Recruitment News

July, 2003


Digital Cameras to be Distributed

The Michigan Family Independence Agency and MARE were recently awarded a $5,000 mini-grant from the Adoption Exchange Association to be used for recruitment purposes. The money will be used to purchase approximately 25 digital cameras that will be given to selected agencies on a “permanent loan” basis with the understanding that agencies will use the cameras to obtain quality photographs of adoption-eligible children for recruitment purposes - including the MARE Book.

“We’ve all seen the difference between high quality photos and dark, blurry photos in the MARE Book,” said Kirsta Grapentine, Program Director for MARE. “We hope that the digital cameras will allow adoption workers to be able to provide us with higher quality photos for the MARE Book on a consistent basis.”

Agencies will be selected to receive a camera based on the criteria of serving a large geographical area and/or having a large population of adoption-eligible children for whom they are recruiting families. Cameras and software will be provided along with training by MARE staff on how to use the cameras, along with tips for taking better photos. (See the article on photos in the June issue of Recruitment News.)

Agencies selected to receive a camera will be contacted in the near future with more details. A few cameras will also be kept at the MARE office for loan to agencies that were not selected to receive one.