Everybody's Talking About It

Well, maybe not everybody. But a few of my blogging friends are like Mary and Cindy and Amanda are talking about how to recruit families to adopt unusual children.

By unusual, I mean children with special needs, whether they be emotional, behavioral, or medical Or unusual because they come in a group of five. Or unusual because they are 15 or 17 .

Or maybe they are unusual because they are Native American and their tribe has to approve their adoption.

But whatever the case, we want to recruit families to adopt them. If you’ve read any of my blog, you know that it is imperative that these children have adults who are willing to make them a lifetime commitment.

Cindy asked me, “Where can we find these people?” I mentioned masochists, but I’m not sure she thought that was all that funny because she was being serious. But the answer to the question “where can we find these people” my answer is, “They are everywhere.”

What needs to happen is this:

1) People need to know about the need. When we started doing foster care, we had no idea kids like these existed.

2) People need to have someone who can show them how (like me, Mary, Cindy and Amanda.

3) People need to understand that you:
a) Don’t have to be married;
b) Don’t have to own your own home;
c) Don’t have to have a lot of money;
d) Don’t have to be perfect by any stretch of the imagination.

4) People need to realize that there is no particular kind of person or personality who does this well -- there are all kinds of us, but the one thing we all have in common is the ability to make a commitment and stick to it, no matter what. If you have that, you can do this.

So do it already!