The second success story I wanted to talk about is a first grader with multiple siblings who came to us as all first graders would, unsure, scared and wanting his parents. We will call him (Adam).
Goodness, what a sweet boy, whom all staff fell in love with and wanted and did protect and pamper him. He also, proved to all of us that he was a big boy and could take care of himself, but he still required the nurturing and support that he sadly had not been getting. During the course of the next year the family failed in the reunification process and their rights were terminated. Adam, didn't fully understand but visitation with his siblings continued so he was overall happy, based on his situation.
Let's not sugarcoat Adams issues, he was impulsive, angry and impatient, along with all the other normal issues children his age have. Children his age don't need to understand the actual process, but they need to know they are safe and secure and taken care of, and out of the home, away from siblings, he couldn't. Anyone around Adam realized how special he was and knew that when the right situation came along to be adopted he could flourish.
As the school year progressed, to everyone’s surprise, his teacher reached out to the Department of Human Services as a possible adoptive parent. She did this not only for Adam, but for his sister and brother as well! While the teacher knew Adam, she was willing to commit to the siblings sight unseen to keep them together! This loving family took all three and over the next few months finalized the adoption.
Adam, remained in the same school and several staff ran into him and the smile on his face said everything. It was truly evident that he was loved and taken care of. A year later the staff had a pizza party at a local pizzeria and Adam was there, he ran up to us smiling ear to ear and said hello and he wanted us to meet his mom and dad…..
There have been many other success stories at the Boys Home and moving forward we will try to share them with you. It's also important to realize that some success stories have yet to be written and are a work in progress. The success is in returning, or in some cases, finding normalcy in a boy's life that in many cases they never had