By Dawn Wolfe Gutterman
MILFORD – Despite the first cold rainfall of the season, roughly 50 families came out to FamilyPalooza, the first celebration of LGBT and other families.
The event was coordinated by the Coalition for Adoption Rights Equality and Affirmations Lesbian and Gay Community Center.
An estimated $4,500 was raised at the event, according to Maureen Jones, Affirmations' social and recreation program coordinator.
"If it had been nice out I think we would have had triple [the number of families]," said Bev Davidson, president of CARE. "The kids had fun – it was the adults who were not liking the rain," she added.
Proceeds from the event will be split between Affirmations and CARE, which works to support second-parent adoption in Michigan.
"The most amazing thing was that despite the weather people just kept showing up throughout the entire day," said Jones, who added that the attendance proved the community's commitment to second-parent adoption.
"We consider it a success," Jones said of the event. "You can't control the weather, but everything else considered I think people had a really good time and had a chance to connect with each other, watch their kids play with each other and bring the second parent adoption issue to the forefront."
As for the kids, Jones said, they, "had a blast. They didn't know this was about second-parent adoption, they were just having fun."
For more information about Affirmations programs for children and families visit http://www.goaffirmations.org.
For more about the struggle to protect children through legalizing second-parent adoption, visit the CARE site at http://www.secondparentadoption.org.
