Archive: November 30, 2022

Forever Family Friday – Khalil, Amara, Abriel, Abrum, Lyana and Tylia

November 30, 2022

The foster care system is a process, children can be in care for 3 days or 3 years. Unfortunately, the latter is often the reality and the average youth in foster care experiences at least 3 different placements in one calendar year. Consistency and a stable environment are critical for children and we have been blessed to know many families who offer that safe place for foster children.

The Hoebel family in Kissimmee, FL has a home full of love and laughter. Over the past 12 years Scott and Jennifer have had dozens of foster youth in their home. This Christmas season they have 6 beautiful children and we are honored to be able to share their wish lists. Help us spread Christmas magic and joy to these sweet and smiley faces. Check out their lists below!

FULFILLED!

Forever Family Friday – Keegan and Theodore

November 28, 2022

Happy #ForeverFamilyFriday everyone. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! And as of today we are officially into the holiday season! Not sure how we got here so quickly but we did and as November comes to a close, so does National Adoption Month. For us however, we will keep on keeping on and will continue each Friday highlighting, recognizing and shouting from the roof tops for the 425,000+ kids “in the system”. It is not just one month for us. We will continue to share the kids year round. I hope you’ll continue to journey with us. I would be so grateful if you would ask others to journey with us. These kids need us. They need just one post a week on your social media. Heck, I’ll settle for one every other week. They need just a little of your time each week. Together we have the potential to help make a difference in their lives. You don’t know when a seed has been planted or a prayer will be answered. We just can’t give up on these kids.

The boys we’re sharing with you today are 8 and 10 years old and thankfully have each other. Their family structure and home and school may be changing and other unknowns could be coming but keeping them together is a priority. Often siblings are split up in the system and that’s heartbreaking. Let’s find them their forever family and keep them together! What an amazing Christmas gift that would be.

Keegan and Theodore live in Alabama and they both love spending time outdoors. Keegan is 10 and while he can be shy around strangers, once he is comfortable he will engage in conversation. He loves to help around the house and play video games! Theodore is 8 and he has a love for all things outdoors. He especially loves fishing and working in the garden. These brothers need a family who is able to provide them patience, understanding, and unconditional love. Please share these boys. Please pray for them! Thank you! Please contact [email protected] and [email protected]. Photo by Grace Photography. Click here to learn more and see their video.

FULFILLED!
FULFILLED!

#Adoption
#FamiliesDontHaveToMatch
#ForeverFamilyFriday
#Love
#Brothers

Forever Family Friday – Justice

November 18, 2022

Happy #ForeverFamilyFriday everyone! Ok…Last week we talked about how children in foster care often move around time after time after time. I’m just going to jump right in today because this story makes me so sad. Let me share with you one young man who has lived that reality most of his life. He would love nothing more than a little permanency. He would covet consistency and normalcy. Not to mention love and kindness and nurturing and parenting. This kid deserves it all! And to think we could help make that happen. Please allow me to introduce you to Justice. 

Justice is 15 and lives in Florida. He has a big heart and cares for others. Justice is an easy kid to be around. He is personable and polite. He excels in school and enjoys participating in sports, especially basketball. However he has moved many times, more than he can count. From Indiana to Florida and we don’t even know where else! This breaks my heart and sadly it is true for so many others in the system. Justice has not been in one  “placement” long enough to even join a sports team. That’s crazy. He is hoping one day that he can play on a team. That’s not asking for much. Just to be on a team! Heck…That alone should give you reason to pause and lift this young man up in your thoughts and prayers.

Justice has a bright future ahead and has the potential to achieve great things. He has taken an interest in ROTC and would love a family that shares the same interest or will at least support him in extracurricular activities and hobbies. Next year he’ll be in 10th grade and would like to stay in the same school for high school. The ideal family for Justice will provide love and guidance while allowing him the freedom and independence to chart his own course.

For more info please contact Heart Gallery of Tampa 813-314-2021. Photo by Daniel Wallace

https://heartgallerytampa.org/our-kids/justice/

#Adoption
#FamiliesDontHaveToMatch
#ForeverFamilyFriday
#Love
#Permanency

Forever Family Friday – Araya

November 11, 2022

Happy #ForeverFamilyFriday everyone. And Happy Veteran’s Day. Did you know on average, a child in the foster care system moves about 7 times to different homes. SEVEN TIMES! Seven families. Seven homes. Seven sets of rules and routines. Not to mention schools and churches and on and on. “IF” we could find this beautiful seven year old a forever family we could interrupt that cycle of different homes and schools and rules and families! She would no longer hear words like change or temporary or interim. No one wants to be shuffled around. No one wants to be part of a statistic. Please let me introduce you to someone who deserves our undivided attention. She deserves FOREVER! Meet Araya.   

Araya is 7 years old and lives in Tennessee. A “girly girl” Araya loves to wear dresses and play with hair and her Barbies. She enjoys being outdoors, playing in water, and running with the chickens on her foster family’s farm. Araya does great with routines and is constantly learning, watching and observing. She needs a nurturing family that will provide structure, support and advocate for her so she can continue to reach her fullest potential by providing her with lots of opportunities to experience new and different activities. This is what every child deserves. Can you be this family for Araya? Can you share her information with families and friends? For more information, please contact AmericasKidsBelong.org or DM us!

#Adoption
#LovingHome
#FosterCare
#ForeverFamilyFriday
#NationalAdoptionMonth








Forever Family Friday – Liam

November 4, 2022

I can’t believe it’s November. Which means we are all starting to get geared up for Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s actually one of my favorite months of the year. It’s a month that focuses on giving. It’s a month that people seem to start thinking about others more than themselves in my opinion. My father’s birthday is November 17th so he’s always on my mind during November, and it’s also National Adoption month. National adoption day is November 19th. If you have been following me for a while you know that this month is near and dear to my heart. #ForeverFamilyFriday started as a one month event in which I would share a child every day during November. It has now turned into a weekly event year round! We have shared hundreds of children, many of whom have connected with their forever families. Sadly many have not. BUT – we keep pressing on! I believe awareness, education, and continued discussions are moving the needle to connecting the 425,000+ kids with their forever families. Thank you, thank you, thank you for journeying with us and please keep sharing, posting and talking about these kids! My friend Rob Scheer said it best in a post this week… “I always questioned if I was ready to adopt. Then I realized, no child was ever ready to be an orphan or in foster care.” There have never been truer words. Please meet Liam. He needs us!

Liam is 14 and lives in Arizona. He is helpful and loving and enjoys being outside. His favorite sport is soccer and he enjoys drawing and swimming as well. Something fun Liam would like to do is swim with fish. Lunch and friends are the best part of school for Liam, although he likes math, science, art and ceramics. One day he would like to learn how to build things out of wood and/or metal and eventually have his own business selling his creations.

A family that is loving, caring and patient that can provide structure and one on one attention is ideal for Liam. And also  who is committed to helping him do his best in school. He loves dogs so that would be a bonus! Can you be that family for Liam? For more information please contact Heather at [email protected] or visit their website. Click here to watch a special news story about Liam.

FULFILLED!

#Adoption
#FosterCare
#ForeverFamilyFriday
#NationalAdoptionMonth
#Family