Mother and daughter write the book on adoptive families

When Filis Casey of Newton started the Alliance for Children adoption agency in Wellesley 30 years ago, there was little in the way of support or communication among families who adopted children. Over the years, as the face of adoptive families changed to include international and single-parent adoptions and adoption itself emerged from behind a veil of secrecy, it became easier for families to connect.

Casey and her daughter, Marisa Catalina Casey, who lives in New York City, have compiled the stories of families from the Boston area and around the country in the newly published book "Born in Our Hearts, Stories of Adoption" (Health Communications Inc., 2004). Through the voices of adoptive parents and adopted children who are now adults, the book tells of the joy, trepidation, sacrifice, struggle, misconceptions, and healing that come with adoptions.

WCVB-TV medical correspondent Dr. Timothy Johnson contributed his adoption story to the book, as did several local residents: Brenda Cotter, Katherine Bower, and Claire-Marie Hefer, all of Newton; Farrah Segaloff of Needham; and Denise Brown, Adam Schwartz, and Marilyn Sides, all of Wellesley.

Casey and her husband, J. Robert Casey, adopted Marisa from Colombia when she was 3. Now 24, Marisa is a photographer and works for the Hearst Foundation as a grant reviewer. The Caseys also have two biological children.

The book began as a way to help adoptive families share their experiences, but Casey said she also hopes it will encourage more families to adopt.

"Really, it's about families," said Casey. "The stories are about adoptive families, but we can all relate, because we are all from a family -- however we got to be there."

Proceeds from the book's sales will go to the Alliance for Children Foundation, an international relief organization for children living in impoverished orphanages in Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America.

STITCHERS WELCOME TO HELP -- If you've got a stitcher in the family -- someone who sews, knits, or crochets -- you know that, first, needlework is very trendy these days and, second, people who do it just can't stop making projects. Fortunately, there's a need for all those hats, scarves, and quilts, and probably no one knows that better than Southborough resident Gail Baker Rowe, director of education at Fabric Place in Framingham.

Rowe recently donated a quilt for silent auction at the Friends Fighting Breast Cancer 7th annual Gala and Silent Auction. Fabric Place volunteers stitched the quilt at the company's annual Quilt-a-thon. In addition to the quilt, Fabric Place donated a check for $5,000 to the charity. Friends, a grass-roots group in North Reading, donates annual fund-raising proceeds to breast cancer research. This year it presented a check for $80,000 to the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center.

Fabric Place supports the Friends throughout the year with donations as well as customer involvement programs such as the Quilt-a-thon and the Holiday Hat Drive. The Holiday Hat Drive supplies "chemo caps" to cancer patients with hair loss.

For more information on Friends Fighting Breast Cancer, call Michael O'Neill at 978-664-5027 or Fran Gilardi at 970-664-6947.

A GRAND LITTLE PIANIST -- Eight-year-old Sophie Gong of Franklin managed to tickle the judges as well as the ivories in a major piano contest last month. Gong won first place in the 19th International Young Artist Piano Competition, held at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

According to her father, Jiali Gong, Sophie has won a number of other awards, including first prize in the Manchester Young Artist Competition held in Connecticut last May. Sophie also plays piano in school, at church, and at the local senior center.

CANCER SOCIETY FORCE RETIRING -- It's been said that if you want something done, ask a busy person. If that's true, then Gaylord B. (Chip) Thayer of Wellesley was the right person to help found and serve on the American Cancer Society's New England board of directors seven years ago. Now, Thayer is retiring from that position but will still have his hand in numerous business and charitable activities.

While on the board, Thayer, a global technology executive, investor, and executive-in-residence at Babson College, chaired many society committees. In 2003, Governor Mitt Romney appointed him to the Public Health Council, the policy board of the Massachusetts Department of Health.

Cate Coulacos Prato can be reached at prato@globe.com.