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It's strangely quiet at my house tonight, too soon for my flock of kids to have gone to bed.

And so I wonder: What fresh hell have they gotten into?

Silence among a large number of children is a sign of hidden chaos.

So I think: Should I go check?

And then I think: Are you kidding? This quiet is rather nice.

I mention this on the eve of National Adoption Day, a celebration of new families, new beginnings and not a whole heck of a lot of peace and quiet.

Trust me. I've adopted five.

The sound of no silence is OK with City Councilor Don Harris. He and his wife, Amy, will be among the throngs across the country who will finalize adoptions of their sons and daughters.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

And praise you.

And wish you well.

An estimated 523,000 children in the United States are in foster care right now. Of those, more than 119,000 of them are waiting to be adopted. But in this Saturday's sixth annual collective national effort, hundreds of those kids will be off the market and into forever families.

In Bernalillo County, 44 to 46 children will be adopted in grand fashion at Children's Court, with four judges making things official.

Sixteen of the adoptees are former foster kids.

One of them is Joshua. Come Saturday morning, you can call him Joshua Harris.

He's 21 months now, and his father calls him "perfect and wonderful, healthy and happy, big and strong, smiles all the time and understands everything you say to him."

Sounds like a dad, doesn't it?

Don Harris - who, when not doing his dad or city councilor thangs, is a lawyer in town - said he and his family met Joshua when he was just two weeks old and in the inconsolable throes of withdrawal from heroin and cocaine.

He was their second foster child.

For nine months, the only way his tortured body could relax enough to sleep was by being cradled in his new parents' arms throughout the night.

Gradually, Joshua rebounded, and with the exception of some speech development issues he is, as his dad says, perfect. Love and care have a way of doing that.

His brother, Caelan, 12, and sister, Nora, 9, adore him, too, Harris said. Always good to have the sibs on board.

"It's a pretty big deal for us," Harris said.

He, like me, is hoping that others will consider becoming foster parents, becoming parents.

Harris didn't need Madonna to tell him about the joys of adopting a child. Madonna didn't need to go all the way to Malawi to adopt a child.

"There are so many exotic kids in New Mexico who need families, you don't really need to go to some other country and pay thousands of dollars," Harris said. "And they (the state and feds) pay you instead of you paying for an adoption."

Yup. Foster kids who are adopted often come with monthly subsidies to help defray the cost of raising a kid. (Joline's tip o' the day: It doesn't come close.)

Plus, the state pays for attorney fees to handle the adoption. And anytime you don't have to pay an attorney yourself is a good thing.

Uh, sorry Don.

Harris said he'd like the city he helps govern to pay a little more attention to the children whose fervent desire is to find a home.

"Every City Council meeting we promote an animal up for adoption," he said. "We spend as a city a lot of money for efforts to adopt animals but not any for children."

Imagine if City Councilor Sally Mayer, the author of the profusely bothersome pet ordinance, got her hands on this.

Every year, some 200 to 300 New Mexico children are available for adoption, the state Children, Youth and Famnilies Department estimates.

Sure, adopting children is a little like walking blindly into water. You never know what hidden horror bubbles beyond that innocent smile. These are kids that come with baggage, and you have to be prepared for an often bumpy ride.

But in the end, somehow, it is worth all the bumps. Your children always are.

By the way, my quiet kids, as it turns out, were reading. Reading!

What a joyful noise.