Twenty-seven years ago I was the person who answered the phone when people called our office to inquire about children they’d seen on Wednesday’s Child.

“All he needs is love,” they’d say.

I’d respond back with something like, “Well, he sure does need love. But he also is going to need psychotherapy and probably some tutoring and maybe special education….and…..”

Then the caller would usually interrupt me and say, “Yes, but what he really needs is love, right?”

Lately I’ve come to the conclusion that they were right all along. It really is that simple.

It’s love for a child that causes a parent to change jobs in order to be more available. It is love that prompts a mom or dad to find the right school for their children. Or to drive across town and sit in a therapist’s waiting room for an hour two or three times a week while their child is getting much needed help. And love makes them drive back again to meet with the therapists themselves.

Love changes the one who is loved, and it certainly changes the one who does the loving. As the song says, “Love changes everything. . . Love will never ever let you be the same.” Love makes us change the way we do familiar things and makes us try new things we’d never considered before.

It causes parents to accept children just the way they are and then move mountains to get them all of the needed remedial resources so that they can become what is possible for them.

Today, if you ask me about any one of the waiting children, I’ll say, “Yep. It’s pretty straightforward, really. All he needs is love.”

To view recent Wednesday’s Child features click here.

___________________________________________________________


Learn more about Dixie.

Tags: 2News Utah, adopt, Adopt waiting children, Adopting, Adoption Exchange, Adoption Lives Transformed, CBS4, Colorado Adoption, Dixie van de Flier, KCNC, KKTV Colorado Springs, KLAS TV 8, KUTV2, Nevada Adoption, New Mexico Adoption, Utah Adoption, Wednesday's Child