Local Families Celebrate Adoption

   Sonja Dean puts her words into action.
   Dean, "All kids deserve a home and permanent family."
   Her foster child Monica, "My foster family, she is wonderful to me."
   Hamilton County has more 300 children in foster care and 80 of those children are available for adoption.
   Dean, "I think everyone has time to do this, it's the love of the children."
   Sometimes they can be reunited with their families. But for those who can't go back to their old home, the journey begins to find a new one.
   Foster child Tristan, "My mom moved me around a lot. I've been with Sonja for six months and it's really fun."
   Karen Nichols of the Department of Children's Services urges anyone who wants to give a child a permanent home to learn more about the process.
   Karen Nichols, "Next month we will have an adoption fair where they can come out and get profiles on the children that are available for adoption and talk to an adoption workers. We have several children from birth to teenagers and teenagers are probably the hardest to place children."
   Dean says many people are nervous about adopting older children.
   Dean, "They're afraid they won't blend in or they've already gotten their own lifestyle or pattern and they don't. Jessica came to us when she was fifteen and has been a wonderful girl."
   Adoptive and foster parents say the journey takes time, and might be rocky at times, but it's well worth it in the end.
   To learn more visit www.state.tn.us/youth/