"No Child Is Unadoptable."(private Agencies Find Homes for Hard-to-Place Children)

Liberalism, the self-styled defender of children's welfare, harbors a myth that dehumanizes and threatens countless children every day. It is a myth embodied in a bureacratic label: "unadoptable. "is the assumption that, because some children are not wanted by their biological parents, they are wanted by no one. This myth fuels the tragedy of abortion. According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, at least 13 percent of all women choosing abortion do so because they believe their unborn child suffers from some mental or physical dis- ability. So who would want them? This myth undermines an already troubled foster-care system, where thousands of children are officially classified "unadoptable" by their caseworkers. Children acquire this label for many reasons--because of emotional problems, physical handicaps, or the color of their skin. In part because of this tag, 15,000 kids turn 18 each year while still in foster care. While government bureaucrats give up on tough-to-place kids, private agencies are finding them permanent, loving homes. Across the country, however, there are countless men and women disproving the unadoptable label every day. "There is a home for every child who is out there,"of an organization called Adopt a Special Kid (AASK) Midwest. Eaton's organization, which uses the Internet to match foster children with willing families, is one of a growing number of private organizations finding permanent homes for so-called special-needs kids--older children, sibling groups, the severely disabled, the emotionally damaged, or those with life-threatening diseases. They are kids like Michael. He has the impish smile of an 11-year-old who does not like spinach. A profile of him available on the group's Internet Web site says that he was born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, that he is a fifth-grader with attention-deficit disorder who doesn't read terribly well, and that he lives in foster care and a family "to provide him with the reassurance that he is loved and needed. " Michael is followed by other faces and names--Joe, Elliot, Rachel, Sherita--all looking for a permanent home. Sherita, for example, loves to play dress-up and is wearing a party dress in her picture. Her little brother Antwan sports a bow tie. They clutch each other's hand tightly. Both were exposed prenatally to crack cocaine and then neglected after birth; Sherita was sexually abused. [*]Adopting the Net Working with county social-service agencies across the country, AASK Midwest gathers information on foster children for whom the public agency hasn't found a home and enters the data into its database. Michael, Sherita, and the others are just a few of the kids listed on AASK's Web site ([*] http://www.aask.org). Conducting the search nationwide increases the chance of finding a suitable family. AASK recruits families from all across the country to match with wait- ing children: It now has 973 children and 1,032 families in its database. It averages 100 assisted placements a year; since its founding 12 years ago, it has matched more than 1,200 families. The "Telemagic" software system AASK uses to match kids with families gives the group 21st-century tools, but its greatest strength is human, not tech- nological: Twenty-two families in 14 states across the country serve as volunteer recruiters. All the AASK field representatives have adopted special-needs children, and many have adopted more than 10; 95 percent of them have adopted transracially. This personal involvement accounts for the agency's success. Field representa- tives are passionate about adoption, and they know what it takes to adopt a special- needs child successfully. Working in the field with prospective adop- tive families, these volunteers provide both screening before the adoption and support afterwards. Such commitment permeates the organization. That's why AASK succeeds in find- ing homes for children when the public agencies fail, says Eaton. …