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Ever wonder how a single act of kindness can prompt a domino effect of others? Meet Lysa Terkeurst, a mom of three girls, whose decision to adopt two members of a boys choir from war-torn Liberia has prompted several other families from her North Carolina community to do the same.
“These 12 beautiful boys from the other side of the world got up and started to sing from the depth of their soul, just the most beautiful music,” Terkeurst who lives near Charlotte, North Carolina, told TODAY’s Jenna Bush Hager. “I was very challenged by the reality that these boys who had been singing and smiling and just had such joy in their life, that they had nothing.”
In the 10 years since Terkeurst’s decision to adopt two of the boys — Mark, who was 13 at the time and Jackson, who was 14 and had lived in an orphanage since the age of six after his parents were murdered — 45 other children have been adopted from the same orphanage, including fellow members of the boys choir that originally stole Terkeurst’s heart. Watch video above for the rest of this heartwarming story.
article via huffingtonpost.com
45 Liberian Orphans Adopted By One North Carolina Community (VIDEO)
Published in Community, International, News, Philanthropy and U.S.
What an absolute, incredibly beautiful story on multiple levels. I thank you so much for posting and bringing to my attention. What beauty there is in the world.
THank you for taking the time to read it – we too, were struck by the beauty of this story. Please share and spread the word – perhaps it will inspire others to do the same.
I shared it immediately through Facebook, Twitter and reddit. I couldn’t decide which category on reddit to place it under so I chose Christianity, and go figure…it was down voted so I removed it, leaving but one question in my wake…”What in the world is there to down vote about this article?” No response to date.
Thank you, Mr. Person!
I cannot know why it was voted down. I can only speculate that where I live there was historically some prejudice against transracial adoption such that generally “white” people were only allowed to adopt biracial children rather than “all black” children in other than special circumstances. I know a white family who actually had to drive from Virginia to Texas to adopt one of their children while many children in Virginia sat in foster care awaiting their “forever” homes. (That child has done well and gone to college.)
I don’t claim to be up to date on current policies since that was some years back, but I know as a person who adopted a biracial child (and a social worker myself) that back then we faced much more judgement by some– luckily not all– “black” social work professionals and one minister, who wanted black children to be adopted only within the black community, (for obvious reasons) but in general we found that others in the black community were more supportive as were some social workers.
I cannot know if this influenced the voting or totally different factors (such as the author’s father’s political party, who knows?) but the earlier policies we and other potential adoptive parents faced came to mind as I heard this story. I can see both sides of this situation.
I wish the TerKeurst family the best and hope the young men are well satisfied with the situation.
I enjoyed the other online postings which would seem to indicate that it was a good opportunity for both the young men and the family to date.
I cannot miss the opportunity to add that good families are very much needed for foster children of all ages,
some but now all of whom are ever available for adoption. Also supports for foster parents such as respite families in some situations and especially therapeutic foster parents can better facilitate the success of children of all heritages. Foster parents are not reimbursed at a high rate so I have often thought that offering specific services to a foster children (such as free piano, dance, or cooking, sewing or whatever) or offering to fund something for an interested child inclined toward it,
might also be of benefit to children. I once saw a foster child wanting desperately to take ballet like the foster parents birth children did but the foster parents did not feel they were in a position to fund them for the foster child. This is what gave me that idea since some families cannot afford the extra expense for what would seem only fair for foster children to feel valued. I realize I am off the topic of adopting children from Africa (which we also considered) but can’t resist the opportunity to tell you that there are also thousands of children in this country who need to be cared for. (and of course that was even before so many crossed over from our southern border).
And meanwhile I hope people will be more sensitive about the use of the word adopt in situations that actually imply sponsorship (as in get the name of a child off of a tree to buy something for and calling it adopting an angel or programs such as donating for the care of animals in the zoo and calling it “adopting” an animal.
The term for that is sponsorship, not adoption. Adopted children should not have to hear the term used for irrelevant contexts. (donating for something as those sponsorship programs provide, is far different from parenting or offering a “forever” family)
I typed this too fast and didn’t realize there would not be an edit opportunity before posting. Especially want to note that I meant to type NOT rather than NOW available for adoption in the beginning of the section about foster children.