Advocate for Adoption

by Wrexie Bardaglio

Goldwater with photos of some of the many children she has matched up with parents

Anybody who puts her mind to something can make a difference," says Janice Malley Goldwater '78. "When I took a course called Sociology of Responsibility with Jules Burgevan at IC I realized that I didn't have to sit and watch a problem brewing, that if I took action I could make a difference."

A sociology major, Goldwater stayed in Ithaca for a while after graduation to earn some money. It was then that she met her husband, Harry Goldwater, a graduate of Cornell with a degree in human development and family studies. Soon the pair decided to go to graduate school together at Washington University in St. Louis, where Goldwater earned a master of social work degree. She next worked for a community mental health agency as a specialist in adult and women's issues while her husband acquired his law degree and set up shop as a child welfare attorney.

"I loved being a therapist," she says, "and when our first child was born I began doing home studies for adoption agencies. I thought they were the most interesting things I had ever done. They pulled my soul right into the work. I started going to every conference on adoption I could find. I began looking into domestic and international adoption procedures and counseling birth mothers in my practice, as well as prospective adopting families and adopted kids themselves. I decided I wanted to work with people involved in this effort. I could see that my work would be more than just getting babies for infertile couples. I would be helping children have the opportunity to grow as human beings in 'forever families,' no matter what issues they were facing."

In 1990 Goldwater founded the nonprofit Adoptions Together, which is located in Silver Spring, Maryland. Since that time her agency has placed more than 2,000 children in families and has grown from a small operation into an international agency. "I didn't really have big dreams," she says, "and I didn't sit down with a huge plan, but I believe that each one of us has the capability to reach out and make something happen. Now I have a business plan, a board of directors, and staff not only in the United States, but also in China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Russia, and Guatemala. But when I started out I just wanted to improve the lives of children.

"I had several goals," she explains. "[Adoptions Together] had to be an agency that would welcome all kinds of kids, regardless of their age, race, or special circumstances. At that time in the District of Columbia there were two tiers of adoption services. The first tier was for Caucasian babies, most of whom were placed privately. The second tier was for babies of other races and hard-to-place children who were in the social services or foster care system. Fewer opportunities existed for them to be adopted, but I wanted to welcome all children, whether they were sick or healthy. I wanted to be inclusive."

Another of Goldwater's goals was to implement educational programs for parents and families, for those with whom her agency worked as well as for members of the community at large who had adoption concerns. "I saw a need for programs to help parents tell a child he or she was adopted, for example, or help an adopted child deal with school problems. I wanted to create a wellness environment for all the parties," she says.

"I wanted to create healthy situations before problems occurred," she continues. "Birth parents did not forget their babies, and yet there were no resources available to help them grieve. Kids wondered, 'Who am I? Where did I come from?' And infertile parents questioned how that condition made an impact on their decision to seek adoption."

In 2001 Goldwater was honored by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption in Washington, D.C., as an "Angel in Adoption." Despite the award, it is clear that she derives her joy from making a difference in one life and one family at a time, helping to create "forever families" for each child that comes into her agency's care.

More than just a dedicated professional, however, Goldwater practices in her own life the values she nurtures at Adoptions Together. In 2002 she, her husband, and the couple's three children celebrated as the adoption of their 10-year-old daughter and sister became final.