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A Family
for Always
Because people care about outcomes
for children they read about on these pages, we will periodically share
transition or finalization news whenever it is available. Approximately
seventy-five percent of Wednesday's Child participants are welcomed into
a committed family--and that's good news. Please remember the other 25
percent who continue to wait in foster care or group homes. Many of them
need experienced parents who love teenagers and understand their challenges.
If
you have been checking in with our site concerning an individual or sibling
group and suddenly notice the profile is missing, that can mean one of
several things:
- The adoption social worker
has asked us to remove the listing as a committee begins the family
selection process and then a careful transition into a pre-adoptive
family.
- The agency is placing the
child with a foster parent who wants to adopt.
- The youth's listing has
been placed on "hold" for a period of time or indefinitely
pending needed services. The listing may reappear at a later date.
SNAPS staff and the call line staff
are not involved in the selection process. If you or the adoption agency
that prepared your home study have submitted it for consideration but
have not heard from the child's adoption social worker, please call the
state agency that received the home study.
Below are some of the lives
that are being changed for the better by permanent, loving families:
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Jason, Shelly and their three older children celebrated two adoption milestones during "Idaho Celebrates Adoption" on November 18, 2011 at the Idaho Supreme Court. It was very close to the two-year mark when their son, Kooper, joined their family. They also recently finalized the adoption of three young sisters who danced their way into their hearts one year ago. Their attraction to these children began through the Idaho Wednesday's Child program. According to Shelly, the bond grows stronger each day with their commitment to taking challenges and triumphs one day at a time." (Read more...)
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Life is hard enough when you're a boy who has come from the hard place of abuse or neglect and then lived several years in foster care. When you've moved many times within well-intentioned families, but none of them has really worked out, life can seem so unfair. Waiting for a permanent family, knowing other kids who have been adopted, and dealing with feelings of frustration and sadness are realities for many youth, especially pre-teen and teen-aged boys. (Read more...) View the KIFI segment. |
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When Lisa came to the Wednesday's Child program on November 4, 1998, she looked like an adorable 5 year-old child on the outside. The reality was that abusive brain trauma, commonly known as "shaken baby syndrome," had changed the course of her life.
Dressed in a white lace dress and hat, Lisa looked the perfect cherub as she walked into a photography studio to meet Dee Sarton and the KTVB camerman for her Wednesday's Child interview. In reality, Lisa operated cognitively and behaviorally on the level of a toddler. Challenges related to her brain trauma overwhelmed four foster care providers. An active child with high impulsivity and limited attention span, Lisa tested the stamina of photographer Terrell Moffett as she flitted from one place to another in his photography studio. Lisa's portrait truly captured the essence of her happy, irrepressible spirit. (Read the rest of the story...) View Lisa's KTVB success story |
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On June 16, 2010, Esteban joined a then recently-widowed single mother and her son, Hayden, who was adopted in his infancy. Laura knew that she liked kids. "I'd raised teenagers and my birth children were off on their own, scattered all across the country. I knew it would have its challenges but could also be rewarding," said Laura. "Hayden saw the Wednesday's Child program on KTVB and said, 'Mom, I want a little brother.' Later, when I saw Esteban's Wednesday's Child interview on Channel 7, I knew there was something very special about him. He loved football, and my father had played football for Notre Dame. I had football in my blood. Living where we do, we could certainly make sure that Esteban got to go to lots of BSU games." (read his story...) View Estaban's KTVB success story |
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Sometimes the best adoption placement decision for siblings is within two separate families that can give them the individual attention and support they need, while at the same time preserving and nurturing their sibling bond. Kelly and Joseph (who now goes by Joe) are two such youth. (Read their story.) Watch the KTVB Success Story |
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When Nolan and Mandy Mather became foster parents nearly three years ago, they did so with the goal of nurturing children younger than their own children. "I was afraid of fostering or adopting teens," said Mandy. "Then we did respite a few times. As we got to know older children on a weekend or while their foster parents were out of town, we found out they are not scary at all. We enjoyed them." (read more...) View their KTVB adoption story |
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After an arduous two-year wait to be matched with a legally free child in foster care, John and Debbie Cermak welcomed six year-old David into their family in 2007. Their love for David--a shy boy who loved Batman, playing with cars and video games, and who struggled with social skills, a speech impediment and developmental delays--has been broad and unconditional. David's love for his adoptive parents shines in his eyes and shows in a distinctive grin in every family photo. (read more...) View their KTVB success story |
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The Coach family is a Wednesday's Child success of a different sort. John and Amanda were foster parents to a few members of a sibling group of eight children. Brothers and sisters could not be placed together because there simply wasn't space in one home. When we invited the entire family to a Christmas gift unwrapping and cookie decorating session, they agreed to having their Wednesday's Child segment filmed by two reporters. The idea was to cast the widest possible net for one adoptive family that could bring them together under one roof. It would be a tall order to fill. (read more...) View their KTVB success story |
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One of the happiest experiences for caseworkers as well as SNAPS' staff is to hear from families who have adopted or the youth whose life is on a success track because of that choice. Vivian contacted Idaho Wednesday's Child on Facebook with the following message:
"I was a Foster Youth, a part of Wednesday's Child. I went to a great home in Washington and am now a Junior at the University of Washington-Seattle... (Read more...) View the KTVB segment here. |
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Every adoption story has a beginning, and the beginning for children in foster care is generally not a happy one. But sometimes the ending makes the beginning seem a little less painful. This is one such story. For the Ravert family, as told by adoptive mom, Kari, their story begins when she and husband Mark lost a baby when she was 40. She was in her 8th month of pregnancy, and they were devastated. Kari says, "All my life I had dreams and hopes of being a mom. Mark and I had talked about foster-adoption because he was a foster-adopted child. [Mark can also tell a story about foster adoption that had a happy ending for him!] His mom was a stay-at-home mom and fostered several children. At age 45, I told Mark we better get going on this." (Read the complete story.) View the KTVB success story segment. |
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Kolton held onto his dream of a family for many years. At age 14, he was adopted by two parents who intend to help him stay connected with friends and family members who are a part of his life now. KTVB's Dee Sarton was happy to reconnect with Kolton when his adoptive family invited her to visit their home. We hope you enjoy watching this Wednesday's Child segment and reminding yourself that every waiting youth deserves this kind of happy ending...and beginning. View Kolton's KTVB success story. |
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We're coming up on a milestone in our Wednesday's Child program that we've been doing for more than two decades. It's hard to keep track of them all but as near as I can figure in two weeks it will be our one-thousandth Wednesday's Child.
In anticipation of that event I thought it would be interesting to look back into my video archives this week and next at some of the success stories from over the years. (read more and watch the video)
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Kevin was legally adopted three days before Christmas in 2008. That occurred more than a year after becoming involved with the Wendy's Wonderful Kids Program, a child-focused intense recruitment program for youths who wait in foster care for permanent families. With the help of two WWK Recruiters within that timeframe, Kevin participated in Wednesday's Child public promotions, even though most of that time he believed he would, in his words, "turn 18 without ever having the family I wanted." (read more...) Watch Kevin's KTVB Success Story video |
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The McDaniels are not your typical family. Most people would consider a family with 21 adopted children extraordinary. But being different from other families isn't something that's ever bothered parents Tim and Shelly. In fact, they see themselves as a very normal family--just bigger. When Shelly is asked obvious questions by curious people, such as "How do you feed all those kids?" she promptly replies, "Just the same as anyone else. We just cook 50 hamburgers instead of four and use bigger bowls for the other dishes." (Read more...) View their KTVB story |
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