One of the members of my Rotary Club was very excited about a recent club social event. He said, “It was like a family reunion, only not as dysfunctional.” We all laughed, and we all got the point.

No matter how hard adoption workers try, we can’t find an ideal family for a child who needs a home. Because there isn’t any such thing. But, it’s still tempting to wait for the “right” family to come along.

Defining “right” isn’t so easy, either. And if we believe there is such a thing as a “right” family for each child, then it follows that we have a responsibility to find that family.

Adoptive parents try really hard to project a sort of ideal family, but it’s only a show, really. Every one of us grew up knowing that our own families weren’t quite perfect, despite efforts to be so. And even though we knew ours wasn’t, we convinced ourselves that there surely is such a thing.

Well, there isn’t.

Most of us had families that were good enough – moms and dads who were there for us often enough and consistently enough to give us what we needed to become pretty good adults.

That’s what we want for the children who are waiting in foster care. Someone who is good enough.

Because no family gets everything right, it helps to know that there are supports for the pretty good families who adopt. A great list of resources is available at www.adoptex.org.

Families who have completed the home study process to adopt from the American foster care system can register on-line at www.adoptuskids.org in a password protected environment. Adoption caseworkers can go to the site and look for less than perfect families for the children who are waiting.

Okay, so yours wasn’t a “Leave It to Beaver” family? I’d still love to hear a story about something your mom or dad or grandparent did that was good enough to help you grow into a pretty good adult.

____________________________________

Learn more about Dixie.

Tags: Adoption Resouces, adoptive families, Children who wait, Children's Charities, Children's Gallery, Foster Care Adoption, home study process, The Adoption Exchange, Wednesday's Child