many whose lives she touched along the way.
We extend our deepest sympathy to Shelly’s devoted husband, Duncan, to her loving sons Jonathan and Harrison, to her adoring parents Doris and Bert and sister Ellen.
Shelly requested that any donations made to FFTA in her memory be used towards outreach and education in the school systems. If you would like information about services or any other questions, please call # 914-939-1180 for more details.