Press
Yatom Participant/Fellow Articles
Personal stories from the YATOM community, alongside reporting and reflections on Jewish foster care and adoption. Start with these voices, then explore the full collection below.
Jessielyn Hirschl · Jewish News · January 20, 2021
For Jessielyn and her husband, a Jewish support network made an overwhelming process feel possible to begin. She shares how professionals and fellow participants helped them learn, ask questions and build confidence.
Matt Hazimeh · Jewish News · June 3, 2021
Matt reflects on preparing to build a Jewish family and the encouragement he found in YATOM’s fifth fellowship cohort. Expert workshops and Jewish learning helped turn a long-held hope into a path he could explore.
Susan Sulami · Jewish Journal · February 19, 2021
Susan describes the learning and peer support she found in her YATOM cohort. She reflects on what she can offer a child and how a safe, steady home can become a meaningful act of care.
“This program offered the community we so desperately needed when taking such a big step.”
Jessielyn Hirschl, Jewish News, January 20, 2021
More participant and fellow stories
Personal stories from the YATOM community, alongside reporting and reflections on Jewish foster care and adoption. Start with these voices, then explore the full collection below.
The Frank family shares the preparation, questions and community-building that shaped the start of their adoption journey.
A reported look at the questions Jewish families consider as they prepare for adoption.
Talia Liben Yarmush reflects on becoming a foster parent and providing a caring community when a family needs support.
A prospective parent shares the questions, research and unexpected turns in her path toward adoption.
The Forward meets Jewish foster parents and explores the guidance and community YATOM offers.
Rabbi Naomi Zaslow connects the image of an open tent with welcoming a waiting teen through adoption.
Yatom Participant/Fellow Articles
Personal stories from the YATOM community, alongside reporting and reflections on Jewish foster care and adoption. Start with these voices, then explore the full collection below.
Jessielyn Hirschl · Jewish News · January 20, 2021
YATOM and the importance of working within the Jewish community
For Jessielyn and her husband, a Jewish support network made an overwhelming process feel possible to begin. She shares how professionals and fellow participants helped them learn, ask questions and build confidence.
Matt Hazimeh · Jewish News · June 3, 2021
Jewish Adoption is a Possibility for my Family Because of YATOM
Matt reflects on preparing to build a Jewish family and the encouragement he found in YATOM’s fifth fellowship cohort. Expert workshops and Jewish learning helped turn a long-held hope into a path he could explore.
Susan Sulami · Jewish Journal · February 19, 2021
G-d’s Blessing Comes with Caring for Widows and Orphans
Susan describes the learning and peer support she found in her YATOM cohort. She reflects on what she can offer a child and how a safe, steady home can become a meaningful act of care.
“This program offered the community we so desperately needed when taking such a big step.”
Jessielyn Hirschl, Jewish News, January 20, 2021
More participant and fellow stories
Exposing Our Lives to Grow Our Family Through Adoption
The Frank family shares the preparation, questions and community-building that shaped the start of their adoption journey.
Jewish parents looking to adopt face unique challenges
A reported look at the questions Jewish families consider as they prepare for adoption.
When A Childs Village Is Missing
Talia Liben Yarmush reflects on becoming a foster parent and providing a caring community when a family needs support.
A prospective parent shares the questions, research and unexpected turns in her path toward adoption.
There Aren’t Many Jewish Foster Parents. This Group Is Trying To Change That.
The Forward meets Jewish foster parents and explores the guidance and community YATOM offers.
Rabbi Naomi Zaslow connects the image of an open tent with welcoming a waiting teen through adoption.
General Press
“For children who require foster care, all of life is an unimaginable challenge. Their immediate families, for one reason or another, have failed them, leaving them to rely on the kindness of strangers in a system that, despite all its efforts, leaves those who age out of the system at 18 with a high likelihood of ending up unhoused, imprisoned or a victim of human trafficking.”
Shmuly Yanklowitz, “We Owe More to Migrant Children in Foster Care,” The Times of Israel Blogs, January 18, 2023
“The idea that one should have the religious freedom to discriminate against other religions seems like a strange perversion,” Phoenix Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz told Phoenix New Times. “The most important thing is that children are put in the best homes, not the most Christian homes.”
Shmuly Yanklowitz, “We Owe More to Migrant Children in Foster Care,” The Times of Israel Blogs, January 18, 2023
More coverage and perspectives
General Press
Times of Israel– January 2023
“For children who require foster care, all of life is an unimaginable challenge. Their immediate families, for one reason or another, have failed them, leaving them to rely on the kindness of strangers in a system that, despite all its efforts, leaves those who age out of the system at 18 with a high likelihood of ending up unhoused, imprisoned or a victim of human trafficking.”
Shmuly Yanklowitz, “We Owe More to Migrant Children in Foster Care,” The Times of Israel Blogs, January 18, 2023
Phoenix New Times– April 2022
Arizona’s New Adoption Law Sparks Outcry
“The idea that one should have the religious freedom to discriminate against other religions seems like a strange perversion,” Phoenix Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz told Phoenix New Times. “The most important thing is that children are put in the best homes, not the most Christian homes.”
More coverage and perspectives
Jewish Articles
Explore Jewish perspectives on adoption, foster care, belonging and the responsibility to care for vulnerable children.
Meet a Mom Who Takes Care of People’s Babies While They Make Huge Parenting Decisions.
This collection includes historical articles. Views belong to their authors, and program details or adoption processes may have changed since publication.