Meghan raced into Christie Erwin’s arms and hugged her excitedly. And then she was given a red armband because she no longer needs Erwin’s help to find a family.
The reunion occurred at the Big Rock Fun Park, where Erwin’s organization, Project Zero, brought waiting foster children and potential adoptive parents together in hopes of finding matches.
Meghan, 17, whose name is changed here, has been in foster care since she was two years old. She’s one of 4,729 Arkansas foster children who have been removed from birth parents who were drug addicts or abusive or had other issues – a number that’s down from last year’s 5,113. There are programs to help the birth parents get their lives together and get their kids back, but eventually some lose their rights.
It is not an easy life for the children. Meghan had been in more than 100 foster homes until moving in with current foster parents Jason and Karen Johnson, whose names also have been changed.
“We want to adopt her”
The Johnsons, who also have biological children, had been foster parents about a year. They had felt drawn to teenagers when they started this journey, and with Meghan there was an instant connection.
“The first weekend we had Meghan, all the boys came to me or my husband and said, ‘We want to adopt her. We want her to be in this family,’” Karen said. “And I said, ‘Well, you know. We’ll see. We’ll see what God has planned.”
Saturday’s event brought 49 kids and 32 waiting families together. They played miniature golf and video games, drove go-karts and ate pizza. There were 62 total inquiries as a result, and about that same amount from an event the same day in Northwest Arkansas.
Meghan’s coming adoption, which still must go through the process, was news to Erwin, who has dedicated her life to finding forever families for waiting children. In 2012, Project Zero helped 18 children find homes. That number has grown each year, reaching 127 in 2017.
The organization hosts an online Arkansas Heart Gallery featuring photos and bios of waiting children, along with video vignettes that will rip your heart out of your chest.
But there’s only so much that can happen through a website, so Project Zero hosts events like Saturday’s. The next big one is its annual Disney Extravaganza June 2, when Erwin hopes to have 300 waiting children in one place.
Another big event for Project Zero will be April 28, the Walk for the Waiting at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. The annual event raises money for Project Zero and also The CALL, which recruits foster and adoptive families from churches, and Immerse Arkansas, which serves vulnerable young people aging out of the system.
Sometimes, a family isn’t found
Unfortunately, Immerse Arkansas is as needed as the other organizations, because not all foster kids find a new family. The older they get, the harder it can become. A 16-year-old sitting at my table did not engage in much conversation. Her caseworker later said she gets excited before the events but then freezes up a little. Remember how we all feared being rejected as teenagers for dates and dances? Now consider the pressure of feeling like you have to charm a potential adoptive family.
Erwin, a former foster mom who wrote the book “The Middle Mom,” acknowledges that downside. When she first become chairman of what is now Project Zero, she was aghast to learn about its annual meet-and-greet picnic. To her, it sounded like “people shopping for kids.”
One event led to 34 adoptions
But the bottom line is, it works. Last year’s Disney Extravaganza resulted in homes for 34 young people. So, early on she determined that the events would be over-the-top fun, and that the emphasis would be on finding the best family for the kid, not the best kid for the family.
“I believe that when Project Zero does events with excellence and with enthusiasm, it shows a watching world that we value our waiting kids,” she said.
Meghan came because she wanted to see the people with whom she’s waited. She and Karen played games together comfortably – like the mother and daughter they have become. While Meghan was obviously happy to be there, she was equally happy not to be coming back.
“No more, no more,” she said.
By Steve Brawner, © 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.
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