Family Connections Christian Adoptions (referred to herein as “FCCA”) is a private, non-profit, full-service adoption agency licensed by the California Department of Social Services and accredited by IAAME and COA to provide international and domestic adoption services. With five offices throughout the State of California, FCCA focuses on placing the waiting children of the world into loving, forever families. This includes children in foster care in California; children in overseas orphanages; and children whose birth parents wish to make a voluntary adoption plan. The agency also provides assistance to many legal guardians, relatives, and step-parents who wish to adopt.

To further our mission, FCCA uses print and direct mail to send out quarterly and annual newsletters to our families and donors. These newsletters include color pictures of the children who have recently been adopted, as well as pictures of adopted children growing over the years: graduations, weddings, and all kinds of wonderful life events. Many families also submit their initial adoption stories, or post-adoption family updates, helping us to rejoice in their family's adoption journey over the years.

These newsletters keep our families connected to one another, and also to each other. Pictures of happy children really motivate people to give generously of their time, expertise, and funds. For instance, some folks who receive the newsletters become motivated to serve as volunteers; to organize support groups; to participate in service projects at one of our offices; or to donate funds for new office equipment. Some who read the newsletters became involved in our Shining Bright Family Camp, a multi-day play-therapy camp for children with special needs, and their parents, to learn new ways to cope with special needs.

Sending out a newsletter always generates a huge uptick in responses from existing families, as well as more new applicants who have been referred by our happy adoptive parents. This allows us to see first-hand - and very quickly - how well our print and direct mailing campaigns work to proclaim our message and impact the success of our mission.

With the bombardment of online information, more people than ever recognize that print media is a more relaxing, less stressful way to receive information. We hear this often from our families - that they appreciate receiving a hard copy, something that they can look at with their young children, without exposing them too early to online media (and all that comes with that, like unwanted or inappropriate ads flashing on the screen - ugh).

For these reasons, we don't ever foresee a time when we would stop printing and mailing our newsletters. The response is so positive, both from an emotional standpoint and a business standpoint, that we would be foolish not to maintain this beautiful tradition. Yes, it takes work to gather the pictures, and the stories. Yes, it takes work to put them in a nice layout that makes people want to pick it up and read it. But the payoff is more than worth it when we receive such consistently positive feedback from many happy clients and donors.