"To anyone considering foster care adoption, a teenager can bring out the most love and hope a person can have in their heart." Sadie and Cody Corley, of Louisiana, adopted Latrell through the Foundation's Wendy's Wonderful Kids program. Latrell says he is now "living his best life."
Gina Francis was still in college when she decided to become a foster parent. She soon got a phone call asking if Mireya, 4, and Christopher, 2, could come stay with her. The siblings had been living in separate foster homes for a year. "I didn’t know how to be a parent. These children didn’t really know how to be siblings. They had been through so much," Gina recalls. "I was young but determined." Mireya and Christopher were only supposed to stay with Gina for two months. Nine years later, they are now an adoptive family of three, living in Illinois.
Congratulations to the Martin Family who is celebrating nine years of being a forever family!
Did you know that you can adopt a child of any age from foster care? The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption focuses on finding forever families for the children who have been in foster care the longest. This includes teenagers, sibling groups and children with special needs.
David came to live with the Stromberg family as an emergency foster placement when he was just four weeks old. His mother had died of an overdose. In January 2016, the Strombergs adopted David. “My family is in my heart. They’re in my heart where I love them so much,” he says.
How five siblings separated by the system all found the same adoptive home
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“They have blessed our lives more then we could ever imagine.”
In 2014, Derek and Stacy Crow, of Kansas, adopted five siblings from foster care who had been living apart for years.
“It amazes me that the separation did not destroy the bond they had for each other,” says Stacy. “We have had tough times and have had to work through many challenges. But these children know they have a forever family.”
The Brydges family, of Florida, adopted Dalton and Dawson from foster care with the support of Rachel Adler, a Wendy's Wonderful Kids adoption recruiter. Rachel did all she could to find the boys their forever family. "To me, family is so important," she shared. "And to know that there are kids who don't have that and might not have the chance to have that...I thought how awesome that I get to do that work."
"Even if I wanted to be adopted, who would adopt a 17-year-old?" Maci had come to terms with being alone. “I was scared. I was lost. I felt hopeless." That all changed when Gigi Kean asked Maci, “Would you be interested in us adopting you?”
Every child, no matter their age or the circumstances of their journey through foster care, is adoptable. In a recent article for Adoptive Families magazine, our President & CEO, Rita Soronen, shares common myths and realities about adopting teens and older children.
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.
