Tell me about what it is that you went through, you know, how you felt about the whole process of having to learn someone, new rules, and how your mother expressed love and all of those things that come with being part of a family. And so Tony didn't meet Angela again until they were adults.ĬHIDEYA: I remember you, Tony, saying that you had an easier road than your sister because your mom was really committed to you, even at times when you might have had some issues about acting out. But before that could happen, Angela was returned to the agency and her adoptive mom cancelled the adoption. And one day of the kids said, well, if you all are brother and sister, how come you all got different mommies?Īnd so Angela's mom and I got on the phone and exchanged, you know, we exchanged numbers and tried to work out something where we would have them spend some time together. And they recognized each other and they told the other kids in the daycare that they were brother and sister. She had been adopted by another woman who lived not far from me. When I first adopted him I put him in a nursery school and his older sister was there. I think he knew that I obviously wasn't his birth mother, so I thought it would be OK. I thought that, you know, he was old enough to understand something was going on, that there was an adoption process. And then once they decided there wasn't an opportunity for him to go back to his biological family, then they made him eligible for adoption.īut there was some concern that maybe the family would come and look for him, and they asked me if I would be willing to be contacted by them if they want to visit or something like that. So the whole time, from the time he was taken from his mother until I met him, he was pretty much in foster care and under the court's supervision. So the courts had only made him eligible for adoption maybe a couple of months before I met him. And that they had already had what they call a goodbye conference, where the family understood that he wouldn't be coming back and that he was going to be placed for adoption. JONES: They had waited as long as they could to see if he could be returned to his family. So they said, well, you know, take some time to think about whether you want to follow up with this kid and it was like, nah, I don't like to wait, we can start.ĬHIDEYA: Did you have any concerns at the time or did the issue come up of parental rights, of whether or not he had family that might try to claim him while you were going through this process? And he was cute as a button, so I just instantly fell in love.
FOSTER CARE SUCCESS STORY FULL
I mean he was just full of energy and just kind of, you know, this happy-go-lucky kid. Jankora(ph) said, well, what happened? He said I was running, and I was running, and I was running down the steps and then I hit the wall.Īnd I just thought that was so funny. And he said he was a devil.Īnd then he had a little knot on his head, and Mr. And the thing I remember was they asked him, his social worker asked him, what he'd been for Halloween. And so we sat at a table nearby and listened to him. JACKIE JONES (Foster Mother): He was watching the train in a display, you know, looking to go visit Santa Claus. Tony was four and Christmas shopping with his social worker. His mother, Jackie, told me about the first time she got to observe Tony, part of the adoption process. Later, we'll hear from a young man who turned 18 and left the system with nothing, but now he's thriving.īut first we'll take a look at the kids who get adopted from foster care -that's only 18 percent. Today we bring you two very different and personal stories.
That leaves too many teens with no home, no family, and no idea where the next meal is coming from.Īt any given time there are 115,000 kids in foster care, one-third are African-American. Eighteen in most states means the government and foster homes don't have to take care of you anymore. But for those who age out of foster care it can be terrifying. I'm Farai Chideya.įor most kids, 18 is an exciting birthday.
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