Despite the successes of CK over the past 12 months, issues on a state level continue to spiral downward.  Programs are being cut drastically, including Child Protective Services. Funding and services are being cut back and are going to be well short of the need. The number of foster children in the state of Texashas grown to over 17,000.  Within that number, over 4,000 of these children are currently waiting to be adopted. In the Dallas/Fort Wortharea alone, over 300 children every month are removed from their families because of abuse and neglect. That is roughly 10 kids every day, 365 days a year. From what we have seen, these numbers will continue to grow.

Every year hundreds of kids “age out” of the foster care system in Texas. That means they turn 18 and have not been adopted. They are considered adults and they are on their own. Most don’t stand a chance. Of those kids that age out of care, half of them will experience homelessness. Half of the boys will spend time in prison. Half of the girls will become pregnant before they are 20 years old. Research, as well as common sense, shows if these children are adopted they fare much better. Statistics show that adopted children are much more likely to succeed.

Despite the need to place children in adoptive homes, the climate of the child welfare system is going to be making this increasingly difficult for agencies such as CK. As some of you may know, Child Protective Services is planning a complete redesign of the foster care and adoption system to save money. A managed care approach to working with abused and neglected children is coming this year. It will forever change the way faith based agencies like CK partners with CPS.

Covenant Kids needs to adapt to the changing landscape. We are very concerned about the changes coming to CPS. Managed care will not be a better option in serving the needs of these children.

Because of these changes and the overall decrease in funding, CK needs to find other sources of funding to continue the good work God has begun here at CK. We need to raise money in the community so that we can continue to see these children placed in loving, caring, Christian homes.

That will not happen if we don’t act.

It takes approximately $7300 to complete an adoption of an at-risk child at Covenant Kids. We continue to be one of the most efficient agencies serving children today. Our overhead is low. We don’t own any buildings or vehicles. We don’t have any unnecessary expenses. Over 80% of every dollar is spent on direct care services to children and families. We are proud of that.

We implore you to pray about how you and others in your network of family and friends can help support our adoption program. We are open to taking one time financial gifts.  Or, it takes around $20 a day, over a period of a year, for you to sponsor an at-risk child to be adopted through Covenant Kids.

Won’t you sponsor one or more children this year? It takes us working together on behalf of these precious children to save a life from growing up in the foster care system and without a forever family to call their own.

Levi on the other hand, came to us at 16 months old and 9 month old clothing was falling off of him. He had bald spots all over his head from being neglected and an extended tummy from being starved. He could not walk, talk, or even crawl at 16 months.  This is not what we had signed up for…. or so we thought. Integrating them in to our home was a challenge at times because even at such a young age both were in survivor mode. Swaddling and cuddling didn’t help calm Levi as he was used to bad touch or no touch at all. We went through surgeries and bad news, one after another, from doctors who said his prognosis was not good. All the while, however, we chose to believe our God is greater!!!

A year into the case, CPS decided they wanted to terminate parental rights and Levi and Khloe’s court advocates were on board as well. We had not yet decided we wanted to adopt, but at this point could not see our lives without these 2 beautiful children either. Also at this time, however, their biological parents suddenly decided they wanted to fight for their children and get them back. The judge granted an extension on the case, biological parents started to complete their services and it looked grim that we would be able to adopt these children after all. This was very painful as by this point we had decided we indeed did want to adopt.  After a year and a half of bonding with the children and emotional ups and downs, we headed for a termination hearing. We started with mediation on 3 different occasions and didn’t get very far.

When we thought all options had been exhausted, including us, their birth mom relinquished her rights because she felt like we were the better family after hearing us talk about the children and how much we loved them. Khloe’s father had criminal charges against him for her strangulation so his attorney recommended he do the same as he would not be able to achieve custody of his daughter. The whole story seemed like a happy ending but then Levi’s father, who had no idea he was his father until 2 months before trial, decided that he wanted his only son. The court and attorneys had no objection to this and we were devastated. We began to speak to him concerning all of Levi’s medical issues to start the transition and better help him understand Levi’s needs.  During this process, he decided as well that he could not remove his son from us as we were his parents. We had built a relationship with him where he was able to see that he could trust us with his son and with a custody agreement.

We still have contact today with Levi’s father and the relationship is great! After 2 and half years of prayers, crying, and patience (that we didn’t even know we had) we consummated the adoption of Levi and Khloeon September 16, 2011. It was one of the best days of our lives. We had never planned on adopting and did not get into foster care to adopt, but God knew what we needed even when we didn’t. He knows where all of our children are and in His timing He gives them to us. It’s a beautiful thing to know our children and lives are in His hands.  By the way… almost all of Levi’s medical issues have been healed and are gone!!! Praise God!!!!!

We were super excited, to say the least!  We finally had been told who our little girl would be.  We knew from her profile on the website that Ashley was in a wheelchair and unable to walk, was a nonverbal child and functioned way below her chronological age.  We also knew that she had a beautiful smile and enjoyed being around people.  We couldn’t wait to meet our sweet angel.  It was a long summer.  Joseph and I finally had the chance to learn more about Ashley and we met with CPS and her current foster father.  The foster father had some very negative things to say about Ashley.  He focused on telling us all the things that Ashley couldn’t do (and things he believed she would never be able to do) and some of her more negative behaviors (such as pulling her hair).  Joseph and I left the meeting feeling very disappointed and discouraged, but we still believed that it was God’s plan that Ashley was supposed to be ours.  Due to the situation (she had three previous failed adoption attempts) and her special needs, CPS decided to let us meet Ashley before we made our final decision on taking her.  We traveled to Killeen on August 6^th to meet Ashley.  I remember meeting Courtney outside of the group home and praying for God’s guidance before going in to meet her.  Joseph and I walked in and immediately fell head over heels in love with our daughter!  We were given permission to take her for the afternoon and all day on Saturday.  It was an amazing weekend.  We traveled down to spend the following weekend with Ashley then were given permission to bring her to her new home for a couple of weekend visits.  Finally on September 2th, exactly 4 months since we had been matched with her, we moved Ashley home permanently!

The first couple of months that we had Ashley were trying.  She was having severe reflux issues when we got her and it was imperative that we got it under control immediately.  She was 9 years old and only weighed 38 pounds.  We discovered, through some amazing doctors, that Ashley was allergic to the formula that had been used for her tube feedings.  Once the type of formula Ashley used was changed, she has not had any major medical problems.  She now weighs in at 51 pounds and is looking healthier and healthier every day.  Ashley has done amazing things since having a family that loves and cares for her.  We were told that she would never walk, be potty trained or have a way to communicate with us.  Once we got braces that helped correct the positioning of her feet and gave her opportunities to be on the floor where she could have opportunities to move she began pulling up on her knees.  Then with us standing behind her and helping to hold her body up, she began taking steps.  Now Ashley has progressed to the point of being able to walk with us in front of her just holding her hands!  She also started potty training once we got an adapted toilet seat making it safe for her to be in the bathroom.  And although Ashley still cannot talk, she has definitely figured out how to use her sounds to let us know when she wants something or when she is excited about something.

Adopting a child with special needs had definitely been a journey for our family…a journey I am glad to be taking.  Is our life different than most? Yes.  We don’t go to soccer games on Saturday mornings.  Instead we get to go to Special Olympics practice every week and see kids get excited about and appreciate the little things in life.  Ashley won’t outgrow the need for a monitor in her room every night or be able to get up and get herself breakfast so we can sleep in some Saturday morning.  But I get the privilege of having a child that won’t get too old to sit in my lap and want to cuddle.  I get to go in her room every morning to get her out of bed and have her reach out to me with excitement to start the day.  As much as you will hear that these kids can’t do, just remember that they are God’s children too and deserve a loving family just as much as the next child.  When put in the right family, they can grow and thrive, too!  Ashley is proof of that.