Tag Archive for: @DaveThomasFoundationforAdoption
This is the thirteenth of an ongoing series of assignments that I had for the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. This has been a very meaningful project for me, as I too was adopted, but I had found a forever family when I was only months old. Many of the children I have documented in this series were not so fortunate, spending years in a system that passed them from one home to another until DTFA stepped in and helped them find a stable home life and loving forever family.
OUR CHILD IS PERFECT, EVEN WHEN HE ISN’T
By Sadie Marshall-Corley
Sadie and her husband, Cody, adopted their son, Latrell, through the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption’s Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program. The Corleys, who live in Louisiana, want to raise awareness about the importance of foster care adoption, and specifically, the critical need to find permanent, loving homes for teenagers in foster care.
People often say that our son is ‘lucky’ to have us, but they could never understand that we are the ones who are truly lucky and blessed to have him.
My husband, Cody, and I had thought about adoption for a while. But adopting a teenager was never the plan, until it was. Cody is a middle school teacher and had a 14-year-old student named Latrell. Cody and Latrell formed a bond that extended from class to extracurricular activities. And it was during this time that Cody learned that Latrell was in foster care. Months later, I met Latrell.
Latrell spent eight years in foster care. He needed a family. Before we finished the certification process, Latrell was moved to Monroe, Louisiana, which was about two hours away. Frustrated, but not deterred, we pressed on. We exchanged phone numbers, became Facebook friends and traveled to Monroe to take Latrell to dinner so we could see him and continue getting to know him.
In October 2016, Latrell asked us if we were interested in adopting him. Prior to that, we had just been getting to know one another and hadn’t made any solid plans or promises. My heart almost burst when he asked that one question. It took a few more months, but Latrell moved into our home in February 2017.
During this process, Kerri Byrd, our Wendy’s Wonderful Kids recruiter, was our guardian angel. I can’t tell you how many times I called her crying. The process was slow, and I felt like it was robbing us of time with our son. He was already 15, and we had limited time before he’d be off to college or living on his own.
By December 2017, Latrell was officially a Corley. He says he is now “living his best life.” What a compliment from a now 17-year-old boy!
While Latrell was already a teenager when we met, his experiences had been so limited. It was heartbreaking at first, but we realized that it allowed us to experience a lot of the typical “firsts” with him that are often missed when an older child is adopted. We got to teach him how to drive and give him his own room for the first time in his life. We bought him his first plane ticket for his first trip out of state. We gave him his first dog, helped him secure his first job, and more. It has been an incredible journey.
The biggest change for Latrell has been his grades. When he came to us, he was nearly failing. Today, he has a 3.5 GPA. He is now confident. It has been more amazing than I have the words to describe watching him blossom and develop a sense of self.
To anyone considering foster care adoption, a teenager can bring out the most love and hope a person can have in their heart. We are so lucky to have met Latrell and be given the opportunity to bring him into our family. He is the light of our world, and we couldn’t imagine life without him in it.
The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption’s Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program provides grants to adoption agencies to hire and train recruiters in our Child-Focused Recruitment Model to find loving, permanent homes for the nearly 155,000 children waiting in foster care across the United States and Canada. The model is up to three times more effective at serving youth who have been in foster care the longest.
Considering adoption? Please check out this guide
Also, please prayerfully consider your financial support of this great organization.
This is the twelfth of an ongoing series of assignments that I have had for the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. This was a very meaningful project for me, as I too was adopted, but I had found a forever family when I was only months old. Many of the children I have documented in this series were not so fortunate, spending years in a system that passed them from one home to another until DTFA stepped in and helped them find a stable home life and loving forever family.
WHO KNEW A GAME OF UNO COULD CHANGE YOUR LIFE?
By Jacquelynn Patterson
Jacquelynn and Kevin Patterson are adoptive parents from Kevil, Kentucky. They have three daughters. Their oldest, Haylee, was adopted through the Foundation’s Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program.
Our daughter, Haylee, came home to us at age 13. After living a life of uncertainty, growing up in homes that were deemed unsafe and foster homes that were not permanent, our daughter is finally home.
We met Haylee in September 2016. We weren’t sure what we were getting into, but we knew the need for foster-to-adopt families in Kentucky was critical. We also knew that teenagers were being overlooked and that thousands of teens needed loving parents. We wanted to be that family for a teenager.
During our first meeting, Haylee was shy, and it was hard to get her to talk to us. Everything changed when we learned that she likes to watch professional wrestling. Kevin loves the WWE. That was our in. From there, we moved on to playing what can only be described as the most epic and memorable game of Uno ever played. It took 90 minutes, and we laughed the entire time. Haylee began opening up and started making jokes. In the end, she won the game, but we had broken the ice. Leaving that day, we knew we had met our daughter, and Haylee says she knew she had met her parents. “I thought they were so weird, but deep down, I knew they were my family.”
When Haylee came to live with us, it was easy to see she was broken, lacked confidence and couldn’t see all the beautiful things about her. It’s hard to blame her, she had been through a lot. As she once said, “no one wanted a child like her.”
We try to instill in Haylee how much opportunity she has ahead of her. She takes joy in now being a big sister, oldest child, oldest grandchild, friend, cousin and daughter. Not everything has been smooth, but we work through the obstacles together. Every moment of resistance and frustration has been worth it.
Haylee didn’t smile in photos before. Now, she loves to smile and loves life, herself and her family. Today, when she is asked about being adopted, Haylee says, “It just feels great to be wanted and to be home.” We have a hard time remembering life without her. It’s like she’s always been here.
Considering adoption? Please check out this guide
Also, please prayerfully consider your financial support of this great organization.
This is the eleventh of an ongoing series of assignments that I had for the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. This was a very meaningful project for me, as I too was adopted, but I had found a forever family when I was only months old. Many of the children I have documented in this series have not been so fortunate, spending years in a system that passed them from one home to another until DTFA stepped in and helped them find a stable home life and loving forever family.
TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK
By Kameca Broom
Kameca and her husband, Jamar, adopted Elias and Niyah through the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption’s Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program. The Brooms, who live in Mississippi, hope that anyone considering foster care adoption sees it as a higher calling.
Adoption is choosing to love someone who you will teach how to love others unconditionally. My children are not biologically mine, but my heart doesn’t know the difference. I’ve always wanted to fill my home with children, and while we didn’t take the path that I originally thought, it’s taken us to an amazing place.
My husband, Jamar, and I first learned about foster care adoption from a high school friend who was working for the Mississippi State Department of Health. She opened my eyes to the great need for foster-to-adopt families. There was so much to learn and do to prepare our hearts and minds for bringing children into our home.
During our journey, we decided that we would be open to adopting more than one child. That’s when Elias and Niyah came into our lives. Just three and four years old at the time, they had spent three years of their young lives in foster care. We also met a woman who would change our adoption path for the better. Kenyata Wells, our Wendy’s Wonderful Kids recruiter, has helped us beyond what words could ever repay, from supporting us through each transition to being present at our adoption finalization.
Elias and Niyah lived with us for a little more than a year before the adoption was final. During that time, we grew together and learned from each other. So many challenges presented themselves as we started to become a family. We had to work hard to heal the behaviors that are expressed when a child has experienced significant trauma and inconsistency. We started a behavior chart and taught them self-control. They have both grown socially, mentally and physically.
If you are considering foster care adoption, follow your heart. I believe our adoption was heaven-sent and the most precious gift I’ve been given. Jamar and I always wanted to be parents, and we are so blessed that God found a way to help us find the children we were always meant to have.
It wasn’t all easy. In fact, most of it was hard. But it’s all been worth it to hear our little boy and girl say, “Mommy and Daddy, we want to stay with y’all forever, because we love y’all.”
At the end of the day, we all want what is best for each other. And as we say almost every day, “Teamwork makes the dream work! Team Broom!”
Considering adoption? Please check out this guide
Also, please prayerfully consider your financial support of this great organization.
This is the tenth of an ongoing series of assignments that I had for the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. This was a very meaningful project for me, as I too was adopted, but I had found a forever family when I was only months old. Many of the children I documented in this series were not so fortunate, spending years in a system that passed them from one home to another until DTFA stepped in and helped them find a stable home life and loving forever family.
Maci Kean came through the The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, and with over 100,000 children in the U.S. foster care system, organizations like the Foundation can play a crucial role in placing kids, especially considering 20,000 children in foster care will never be adopted. Older children and those with special needs often face difficulty finding adoptive homes. A recent survey taken by The Foundation revealed that 80 percent of Americans considering adoption would look at kids foster care.
Maci lost her father when she was two, and her mother at 11, both to addiction. Growing up, her life was anything but stable. Continuous drug use and domestic violence marred her life for years. A high fever took her hearing as a toddler, leaving her deaf. School was an additional source of stress for Maci, where she was constantly bullied. She missed days of school at a time, as her mother was rarely awake to put her on the bus—much less feed her breakfast or get her dressed. Placed in the temporary custody of her aunt while her mother served a jail sentence for drug-related charges, Maci’s life began to unravel. Life with her aunt lacked the love she had known from her mother, and she quickly began acting out as a result. After Maci’s mother completed her sentence, she went into a half-way home where she died of a drug overdose. Suddenly, Maci’s temporary placement with her aunt became long term, and the grief over the loss of her mother created a downward spiral—and compensating negative behaviors—that her aunt was not willing to work through.
When Maci was 15, her aunt released her into the foster system, a move that only increased her feelings of isolation. She was placed in a strict group home that provided the basics for life: food, shelter, and medical care. According to her adoptive mother Gigi, what it didn’t have was more important. “Even though she had safety and medical care, she didn’t have love. If these children don’t learn to function in a family with love, they will be forever impacted,” she told Reader’s Digest. Maci’s adoptive father, Chris, adds, “It was a top-notch group home, but group homes are made to address the needs of all the children—not as individuals. At an emotional level, they cannot meet the bonding needs of each child.” There are many things adoptive parents wish others knew, because the process of adoption is so complex.
A junior in high school, Maci was quickly nearing what is called “aging out” of the system; when children turn 18, they are no longer considered to be adoptable by the state. Maci had already given up hope of being adopted, and redid her paperwork to reflect her dashed hope: Maci changed her permanency plan to include only foster care, not adoption.
Maci didn’t know it at the time, but her future mother was already in her life on a daily basis. Gigi Kean worked at Maci’s high school office. “We all knew her story,” she says. “I never saw her as a pity case—I always saw her as this fiery, bright, and intelligent girl. I was ignorant about foster children, I never even considered that she might want parents, or to be adopted. I admired her strength, and talked to her whenever I could.”
It was only when Maci showed Gigi her Forever Family video—she made the video with the help of the Dave Thomas Foundation to assist her in being placed—that Gigi understood the depth of Maci’s yearning for a real family. “She told me, “I just need to be realistic, no one wants to adopt me. Who would want me?,” Gigi recalls. It was then that the wheels in Gigi’s mind began to turn, and adopting Maci was all she could think about. After speaking to her husband Chris, the plan to adopt Maci was officially set in motion, and it was only a matter of time before they became a family of five. The Keans’ two biological children, Carolyn and Christopher, were completely on board with gaining a new sister.
Initially, Maci was hesitant to trust that her dream of having a family would come true, but on June 8th, only six weeks before turning 18, she officially took the last name Kean, and was adopted. Maci’s new mother is quick to point out that adopting a child at any age is important. ” A child’s need for love, acceptance, and the knowledge they will never be given up is the same at 7 or 17,” she explains. “Age or special needs should never be a deterrent, people just need to understand that these children come with trauma, and love is the most healing thing you can offer,” she says.
A video of her life’s story can be found on YouTube here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6mU9hQbC1E
Considering adoption? Please check out this guide
Also, please prayerfully consider your financial support of this great organization.
This is the eighth of an ongoing series of assignments that I had for the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. This was a very meaningful project for me, as I too was adopted, but I had found a forever family when I was only months old. Many of the children I documented in this series were not so fortunate, spending years in a system that passed them from one home to another until DTFA stepped in and helped them find a stable home life and loving forever family.
On a cold, clear November evening in 2015, Robbin and Steven Brydges climbed into a big white bus in the middle of a Walmart parking lot. It was here, in this unassuming locale, that they met their sons for the first time.
“I knew Dawson loved super heroes,” Robbin shares, “so I’d gotten a manicure with super hero icons on each finger, like Superman’s S and the Bat signal.” They hit it off right away. Over the next few months, Robbin and Steven made several more trips to Ohio to visit Dawson and his brother Dalton, and in May of 2016 brought the boys to their Jacksonville, Florida home for good.
Robbin and Steven hadn’t considered adopting two children. But when Rachel, a Wendy’s Wonderful Kids Recruiter, told them about Dawson and Dalton, they knew they had to keep the boys together. “Dalton has cerebral palsy and epilepsy, so we were nervous,” Steven says. “We didn’t know if we could give him the care he needed.” But the Brydges made the commitment, and it’s made all the difrerence in their lives — and those of Dalton and Dawson. “I kept praying for years and years that they wouldn’t take me away from Dalton,” says Dawson. “I was very afraid.”
Today, the boys are thriving in their home. Dawson is doing well in school, Dalton’s health has markedly improved and the boys’ laughter fills the house. “Life has been much more fulfilling,” Steven says. “It’s a lot more fun to share it with these kids.”
“We all love each other and we’re all kind and we’re all good at having fun together!” – Dawson Brydges, age eight, on his favorite thing about his family
Considering adoption? Please check out this guide
Also, please prayerfully consider your financial support of this great organization.
This is the fifth of a series of assignments that I had for the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. This was a very meaningful project for me, as I too was adopted, but I had found a forever family when I was only months old. Many of the children I documented in this series were not so fortunate, spending years in a system that passed them from one home to another until DTFA stepped in and helped them find a stable home life and loving forever family.
Soon after Robb and Marc met Tyler, then nine, he cut right to the chase. “When are you going to adopt me?” he asked as they drove to a coffee shop.
The question caught Marc off guard. “I’m not usually at a loss for words,” says Marc, “but it took me a minute to figure out what to say. I ended up telling him that we’d need to see how it went and make sure it was a good fit.” “I think it’s a good fit,” Tyler answered immediately. After two weeks, Marc and Robb knew Tyler was right. He moved in with them soon after. “It was very meant to be,” Robb says.
“Tyler is so polite, so kind. He takes our next door neighbor’s trash cans in for her. He walks the elderly across the street. Seriously.” Together, the family travels, cooks, entertains and takes walks. “We’re loving, fun and outgoing,” Tyler says.
“That’s what makes this a really great family. “When strangers tell you things about your son, like ‘what a great kid,’ it just makes you so proud.”
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
Below is an except from a Readers Digest article written by Jen Babakhan about Tyler’s family:
In 2009, Marc and Robb were living a life that many dream of, filled with successful professional careers and frequent travel, but they both agreed that something was still missing. Having a child had always been important to the couple, and it felt as though the time to pursue an addition to their family had arrived. Robb tells Reader’s Digest, “We’ve always known someone was missing at the table, and we’ve always wanted a family. We’ve always wanted someone to teach to tie their shoes, someone to visit colleges with.”
Once the decision had been made to begin the adoption process, Marc and Rob completed a “Family Available” sheet, a document that uses photographs and personal information to introduce a child to prospective parents. “It’s an opportunity to give a child the chance to feel like they get to choose you, instead of you choosing them,” Robb explains. Originally looking for a child from infant age to seven, the couple scanned several thick binders full of profiles of waiting children. Robb recalls, “There were these huge binders—just full of children, all waiting for families.” When a social worker showed them the profile of a nine-year-old boy named Tyler, they decided to schedule a meeting with him even though he was older than their original preference. “We had previously talked to friends about it, and we just came to the conclusion that it would be crazy to say we would take him if he were six or seven, but not nine,” Robb says.
Marc and Robb met Tyler on a cold January day at an aquarium. “I had this excited and nervous feeling,” Robb says. “We wanted to love this child, and we wanted him to love us, too,” he adds. The initial meeting proved to be exactly what Tyler and the couple had hoped for—they all felt as though they were meant to be a family. On the way back to his foster mother’s home, Tyler softly asked from the backseat as Robb drove, “So when are you going to adopt me?” This was a question Robb hadn’t been prepared for, but a perfect way to confirm what they had all been feeling. “I pulled over and told him that we needed to make sure that it was a good fit for him, and for us—and he responded with ‘I think it’s a good fit.’ That’s when I just knew.”
Tyler was placed in foster care due to parental neglect at the age of six, and had experienced three separate foster homes in the three years prior to meeting Marc and Robb. “We think of each situation he’s been through as a tool to help him navigate his adult life. His past does not define him,” explains Marc. On December 10, 2009, Marc and Robb officially became the parents of Tyler, an event that felt a lifetime in the making.” He’s been a part of our family his entire life, it just took him a little while to get to us,” Robb says.
Today, Tyler is a 17-year-old senior in high school who works summers at the local zoo and plays the piano. He’s touring colleges with his parents and excited for the future—a future that now looks brighter than ever. “Everyone that knows Tyler loves him. He’s such a wonderful human being. We would do what we did a million times over to get Tyler,” Robb says. Marc and Robb are motivated to share their story of adopting Tyler to help others understand that adopting an older child can be wonderful, and full of some of the same things you would expect to experience with a younger child. “These kids are not in foster care because they had great parents,” Robb says. “You’ll have the firsts with older kids that you would have had with younger ones—we taught Tyler to ride his bike, brush his teeth—all of those things,” he adds. Robb and Marc were once told by a family friend to not forget about older children as an option for their family. “He said, remember that they come back home during college—they’ll come back to you for the rest of their lives,” Robb recalls. “You don’t parent a child only until they’re 18. You adopt a child for a lifetime,” Marc says. Adopting from foster care is free in many states, but the cost of adoption in other scenarios is often higher than you might expect.
Marc and Robb are both passionate about the joy that adoption, and specifically adoption of an older child, has brought to their lives. “I feel as bonded to Tyler just as much as if he were my biological child,” Marc says. “I would sacrifice myself for him in an instant, without a second thought,” he adds. The couple want others to know that parenting an adopted child is no different than parenting a biological one. “Every child has issues—biological or not—but that’s just part of being a parent,” Marc explains. “Every child is entitled to a childhood. I just want people to know that they shouldn’t make assumptions. Children in the foster system deserve a chance to be considered,” Robb adds.
Considering adoption? Please check out this guide
Also, please prayerfully consider your financial support of this great organization.
This is the fourth in a series of assignments that I had for the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. This was a very meaningful project for me, as I too was adopted, but I had found a forever family when I was only months old. Many of the children I documented in this series were not so fortunate, spending years in a system that passed them from one home to another until DTFA stepped in and helped them find a stable home life and loving forever family.
Laverne Moore-Jenkins and her husband Terry have been fostering children for almost 30 years — in addition to raising nine of their own. They’ve always enjoyed working with teens especially, to help them get the skills they need to transition out of the foster care system as well as provide them a place to come back to.
When Raychelle was placed in their home, Laverne didn’t want to let her go. “Had Raychelle aged out of foster care, her only option was to go to a group home,” Laverne says. “I knew that wasn’t a good place for her, and I wanted to make this her home.” By the time Raychelle joined the Jenkins family at the age of 15, she’d lived in about 26 homes. “She’d lost a lot in all those transitions,” Laverne adds. “She’s deaf and developmentally delayed. When we first met her, she only knew about 10 words of American Sign Language.”
She was in good company: Laverne and Terry didn’t know ASL either. Working together, they learned. Now they sign to each other, and Raychelle knows hundreds of words. And communication isn’t the only improvement Raychelle has made. Laverne describes Raychelle as shy and withdrawn at first. After a time, she came out of her shell. “She’s my social butterfly,” Laverne laughs. “Always giving everyone hugs and compliments I have to translate. She’s truly happy now.”
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
Below is an except from a Readers Digest article written by Jen Babakhan about the Jenkins family:
Terry and Laverne Jenkins met in the armed forces and knew they were meant to be together and join their families. At the time, Terry had two sons, and Laverne had one. Over the years they adopted two nieces due to a family tragedy, and went on to have a biological son and daughter together. They decided to become foster parents out of a desire to help other families succeed, and for the last 30 years they have done just that.
Raychelle was 15 when she first met the Jenkins. Scheduled to stay with the Jenkins for a short 72 hours, Laverne says Raychelle was placed in her home with only a black trash bag containing her belongings—which were severely lacking. “She came with clothing appropriate for an older man—not for a teenage girl. It looked as though someone’s grandfather had passed, and she was given his clothing. She had no toothbrush or pajamas—none of those things,” Laverne recalls.
It was apparent that Raychelle, born deaf, had been extremely neglected in her previous foster environments. “She hadn’t bathed in weeks, and the stench was awful. Her hair hadn’t been washed or braided, and she had bald spots from the lack of grooming. I couldn’t believe it,” Laverne told Reader’s Digest. Raychelle entered the foster care system due to neglect from her biological mother right before her sixth birthday, and had bounced from home to home throughout the years—some of which were abusive. “When Raychelle came to us she was extremely withdrawn and afraid of people. She would put her hands up because she was afraid of being hit, and her ability to communicate with others was almost nonexistent,” Laverne explains.
When a social worker told Laverne and Terry that after her weekend stay with them Raychelle would be placed in a group home, Laverne knew she had to take action. “I called the social worker I knew with Wendy’s Wonderful Kids and told her I wanted to petition for adoption immediately—there was no way a group home would be prepared to take care of Raychelle in the way she needed.” Once Raychelle was placed with the Jenkins, others began noticing changes in the teen as well. “The school social worker told me, ‘We knew she had to be in a new home, because she came to school clean,” Laverne recalls. “I told her, ‘You don’t have to worry about her anymore, she’s in the right home now,” she adds.
Laverne says that adopting Raychelle, who functions at a first grade level due to brain trauma she sustained during abuse, has been a motivation for growth in her own life. She says, “Adopting her was something that God put on my heart, and looking in her eyes I knew I was meant to be her forever mom. She’s made me a better person. I’m more empathetic and sympathetic to others. People think I’ve done great things for her, but she’s done them for me, too.”
Today, Raychelle is 20, and about to graduate high school. She only knew five American Sign Language words when arriving at the Jenkins home, and she now communicates well with over 400. Learn some fascinating facts about American Sign Language. Laverne says her daughter amazes her, and she’s learning sign language to communicate even better with Raychelle. “She’s learning to read and write, and she could barely write her name when we met. I believe she can go so much further,” she explains. Previously withdrawn and fearful, Laverne says Raychelle has grown to love others. She says, “Raychelle has more of a social life than I do, she goes to dances and recreation programs. I want her to be comfortable wherever she is, whether that’s with hearing people or non-hearing people. I want her to know her world is broad.”
Laverne wants others considering adoption of older children or those with special needs to know that any child in foster care has special needs. She explains,”Foster care children all have a special need for something. If you’re considering adoption or foster care, you should pray about it—we all have a mission in life, and if this is yours, then a higher power will provide for you.” She also encourages other adoptive parents to educate themselves about advocating for their child. “Go to the doctor and tell them what you think your child needs, get familiar with the IEP (individual education program) process, and advocate for them. If you don’t, no one else will. They can’t advocate for themselves,” she says.
Considering adoption? Please check out this guide
Also, please prayerfully consider your financial support of this great organization.
This is the third in a series of assignments that I had for the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. This was a very meaningful project for me, as I too was adopted, but I had found a forever family when I was only months old. Many of the children I documented in this series were not so fortunate, spending years in a system that passed them from one home to another until DTFA stepped in and helped them find a stable home life and loving forever family.
For 11 years, Wilfredo and Dimarie Ocasio have found purpose in fostering groups of siblings. In fact, they view it as their ministry to keep families together.
When a change in Texas legislation placed a halt on all group placements, the Ocasios decided to adopt the group of six siblings that were with them rather than see them split up. Today they have a total of 11 adopted children and one grandchild (so far). “You don’t plan for something like this,” says Wilfredo. “You just see kids who need a family and you fall in love.”
“We don’t regret a minute of this journey.” – Wilfredo Ocasio
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
(© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)
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