I just finished watching the ninth annual “Home for the Holidays” television special made in association with the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption and the Children’s Action Network. I was pleasantly surprised—the experience was not the tearjerker I expected.
I had been nervous that kids awaiting adoption would be put on display along with the celebrity entertainers. I can’t help wondering what this does to a child. I think if I were a child who had been in foster care a long time, I would feel desperate enough to do it (if I had a choice in the matter at all) but resentful that I had to. Don’t normal kids have families who love them without going on display like a puppy?
Like I said, I was pleasantly surprised. There were stories told of adoptive families. Several of these families were in attendance, but they were filmed earlier and their story shown on a screen, with the camera panning to them after the show ended. They didn’t have to speak then. These were happy, uplifting stories—which may inspire a tear or two, but were overall hopeful, not distressing.
The stories were interspersed with musical entertainment too. Music and celebration occupied a larger percentage of the time relative to the personal stories than I had anticipated. Many of the songs clearly fit the theme, striving to be inspirational or speak of love and belonging, but they weren’t tearjerkers either.
Near the end, the show did feature interviews with foster children awaiting a home. However, these interviews were taped earlier. The subjects were not present at tonight’s event. They were not identified either. This felt much less exploitative to me.
The kids interviewed appeared to range in age from about seven through 16 or 17. The older foster children were especially poignant. Two of them spoke of wanting a family that would be there as they graduated from high school and after that as well.
One teen girl did provide the near-tearjerker climax, at least to me. She said she hoped to adopt kids some day, because she knew what it felt like to wait. Later another comment of hers concluded the kids’ segment: “I want to find a family and be adopted. I think it might be kind of hard…” –she swallowed and looked away briefly, obviously aware that adoption rates for teenagers are not good—“….but you just have to have hope and believe in yourself.”
I’d love to invite readers’ comments on the show if they watched it, tonight or in previous years. And maybe we can all say a little prayer for these kids, in whatever way we pray.
For a perspective from a blogger who adopted from the foster care system and watch a previous “Home for the Holidays” show with her adopted daughter, click here.
Please also see these related blogs:
All I Want for Christmas is a Forever Family
The State Is Interested in Finding Families for Children