The North Star Catholic / Alaskan children benefit from loving adoptive families

CatholicAnchor.org
At Thanksgiving we celebrate family and at Catholic Social Services (CSS) one of our core missions is to strengthen families. We do this by providing healing and rest for a busy family caring for a young person experiencing developmental challenges; or supporting a family facing food shortage and a housing crisis as they work to improve their situation; or placing a child searching for a loving forever home with a family searching to make their home complete. Thanksgiving is about gratitude for all we have in our lives, particularly the human connections — our family and friends — that bring joy and love to our everyday life.

A number of CSS programs focus on families and capture that spirit of strength and love. Wendy’s Wonderful Kids, a signature program from the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, is a specific program within our Pregnancy Support and Adoption Program, which has the goal of finding forever homes for youth who linger in the foster care system.

The foster care system is a huge challenge. Each year thousands of Alaska’s children are placed in out-of-home care, according to the Alaska Office of Children’s Services. On average approximately 3,000 children are in foster care in Alaska each month. Children often enter the foster care system because they have been determined to be unsafe or at high risk of maltreatment in their family home.

Through the Wendy’s Wonderful Kids grant, CSS works with up to 20 young people at a time, trying to match them with adoptive families. Young people in the program typically do not have an identified permanent family and are thus eligible for adoption.

One young man, who was initially adopted at 14 years old, explained that, “many kids are still seeking adoption and some of those kids don’t get to have an adoptive family. I got really lucky to have a good caring family who was willing to take me in and call me their son forever.”

The family who adopted this young man said they came to adoption not because of a need to be parents, but because of the child’s need for parents. The adoptive mother met her son when he was eight-years-old, working as a professional in the field. Over the years, she still checked in on him. When she saw he was still in foster care at age 14, she and her husband decided to invite him into their family. The adoptive mother told us, “He has changed my world in ways that I cannot express. My heart hurts for him when I think about what he went through with no one to call mom or dad. I am so blessed that I get to have that title for him. I am a proud mom every day.”

Many families have come together through Wendy’s Wonderful Kids, and many lives have been changed for the better. Pope Francis said, “we need to see each child as a gift to be welcomed, cherished and protected.” Our Pregnancy Support and Adoption Program is just one example at Catholic Social Services of living out that belief, and celebrating the gift of family in our community.

Our programs work to strengthen and support families experiencing challenges and help them to look to each other, and us in the community, to get the support and strength they need. This Thanksgiving, we want to extend our thanks to all of you in the community who are our family, and who support us in our work. We wish the blessing of Thanksgiving upon all of you, and to your friends and family.