Memorial Day is the date circled each year on the May calendar when all Americans pay homage to our country's bravest and brightest heroes, those men and women of the military whose dedication to our country has resulted in the ultimate sacrifice.  These warrior giants deserve our respect and our gratitude each and every day.

The month of May also spotlights another group of America's everyday heroes, who too deserve recognition and praise. These are our individual community's foster parents, whose day-in and day-out commitment to provide sanctuary to our nation's precious foster care children is medal-of-honor worthy.  May is National Foster Care Month.

As we stand at attention this Memorial Day in honor of America's military's heroes, let us also acknowledge the service to country of our various community's foster parents, without whom our nation's most valuable resource, our children, would be imperiled.

While on a macro level, statistics regarding foster care can seem, in a word, daunting, closer inspection demonstrates hopefulness.  For example, even though currently there are 107,000 foster care children available for adoption in America, on just one single November day over the past eleven (11) years (National Adoption Day), more than 35,000 foster care children have been adopted.

It was the iconic Winston Churchill who said, "we make a living by what we make. We make a life by what we give." The brilliance of Churchill's words is their simplicity and this statement should be a clarion call-especially this month-for us all to pay tribute to our nation's military heroes and to our nation's foster parent heroes.

This Memorial Day, and every other blessed day of the year, God bless America.

Jeanne T. Tate, Heart Of Adoptions, Inc., Florida

Foster care children need you

Next week, the month of May comes to a rapid close and, with it, the advent

of summer; however, before pining a tidy bow on the month of May, I remind

you that May is National Foster Care Month. 

As an adoption professional, I tip my hat to Florida's foster parents, who

day-in and day-out are the lifeline for many of our State's precious

children when these children otherwise are not able safely to live in their

own homes.  Many of these foster moms and dads nurture these kids as best

they can, but ultimately bid them adieu when the child is reunified back

into the home from which the child was removed or even placed elsewhere with

a family member or non-relative caregiver.  

On the other hand, some foster parents become through adoption what we in

the adoptions community affectionately refer to as the child's "forever

family."  Frankly, for a host of reasons, these foster child adoption

finalization hearings are amongst the most poignant.  Many times, the child

to be adopted is older, he or she, regrettably, has been through some level

of trauma and also has felt first-hand the fear and uncertainty attendant

with being removed from one's home.  The child's foster and now forever

family, in turn, represents a safety net, as well as a fresh start, for the

child. For all involved, the adoption finalization hearing is the

culmination of so much love, sweat, and tears, played out over months, if

not years, and now, happily, wrapped into a series of moments of joy.

Will you aspire to a greater good?  Are you motivated to make a difference

in the life of a child?  Do you get that you stand wonderfully to be

enriched and ennobled by welcoming a child into your home, weaving that

child into the fabric of your family, and maybe even being this child's

"forever family", the fabric woven into a tapestry?  Is the cacophony that

is daily life as a mom and/or dad in your orbit?

If yes, then we have beautiful foster care kids here in the Sunshine State

that need your love, guidance, humor, tenderness.  And, as a Florida foster

parent, not only are you paid a monthly stipend by the State of Florida, but

without raising a finger, you also automatically are made a member of both

your local and statewide network comprised of other similarly situated

foster families. 

The state entity in Florida is FSFAPA, Florida State Foster/Adoptive Parent

Association, www.fsfapa.org. 

Be a foster parent.  Be that rock solid role model every kid would want to

be like and emulate, be that grown up from whom an impressionable foster

child can learn, and to whom that uncertain, finding-my-way-in-the-world

foster child can turn. Open your arms and the sanctuary that is your home to

these precious kids, envelop them.

After all, out there in the big bad world, with its tweets, and its texts,

and its insensitive, mile-a-minute pace, you may be one person, BUT to one

person, you just well may be the world!!  Think about it!!  

Respectfully submitted,

Jeanne T. Tate

May is National Foster Care Month.

 Across the country, thousands of kids in our state pine away for an adoptive home, a forever family. 
While at first blush the raw numbers can be staggering, some half a million
kids in foster care nationwide, the good news is that with some perserverence and love, you can adopt a foster care child.  
Do you aspire to a greater good?  Are you motivated to make a difference in
the life of a young person?  Can you embrace the cacophony that is daily
life as a mom and/or dad? 
If yes, then we have precious foster care kids right here in the Sunshine
State and throughout the country that need your love, your spirit, your humor, your guidance.
Remember, to the big bad world out there, you may be one person, but to one
person you well may be the world. Think about it! 
Be a foster parent.  Be that role model from whom a foster child may learn
and to whom that foster child may turn.   Open you home and your arms to
these kids, envelop them, be a hero.  After all, heroes do come in all
shapes, all sizes.

Respectfully submitted,
Jeanne T. Tate, Esquire
http://www.floridadoptionattorney.com/

Selecting Competent Adoption Professionals

I read a recent article concerning a Miami physician who reportedly sold children to couples so that they could be adopted. How tragic for those adopted to know that they may have been part of a black market adoption ring and to have no clue about their biological parents’ identities or their medical history. This story illustrates how crucial it is for prospective adoptive families and birthparents to work with proven and reputable professionals in the field of adoption.

There is perhaps no other area in which it is more important to be a knowledgeable consumer, to ensure that those who are chosen to help build one's family through adoption have integrity and are experienced. As a resource, the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys is a not-for -profit, credentialed organization of attorneys, judges, and law professors who are bound by a strict code of ethics and have distinguished themselves in the field of adoption and family building.

Fellows of the academy are here to prevent people like the Miami physician from succeeding. They can assist prospective adoptive parents and birth parents find qualified and experienced service providers to make their journey through adoption a safer, legal and ethical one.

Jeanne Trudeau Tate,

President, Heart of Adoptions, Inc.

Fellow, American Academy of Adoption Attorneys