FCCNY Board Meeting – Minutes

October 4, 2007

Attending: Margie Berman, Tim Stoenner, Lily Cardlin, Amanda Baden, Hollee McGinness, Mark Mass, Ross Lewis, Mary Sellner

Not Attending: Dorothy Crenshaw, Mary Nealon, Deb Levine, Barry Radick

_____________________________________________________________

1. CCAA Response to FCC Letter – To date, there has only been limited reaction from membership. Still, many questions exist in the adoption community about CCAA’s indication there is a declining number of children available for international adoption with growing demand. The Board agreed to relay as much information as possible to our membership about the changing nature of adoption in China. The transcript of the Asia Society/FCC symposium will be shared on the website.

2. Newsletter(s) – We are pleased to announce that Jana Karam has assumed leadership of the newsletter. She is working on the next issue with Foster Care as the theme. Margie Berman reported that New England FCC is producing a China Connection Issue on Birth Mothers and offered us the option to share it with our membership. There was discussion about fitting the FCCNE newsletter to our needs and including a cover letter to our membership. Amanda Baden made a motion to use FCCNE’s newsletter and it was seconded by Ross Lewis. There was a general discussion about the merits/costs of future cooperation.

3. The Board was delighted to hear a song by Margie Berman that she’d written about birth mothers. Board members were aware of other adoption songs written by member parents. It was decided that it would be a great project to put together a collection of these songs. Mark Mass offered to pursue the idea and get back to the Board.

4. Regional Funding – The board voted previously via email to award $10,000 to the regional chapters to fund specific events that are open to all FCC members. Tim Stoenner reported thus far, $1,000 has been allocated to Manhattan, $1,000 to Long Island and $500 to Brooklyn. We will send an email to the regions inviting them to apply for support of specific programming needs.

5. There was discussion on how to acknowledge November 17 Adoption Day. It was agreed that all known events would be posted on the website.

6. MoCA Invitation – Margie Berman indicated we were given 6 tickets and asked if anyone would like to attend the event on October 30^th. A follow-up email will be sent to the Board.

7. Chinese New Year – It is time to confirm a date with the venue. At this point, we do not have anyone to coordinate the event. Ross Lewis agreed to send an email to the membership recruiting volunteers for an organizing committee. He will report back at the next Board meeting on October 25^th.

8. Regional Leaders Meeting – Lily Cardlin sent an invitation for October 21^st. The meeting will take place in New Jersey at 11:00 am. Lily will monitor the RSVPs and get back to the Board.

9. Board Membership – The Board currently has 11 members. The maximum permitted under our by-laws is 15. There was discussion about how to recruit potential candidates, possibly from the regions or other adoption/China related organizations. It was concluded that the issue of Board membership is closely related to the “the future role of FCCNY.” Margie Berman suggested we dedicate the next Board meeting (October 25^th) to strategic planning.