State officials meet with Sacred Portion to discuss new rules

published on Wednesday, November 30, 2005 9:18 PM MST

By BETH SLOVIC, Chronicle Staff Writer

The Summer Miracles program of the Bozeman-based Sacred Portion Children's Outreach may soon begin recruiting participants again, following a meeting Wednesday with representatives of the state health department.

This past summer, the nonprofit Sacred Portion planned to bring orphans from the Philippines and Russia for its fourth annual summer camp. The idea is to introduce children to families who might later adopt them.

But adoption officials with the Department of Public Health and Human Services stopped the camp.

The program lacked a license for facilitating adoptions, which the state claimed the group needed. In the past, many families who had hosted kids had later gone through licensed agencies to arrange adoptions.

On Wednesday, Sacred Portion's founders, Jan and Craig Druckenmiller, met in Helena with DPHHS Director Joan Miles, Anna Whiting Sorrell, the governor's policy advisor on families, and several other DPHHS employees.

The Druckenmillers had said in the past that they did not think Summer Miracles ever acted as an adoption agency and that it did not need to be licensed as such.

But the state maintained that it did, and the Druckenmillers decided to go ahead and complete the necessary paperwork for licensure.

"We think it's a wonderful program, but we do need to make sure they're operating under the same parameters as other adoption agencies," Miles said last week.

One result of the meeting, which both sides characterized as "productive," was that state officials agreed to help the Druckenmillers secure a provisional license by mid-January. That would allow the couple to recruit families to host kids for the upcoming summer long before the paperwork is finalized.

Jan Druckenmiller said Wednesday state officials appeared committed to making Summer Miracles "workable" for host families, who may have to undergo additional training in order to participate under the new rules.

"We're encouraged that we're going to be able to do the program this summer," she said.

Beth Slovic is at beth@dailychronicle.com

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