![]() As disappointing as it was, we were too late to be a resource for my friend’s children since we’d stopped fostering the year before and were unable to recertify quickly enough to be considered. At that point, it became clear to Hank and I that we would pursue the adoption of a large sibling group in order to prevent them from being split up. When the dust settled, the parents ended up in prison and their large family of children was split into several different homes. We didn’t live very close together so contact was infrequent, but I was enjoying getting to know them until one night when the oldest child called to tell me they’d been taken into state custody and his parents arrested. Unbeknownst to us, each of these experiences was helping prepare us for an even bigger adoption adventure.įast forward about 4 years to when I met a couple with several children and began a friendship with them. During the time we waited for her and for a couple years after she joined our family, we were foster parents to several children. We got to experience 6 months of grueling ICPC protocol before we were finally able to pick her up and bring her home to Oregon. In 2004, the time was finally right to move forward with our plan to adopt when an infant relative was born in California and placed straight into foster care. We found the classes informative and a good resource for learning about children from “hard places” as well as connecting with other foster/adopt families. Hank and I always knew we wanted to adopt “someday” and started taking the DHS foundations classes even before we were to a place in our lives where we could actually proceed with an adoption. Interested in starting your own fostering story? Or making the same journey to becoming a forever home? Get more information on becoming a foster parent today.Our adoption story began when our 3 bio children were young. We provide specialized training for foster parents, trauma-informed care for children and 24/7 family support. ![]() Omni Visions is always part of the foster family experience. “Our kids answered them with ‘Mommies don’t have a color because their hearts are the same.’” ![]() Raychelle was there to greet her children and remembers the day well. At the school bus stop once, some kids commented about their mom being Black. Now they are Mommy (Raychelle) and Mom (Ebony) and that’s all that matters to their children. They had always strived to educate “the naysayers” with their actions, leading with their love. The couple, who have been married for 18 years, never felt being Black and gay was a hurdle to creating a family. “We all felt like we were family already, that we were heart-connected,” says Ebony. ![]() They were incredible, always willing to do whatever it took, try individual approaches with each child,” says Melanie.īy the time it was determined that the birth family could not meet the needs of their children - that returning the siblings to the original home was not possible - Ebony and Raychelle knew where their journey was headed. “Ebony and Rachelle brought such a trauma-informed perspective to helping their kids. Omni Visions provides specialized training for foster parents, trauma-informed care for children and 24/7 family support - often just “being there” as a sounding board - among many other services. Omni resource coordinator Melanie McAdam had a front seat to the Smith’s all-in approach to making a difference. Omni Visions Provides Specialized Foster Parent Training Helping the siblings learn to trust again, coming into their own person and ensuring they felt like a family again was part of their focus. We knew it would not be easy, but we led with that.” “We had committed ourselves,” recalls Raychelle “that if we can do something to make them adopt-able that’s what we would do. The children had also been separated when they first entered foster care and so had not lived together under one roof until Ebony and Raychelle took them in. The couple’s earliest priority, however, was helping the children begin to heal from the trauma and neglect they had suffered.
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