A Love Letter To Our Supporters...

On this day, dedicated to love, we want to thank you!

• Thank you to the families who open up their loving homes to children living in foster care 
• Thank you to the children who keep faith and hope alive that they will find a family to call their own 
• Thank you to our donors for your vital financial support so we may continue expanding adoption opportunities for the more than 104,000 children who need to be adopted 

Thanks to all of you who inspire us to continue our work of finding forever families for children who only desire to be loved.

Happy Valentines day!

All Children - All Families

 

On Tuesday, February 5, NAC teamed up with the Human Rights Campaign’s All Children - All Families (ACAF) division to enhance LGBT cultural competence among child welfare professionals through a 5-hour training workshop. HRC’s Ellen Kahn made for a lively, open ended, day of training as the group learned new things about LGBT adoption from the workshop as well as each other.

Many who entered the workshop, including myself, felt as though they were already very knowledgeable in the field and had more to offer than to learn. We participated in many interactive activities, watched a few shorts, and discussed many different topics of interest that were presented by Ellen as well as the group. By the end of the day, everyone left on the same note feeling much more confident in the information they gathered and much more prepared to apply the practices in their field. 

I was very grateful to have the opportunity to sit in on such an event and thoroughly encourage all organizations to work towards receiving the HRC’s All Children All Families Seal of Approval. HRC continues to support equality for LGBT Americans by lobbying elected officials, mobilizing grassroots supporters, educating Americans, investing strategically to elect fair-minded officials and partnering with other LGBT organizations.

NAC’s LGBT Initiative strives to expand adoption opportunities for children living in foster care by targeting prospective adoptive parents who identify as LGBT.

Adoption is for all.

Wednesday's Child - Wafiq

Meet Wafiq, featured last week on Wednesday’s Child. Like music? This guy knows all about it. Wafiq taught himself to play the drums and blew the minds of everyone at Elm Studio when he hopped on the set. Wafiq had a blast showing off his skills and spending some time with host Vai Sikahema and Dave Uosikkinen, the well known drummer and founder of The Hooters. Wafiq knows the importance of practice and can’t wait to start learning different instruments as well.

Aside from his love for music, this 7th grader is doing well in school, expresses an interest in his science classes, and is looking forward to possibly joining the school football team. Wafiq is an extremely friendly kid who does best with one on one interaction. When he’s not behind the drums, you can find Waqif rocking out on his Xbox, tossing around the football, or watching some laugh-out-loud comedies.

 

Like all other middle schoolers, Waqif knows the importance of having fun and being a kid. Waqif also knows the importance of family and talks a bit about what family means to him. Waqif says his dream is to be adopted. The most ideal family will be able to provide Waqif with the love, structure, and stability that every growing teen deserves. All families will be considered.

Watch Wafiq’s Wednesday’s Child feature.

I Like Adoption

At the National Adoption Center we “like adoption” –thankfully we are no exception. In this beautiful video, the Dennehy’s invite us into the hearts and home of their incredible family. The Dennehy’s have adopted seven children from around the world, two from the U.S. foster care system, and have three biologically related children as well.

 

 

“People discouraged us. They thought we were going to ruin our lives by taking all of these special kids, and they said ‘you don’t know what to do’. And, it’s true that we had no experience, and we didn’t really know how to raise them. But, you see what happens with unconditional love. You give a person unconditional love, and they blossom.”

—Sharon Dennehy, mother of 12 children (nine of which were adopted).

 

As the story unfolds you see a mixture of children from all different backgrounds, with all different needs, and all different ages. Finding these children has helped Sharon and Michael find their life’s purpose; the children pour out their hearts and radiate with an overwhelmingly contagious joy that carries through the computer screen.

 

“The pure joy that will come from a rescue of a child’s life is probably the most satisfying thing you can imagine.”

–Michael Dennehy, father

Family is fun. Family is interesting. Family is people you can be a fool around and they’ll love you. Family is awesome. Family is something that I can count on.

Family is adoption.

Kahlisha and Felicia - Wednesday's Child

Freddie Mac Foundation's Wednesday's Child Philadelphia, is a weekly television feature on NBC10 that helps children living in foster care find permanent, loving, adoptive families. Last week 16-year-old twins, Kahlisha and Felicia, had a special visit to Power 99 FM studios to learn the ins and outs of the studio business and meet radio show personality Cappuchino. These two siblings were a joy to be around. Beginning with a tour of the studio, the teens were already excited. Meeting Cappuchino and learning how she runs the midday show was very cool -Kahlisha and Felicia even got some air time and were able to record a few speaking and even singing notes.

Their positive energy was irresistibly contagious - Kahlisha enjoys reading, listening to music, watching TV, and cooking. In school, she participates in cheerleading and track. Kahlisha hopes to pursue a career in broadcasting or become a couples therapist. Felicia has an amazing sense of humor and enjoys activities such as reading, blogging, watching movies, and attending sporting events. In school, she is a member of the lacrosse team. Artistic and creative, she dreams of becoming an actress or artist when she grows up.

Although the teens have different goals for the future, they share a common goal for the present. Kahlisha and Felicia yearn to be adopted and have definite ideas about what they want in an adoptive family. Kahlisha’s ideal family would be caring, understanding of teens, and non-judgmental. Felicia hopes a family would be supportive and helpful. Most of all, the siblings would like to be adopted together or at least be able to maintain contact with each other. All families will be considered.


To see the twins on Wednesdays Child, click to see the video.

To inquire about Kahlisha and Felicia, please contact Sheina at smartinez@adopt.org

The Fantastic Four

Freddie Mac Foundation's Wednesday's Child Philadelphia, is a weekly television feature on NBC10 that helps children living in foster care find permanent, loving, adoptive families. Last week, Kenneth, 12, Shakenya, 10 and twins Dominick & Deatrick, 9 were featured on the program and spent their day with Vai Sikahema, at Painting With A Twist as they were guided through a creative painting course. The siblings and Vai were provided with a canvas, paint and all other necessary art supplies. The painting course was an extremely entertaining and fun learning experience for them all.

Kenneth is in the 6th grade, Shakenya in the 5th grade and both Dominick & Deatrick are 3rd graders. All four siblings enjoy school and sports. The boys enjoy playing football while Shakenya enjoys cheerleading. Kenneth is the most social and can usually be found making someone laugh. Shakenya is very responsible and likes to speak on behalf of her brothers. Dominick & Deatrick tend to stick together most of the time when engaging in activities.

Kenneth, Shakenya, Dominick & Deatrick dream big of being adopted by a family that is willing to let them continue to grow and mature together. The children share the hope of living in a stable home with a loving forever family. The siblings desire parents that will be willing to spend quality time with them and allow them to participate in extracurricular activities. All families will be considered.

To see the children’s feature on Wednesday’s Child, click: View Video

To inquire about Kenneth, Shakenya, Dominick & Deatrick, please contact Sheina at smartinez@adopt.org

Crossing Paths

contributed by intern Michelle Johnson

As an intern here I had the opportunity to attend a Wednesday’s Child taping at the KYW Newsradio studio. What would happen at the taping is that a few children living in foster care would be interviewed about themselves and what they were looking for in a family. KYW Newsradio would then broadcast these interviews in hopes of finding forever families for these children and raising awareness about adoption in general.

That morning, I remember being so nervous. After working at the here for almost 4 months now, the previous notions and assumptions that I had about foster care had already been dismantled…but I still didn't really know what to expect. Coming from more of a sheltered background, I've never been exposed to people that have been through the type of situations that some of these children have experienced and that’s where most of my anxiety came from. I kept thinking how can I interact with them? Will I be able to relate to them in a way that comes off as sympathetic rather than as if I pity them? Will they be willing to open up to me?

When we first arrived I was immediately put into a room with three children and their social workers. Trying to be less awkward than normal, I just sat down after smiling or saying nothing more than “hello” to everyone in the room. I decided I would just listen to the interactions in the room since that would be much easier than engaging in conversation. But when I least expected it, I heard something that triggered a thought in my head. Before I knew it, I started talking with one of the kids. She had dreams of being a basketball player and had attended a game at Drexel University, the school I currently attend. Next thing I knew, we were engaged in one topic after another. It’s funny how a small comment can turn into great conversation. And here I was making the mistake of thinking we would have nothing in common. In that moment she wasn't just a child in foster care, she was a person.

Initially I thought that she was angry and wouldn't be willing to open up to me in such a small amount of time, based on her facial expression and body language. But once I had listened and we had made the connection, we had a great time. Although it’s so cliché, you truly cannot judge a book by its cover. It’s important to get to know people and base your judgments off of who the person actually is; not what they've been through or what they look like. Two people from two different walks of life can become the best of friends. All it takes is one moment when their paths happen to cross.