 On August 31, 2023 in Texas alone, there were somewhere between 4,711 and 8,005 children in our foster care system who had their parental rights terminated by the courts - legal orphans - and were needing to be adopted! Why the discrepancy? Well that will have to be a conversation for another time! For now, you are welcome to explore the numbers in the DFPS Data Book here.
I would call either one of those numbers an orphan crisis in our own backyard! One half of those children stuck in our foster care system are between the ages of 9 and 17 years of age. I want you to think of the last few people you have heard talk about adoption. How many of them told you that they are dreaming of bringing home a sixteen year old to start their parenting journey just as the child is learning how to become an adult? Statistics would tell us not many of you would be able to say that your friend’s adoption story sounded like that! Most of the time when people begin an adoption journey, it is with the dream of bringing home the precious baby to raise from the beginning! Parents want to be there from the first possible moment and love, teach, protect, and empower their children as they grow into adulthood. So where does that leave our thousands of children 9 and above lingering in the Texas foster care system waiting for the adoptive family they are dreaming of? It leaves them waiting…. We at Addy’s Hope strongly believe that the Texas foster care system should be emptied of waiting children - children who are legally free for adoption but linger in the system simply because of their age, medical needs, or being part of a large sibling group. In fact, several years ago, we coined the phrase “Hoping for Zero” to remind those in our circles that emptying the Texas foster system of waiting children is completely possible! Dr. Karyn Purvis and her work at TCU these past 30 years has been instrumental in helping us understand the impact of trauma on the brain and behavior. One of our favorite Dr. Purvis quotes is, “I’ve never once met a child who can’t come to deep levels of healing if you understand what they need.” We at Addy’s Hope believe as Dr. Purvis does that every child in Texas has the ability to become all God created them to be no matter what their past has been! Unfortunately not all who work within our system feel this way. I will never forget one of the first trainings I went to after we opened our They Wait program. I sat there listening to the man who basically trained all adoption workers in the Texas system at that time make the statement that his organization did not encourage families to look at the photo listings because often the children on the photo listings had more severe “issues” and were too hard to support in adoption. So he just told his families not to look. There was another man in the training who was an executive for another large organization in Texas who jumped in and agreed saying his organization had the same philosophy. I sat there briefly in disbelief knowing full well that Addy’s Hope was going to not only allow our families to look at those photo listings, but would be encouraging our families to look and consider these older children! My shock wore off just enough for me to speak up in that room of workers being trained to share with those two men what a shame it was that they would dismiss any child as “unadoptable”! I assured those men that my organization would be working tirelessly to recruit, train, and support families for every one of those children on those photolistings because no matter what their circumstances or behaviors, they each deserved a family to call their own! I assured them that Addy’s Hope would happily support any family willing to step up and provide the healing home that any of those children needed! That fateful day of training was 13 years ago. We have placed over 200 children from DFPS into permanent, adoptive homes since that day! Seventy percent of those children have been 6 years of age and older with 23% being 10 years and older. We believe in keeping siblings together: 63% of our placements put siblings in the same home (often reuniting siblings who had been separated in their foster placements prior to being placed in our homes) and 49% of our sibling groups placed included 3, 4, or 5 children! With those numbers, we have earned the right to stand with Dr. Purvis and say that there is no child that cannot be brought to absolute and complete healing when given the right environment! If you are interested in learning if your home might be the right environment to bring healing to one (or two or five) of the thousands of children still waiting in Texas, let us know by reaching out here! Together, we really can empty the Texas system of waiting children! #HopingForZero
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 Welcome to National Adoption Awareness Month 2024! What better day to restart our Addy’s Hope blog than the first day of our favorite month of the year!
From our very inception 20 years ago, God has called us to a very unique niche of the adoption world. At Addy’s Hope we believe strongly in the power of adoption, but we believe equally as strongly in the power of children being raised by the parents with whom they share biology. As we share with you in our blog, I believe you will see those beliefs unfold in how we operate our programs and strive to serve those in our community. We believe strongly that adoption involves all three parts of the triad: child, biological family, and adoptive family. To try to remove any of the three from the story leaves a hole in the lives of the children affected by adoption. It is our goal and truly our heart to honor all three in the work that we do here at Addy’s Hope. As an introduction to us, since this is our first official blog post in awhile, I wanted to share with you our mission, vision, and values! I believe these best encompass who we are and how we serve those who entrust us with their adoption journey! Mission: We exist to be the hands and feet of Jesus by establishing programs that lead, quip, and advocate for youth, parents, children, and families. We provide hope and support to break generational curses as we work alongside those we serve with Kingdom purpose. Vision: We envision a world where youth, children, parents, and families have a voice and are equipped to navigate God’s plan and purpose for their lives. We desire for parents in crisis pregnancy to have a voice for their and their children’s future. We inspire to see a world where adoption is understood and valued by children, biological families, adoptive families, and those in decision making positions within the state of Texas. We envision a child welfare system where adoption is prioritized and the number of children in the Texas foster care system waiting for adoption and aging out of the system diminishes each year. Values: Faith is our foundation. We will be spirit led in cultivating the spiritual growth of staff and those we serve. Relationship is our driving force. We build relationships through connection, communication, listening, and being present. Integrity is our guidepost. We operate in integrity through honesty, transparency, and holding strong to our values and beliefs. Empowering is our goal. We empower each other and those we serve by equipping, educating, supporting and celebrating. Passion is our catalyst. We propel forward as world changers by using innovation and problem solving to impact those we serve and beyond. I hope you will come back each Friday over these next few weeks of November to celebrate adoption, learn what the landscape of adoption from foster care currently looks like in Texas, and find out how you can be part of the solution to the orphan crisis we have right in our own backyard! Welcome to our story and the story of those we serve! Thank you for going on the journey with us… HollyAnn Petree Mom of 9 (6 adopted and 3 biological), Lovey to 6 Founder and Executive Director of Addy’s Hope Child Advocate |
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