One of the things I love about Sundays is curling up on my sofa to read the newspaper. Sometimes I don’t finish reading it until the next day because it’s so rich in content. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Sunday paper is special for a lot of reasons.
One reason it’s special has to do with an award-winning weekly feature in our Living section that we call Personal Journeys. If you are a subscriber, by now I hope you have read a story from the series. It’s a feature for readers who like compelling stories. In most cases it’s a local story about the people who help define metro Atlanta and our region. It has spotlighted the lives of extraordinary individuals and each week makes an emotional connection with our readers.
Written by AJC features reporter Shelia Poole, today’s Personal Journeys story is about an immigrant from Liberia and a school teacher from Woodstock who find common ground in their love for Africa and a desire to help others.
Throughout December as part of a special digital-only series for the AJC ePaper, we bring back some of our favorite Personal Journeys stories from 2014.
One of my favorites was actually written in 2012. The story, “The Player and his Coach,” written by AJC sports reporter Steve Hummer, was one that brought me to tears. Steve, and AJC multimedia photographer Curtis Compton, wrote about a man finding his high school basketball coach of nearly 40 years ago sick, down and out; then taking in the ailing man and caring for him full time. A quote from that story: “It’s a beautiful thing. I didn’t expect it. All I wanted my coach to do was to have an address. I didn’t want my coach to be homeless or living in any transition house.”
Earlier this year, a Personal Journeys story written by AJC reporter Misty Williams also tugged at my heart strings. Misty poured herself into a story, “Hard Fall,” about being thrust into the role of caregiver after her boyfriend, now fiancé, tumbled from a fourth-story balcony. Without going back to read the story I still remember how she described the moment she went to the balcony where she thought he was standing only to discover he wasn’t there.
I can point to other Personal Journeys that have made me laugh, cry or ponder. We also get letters from readers all the time who were touched and moved by the series.
We all have stories to tell about our personal journeys. For some, life itself is the personal journey. For others it’s certain moments in our lives that add up to the journey. Our journeys are usually based on some aspect of life — relationships, health, spiritual connection, recreation, finances, work, education or home.
Twice in this column spot I have written a little about my own personal journey as I worked anxiously and prayerfully through the adoption process over the last two years. The first time I wrote about it, to be honest I wasn’t very happy. In fact I was angry. Angry because I’d been waiting in the process during a time when the AJC was reporting about Georgia children dying from maltreatment each year despite intervention by the state’s child protection agency. At that time I was struggling to read these stories knowing that I was waiting to give a child a good home.
But after all the waiting, after navigating my journey I’m happy to report that in two days, on Tuesday, the adoption of my little girl, who wakes up every day without fail with a smile on her face, will be finalized.
Talk about a personal journey. Families First, a non-profit family service agency in Atlanta, found my little girl in Texas foster care. She had been taken from her parents for neglectful supervision. Tuesday will be almost exactly a year after her birth parents’ rights were terminated. Until being placed with me, my little girl had been in the foster care system since she was 3 months old.
Later this month, Harris County, Texas will celebrate its National Adoption Month (usually recognized in November) and the personal journey of me and my little girl, now 2 ½, will be told. I hope it will be a story that brings others to tears of joy.
But more than that I hope my story moves others to action. Adoption creates a new family, giving adopted children the same rights and benefits as those born into the family. To children without a permanent family, adoption represents the hope for a better life.
For most public family service agencies, the goal is to return children safely to their families as soon as possible. But children can’t remain in temporary foster care placement indefinitely and other permanency options must be identified; this option is often adoption.
There are so many children in need of “forever families.”
At any given time, there are approximately 250 children in Georgia who are in need of adoptive families, the Georgia Department of Human Services reports on its website.
There are lots of ways to find waiting children through various child-specific recruitment events, sponsored through the state’s Division of Family and Children Services Permanency Unit. These events include Wednesday’s Child Program, adoption parties, and match meetings.
Last year, just over 1,000 adoptions were finalized by the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services.
Paula Moody, director of Child and Youth Permanency for Families First, has been involved in finding safe and stable homes for children through adoption for 20 years.
“I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing many children find their ‘forever homes,’ ” said Moody. “Providing a way for a child to become part of a family, finding their support system, finding love and acceptance, is essentially what we do… . There is nothing like it and after every adoption is finalized, I’m reminded everyday of how much I love this very important responsibility.”
As I think about my personal journey with adoption it definitely hasn’t been easy. At times it was an emotional roller coaster. I was impatient. I was happy. I was sad. I was angry. I was confused. I was depressed. I was encouraged. I was discouraged. I was … I was … I was… .
And now I am about to celebrate my first Christmas as a mom and when my little girl calls me mommy it will be forever. In so many ways I’m glad this year is over. I’m glad the finalization is almost here. But in my heart I know this journey and the adoption finalization is really just the beginning.
As you reflect on your own personal journeys, I hope you will engage with the stories told here in the AJC each week. Stories like mine. Stories like Samuel Johnson’s in today’s paper. Over the holidays, spend some time catching up on these incredible stories. You can find them, and more, at myajc.com.
