A Family For Every Child

First Family Photo

This fall Don and I became parents to a beautiful, alert, vibrant, and most wonderful baby boy-Langston Walter. We came into parenthood quite unconventionally--deciding to adopt our son was one of the most blessed experiences of our life. Many have asked us why adoption? The answer quite simply is:

Adoption was the best way for us to build
our family.

We wanted very much to be parents. We wanted to love, nurture and cherish a child. We wanted somewhere to place this nesting instinct that propped up in our thirties and wouldn't let either of us go. We believed that we were 'called' to be parents in much the same way another is called to preach. Meeting Langston for the first time confirmed this calling beyond a shadow of a doubt. The fact that

his birthmother choose us

further confirmed our destiny to be a family. In making this very personal decision to adopt our son, we knew that we were choosing a path less traveled but had no idea how important this path would be to our community. We opted for a private adoption, another nonconventional method for African American family building.

We wanted our firstborn to come to us with the knowledge that he is not a possession to be 'given' but a blessing prayed for, desired and expected.

African American children are more likely than any other group to enter the foster care system as very young children and remain in the system until they reach the age of maturity. African American boys are more likely than any other group of children to be shuffled from one placement to another so that by the time they achieve the age of maturity--18 or 21 depending on where they live--they will be less likely to have experienced what most of us take for granted...family.

It is so critical for African Americans to seriously
consider adoption as an option for family building.

Don and I made a very personal decision. We did not choose adoption to begin a campaign for African American adoption but now that we are parents, we can't imagine a world where every child isn't considered as precious and worthy of family as our son. So after many nights of less sleep and a lot of contemplation, we've decided if not us than who? If you know a family interested in adoption but who has been afraid because of the media scare...and there's a lot of it...please refer them to this post and they can contact us directly. We truly believe that there is a family for every child.