Forever families celebrated on Adoption Day

Before 2011, Andrew and Sabrina Rodgers had no children. Now they have six ages 4-15.

The Maumelle family was featured Thursday by the Arkansas Department of Human Services during a ceremony at the Pulaski County Juvenile Court building. The event marked National Adoption Day, which will be Nov. 21. Also featured were James and Tamra Norman of Little Rock, who adopted two children they had fostered to go along with their two biological children.

“It has been an amazing journey for us,” said Andrew Rodgers, who was raised in a Mississippi family with 23 brothers and sisters. “It has been a time where we must commit, a time when we must be patient with each other, a time when we become the student, and we let the children be the teacher. They teach us how to love. They teach us how to understand. They teach us how to prepare ourselves for a life-changing event, which is simply being called Mama and Daddy.”

Balloons were released at the event signifying children adopted and those yet to be adopted. About 50 children will find a “forever family” this month.

Cecile Blucker, director of DHS’ Division of Children and Family Services, said that this year’s focus is on older children in foster care. Of the 600 Arkansas children who are legally free to be adopted, 28% are between the ages of 10 and 13, while 21% are between the ages of 14-17. Their average length of stay in foster care has been 4.6 years.

That means half of the children are in danger of aging out of the system having no family. Blucker said that of the 711 children adopted last year, only 12% were between ages 10-13, while 7% were between the ages of 14-17. Those are far smaller percentages than exist in the system, she said.

Kaliyah Rodgers, 15, the oldest of the children adopted by the Rodgers family, had a message for children in that circumstance: “Never to give up, and don’t think that you’re the only one in this situation because there’s tons of kids that’s just like them.”

Three of the six children adopted by the Rodgers family are half-siblings. Kaliyah’s brother, Andrew Jr, afterwards said there was a sense of hopelessness during the years when he was shuttled through three foster homes and separated from his siblings. During that time, Kaliyah was like a mother to him even though she’s his sister and less than a year older.

Andrew Jr. changed not only his last name but also his first name, which was Marcus, after he was adopted. “I was excited to be named after my father,” he explained.

Andrew Jr. said he and his siblings immediately felt at home with their new parents. While they did have to adjust to their parents’ new rules, “When we found our parents now, we immediately fell in love with them. It was better than what we were used to because we weren’t really used to having parents who actually loved us and who actually cared, and they taught us that we actually mattered to the world.”

He said he “most definitely” will adopt someday.

For more information on adoption, call 888.736.2820 or go to adoptarkansas.org.