Insight News

Simple words spoken by a man well acquainted with the pain surrounding children waiting to be adopted.

On Tuesday, June 23, 2009, Ramsey County hosted a celebration to kick off its Permanent Families Recruitment Project. There are currently over 90 children waiting to be adopted in Ramsey County. Ramsey County Human Services Department is on a mission to resolve this issue and find a permanent home for every child. Ramsey County was recently awarded a Five Year $2 million dollar Federal Adoptions Opportunity Grant. The county is seeking to build community-based partnerships for recruitment of foster and adoptive parents.

The celebration featured speakers such as Ramsey County Commissioner Toni Carter and Prof. Robert O’Connor of Metropolitan State University. Of more than deserving notoriety were several families whose lives have been impacted in one way or another by the adoption system.

The program began with a welcome from Carolyn Smith who serves as Project Manager for the initiative. The Mistress of Ceremonies was Janine Moore, Director of Ramsey County Families & Children Services Division. As director, Moore has the challenge of dealing with staff cuts due to budget shortages while at the same time attempting to still provide the quality services the people of Ramsey County deserve. Restructuring, consolidating, recruiting volunteers and good marketing strategies are the order of the day for the Child & Family Services Division.

O’Connor’s personal story is one of great challenges which were paralleled by the great triumphs experienced later in life. He can speak about adoption from the heart; out of the reality of his personal experiences.

O’Connor said he and his brother were given to the system by their mother at a young age. Because of the red tape involved, other family members were not able to get any information in order to rescue them from the system. They were tossed from home to home, he said. Eventually, he and his older brother were adopted into a forever family; a permanent home for himself and his older brother. Even the forever family had challenges, said O'Connor, but they remained strong and found a life of success as they grew older. His goal is to continue to help a challenged system develop the proper policies and procedures wherein children in vulnerable situations will be advocated for.

O’Connor spent eight years as a social worker. He has served in many capacities in the human services arena, including handling policies for 87counties through the Department of Human Services. He has also served as a licensed therapist for adopted families.

To the disappointment of many, The Post Adoption Support System which he helped to champion over 10 years ago will be dismantled on its’ 10^th anniversary this July. The program has been eliminated due to budget cuts.

Commissioner Carter serves in many capacities such as the Chair of the Association of Minnesota Counties Human Services Policies Committee which serves 87 counties. She was formerly the Chair of the St. Paul School Board of Education. She is the first African American elected to a County Board in the State of Minnesota. She is also Chair of the Hallie Q. Brown Community Center Board of Directors. Her goal for the Adoption Program is to protect the capacity for adopted youth to become caring and loving adults.

As a Ramsey County Commissioner, she is committed to the delivery of efficient and effective county services, to eliminating disparities in county services and systems, and to raising grassroots awareness of county decision making processes and systems. Carter expressed the pain of witnessing budget cuts to the tune of over $200 million, which, she said, translates into the loss of some of the current services provided by the county. These cuts hit in the area of child protection, disabilities, and mental health. According to Carter, “the last four to five years have been spent addressing prevention, now we need to switch to just basic survival.”

Carter is also hoping that this initiative will help educate the community on the need of providing permanent homes for older children. Historically, older children have been the hardest to place because families sometimes prefer dealing with younger children. There is a huge disparity of older African American children waiting to be adopted. “Many of these children have experienced great pain and have suffered grief and losses. Their behavior is sometimes a reflection of their pain and an effort to survive the many challenges they have faced. Kids are brilliant budding spirits; they can survive with care, their spirits can be reignited,” said Carter.

Parents and children who had been connected through the Ramsey County Adoption Program provided moving testimony of their experiences. Shannon and her husband “felt called to a life different from the typical selfishness of their day-to-day indulgences.” They became involved with the Adoption Program and were “rescued” by the children who came into their home and their lives. During one of the adoption events, they had the opportunity to hear a speech from four teens who were in the adoption system. Their lives were never the same. It became about the relationships. Fortunately, this family was self supportive and did not have to wait for some of the resources that typical foster families sometimes need. This allowed for many successes in areas that sometimes falter due to processes and procedures in the system.

In a video presentation, one of the teens waiting for a home stated “what’s important is finding a family that will always be there for you; a stable place where you know you are loved and they really will be there for you, every day, no matter what.”

One child said that “he wanted a stable place to stay because he was tired of moving around”.

Craig and Karen have adopted two siblings and another son. Between the three children, they have been in a total of 12 different foster homes. Two of the children were special needs with a not so great prognosis. Now these children are all doing great with bright futures ahead of them. Sometimes children do have issues that present a challenge; sometimes they just need the right family.

Foster parent, Sandra, was asked to adopt another sibling when she already had two. She believed in keeping families together. She was a foster parent for one child for 10 years before he was actually adopted. Sandra believes that one should think about their life and what they have been blessed with. “What have you contributed? Don’t complain about the kids if you are not going to do anything about them,” she said.

The Permanent Adoption Project helps to promote strong families. It is time for us to step up and take it to the next dimension. The time is now. We have been given an awesome opportunity. For additional information, contact Ramsey County Human Services Child and Family Services Division at 651-266 KIDS or www.co.ramsey.mn.us.