Second Chances: Felice’s* Story           (*not her real name)

At 16-years old, Felice came with her younger sister to 4KIDS’ SafePlace carrying a past ladened with guilt and pain.  Her regular appearance of black lipstick, fluorescent green nails, baggy black clothes, body piercings, and scars of self-inflicted cuts screamed out visibility, but the real screaming was inside where she harbored a deep-seated hatred for the world.  Her parents had passed away and she had nowhere to go. Having been an atheist since she was 11, Felice could not process the face of Christ in the loving actions that soon came from the 4KIDS staff.

After ten days, Felice moved to Girls Place and met Loretta, her new foster mom. “She helped me see that God really cared about me,” shared Felice. “I loved being there because I found myself slowly letting go of the guilt and pain of the past and accepting the plan that the Lord was unfolding before me. Loretta encouraged me to think for myself and showed me the beauty of leading a Christ-like life.” Soon after, Felice decided to follow God wholeheartedly.

Felice’s life soon changed even more. When news came that her sister was to become adopted, Felice was ecstatic for her sister, but sad to think of their separation. When she was told that they wanted to adopt her as well, Felice recounted, “I failed to comprehend their logic, but I wasn’t going to question it! This had the fingerprints of God all over it.”

Now with two loving parents she adores, a car, and a full, four-year tuition scholarship to Nova Southeastern University, it seems like Felice couldn’t ask for anything more. “The people at 4KIDS never gave up on me and as a result of that, I now have everything I could ever ask for,” shared Felice. “Most importantly, I have Jesus and a home eternally with Him.” 

Delanor's God Story- Running Towards A Family

When we found out how many homes Delanor had been in over the past six years, my wife and I talked at dinner that night about what a difference it would make in his life if Christians took an interest in him. We decided to take him out of foster care and give him a chance at a Christ-centered life with a mom and a dad.

Delanor had never believed that he was good at anything. Attending a Christian school has made a tremendous difference in him. His teachers keep talking about the remarkable change that they’ve seen in him this year.  During his first year at a Christian school, he went out for the track team and he was one of the fastest kids on the team. For the first time, he was surrounded by coaches, teachers and students who were anxious to draw out the positives that they saw in his personality. I know what a difference a coach can make. After 33 years, the biggest influence on my life has been my high school football coach.

People have said that we were crazy to be adopting a teenager with all of our children grown and out of the house, but becoming foster or adoptive parents was just a natural extension of our relationship with God and of what I do as a coach and a teacher.

We may not know the rest of the story for 15-20 years, but I know that Delanor is going to have an incredible platform for Jesus.

A House Becomes A Home- Jarek's Story at SafePlace

Jarek* was only 11 when he entered foster care. For almost a year and a half, he lived at a boys’ shelter until a foster family agreed to take him. It was eighteen months of professional caregivers, his temporary “parents” a steady stream of staff workers.  Although his foster family eventually provided him with a stable home, Jarek still felt like he was a job and not truly part of a family. When he was 15, his foster parents decided to take a break and his worst fears were realized. He was on the move again.

It was then that Andrew* entered Jarek’ life. Andrew is the houseparent at a 4KIDS home for teenaged boys- GuysPlace. Andrew shares, “By the time Jarek came to GuysPlace, he was suffering from 'attachment disorder'. He just didn’t care about people anymore. He was in ‘survival mode’; all he could afford to care about was himself.” Jarek dreamt of a career as a professional football player but an injury permanently sidelined him. Several months after coming to GuysPlace, Jarek participated in a mission trip. Andrew explains the impact that trip had on Jarek and on their relationship. “When Jarek saw people who had so much less than himself, he started to look at life differently. He saw that life was bigger than himself.” But it was not until several more months passed that Andrew felt that Jarek finally let down his guard completely and began to trust Andrew. “Jarek had made a poor choice and he was grounded. For the first time, I think he realized that he was being punished because we loved and cared for him. He realized that he is not a guest in our home but he is our son.” For his 18^th birthday, Andrew and Jarek traveled to the hospital in Puerto Rico where Jarek had been born. Andrew arranged the trip so that Jarek would understand that “although we (Andrew and his wife) weren’t there when he was born, we will always be there for him now.” Jarek plans to pursue a degree in Marketing at BCC in order to translate his love of sports into a career in broadcasting.

*names have been changed

Michael's Story- A Spirit of Success God Story

When I was 13 and my brother was 9, we were living in Miami and our mother was diagnosed with diabetes. She just kept getting worse. One morning before I left for school, the hospital called and asked for him. I told them he had left for work and would be back later in the afternoon. My Dad told me that my mom had passed away. I didn’t believe it at first but as the day went on, it sank in more and more. One month later, the doctor told my dad he had diabetes. After that, I just stopped caring about my school work and my 3.0 GPA dropped so far they had to hold me back a year.

My aunt, my dad’s sister, would come down several times a week to help us and I would do the cooking. I remember that my dad was always so big, like a body builder, but he lost massive amounts of weight. Six months after we moved to Broward to live with my aunt, my dad started hallucinating. My aunt took my dad and brother to our family in Haiti. After a couple months, my brother came back but my dad was doing better so he stayed.  I was in my 7^th period class and I got called to the office. The guidance counselor told me that my dad had passed away.

I didn’t have a passport so I couldn’t go to Haiti for my dad’s funeral but my aunt showed me pictures of the casket and the grave. My mom had died a week before my 16^th birthday December, 2005. My brother and I moved to Broward to live with my aunt after my father got sick. He passed away 2 weeks before my 17^th birthday in December, 2006. In March, I was doing well in school and was starting to bring my grades up when I was called to the security office. When I saw my brother with the school officer and a BSO officer, I thought it was because he had been skipping school but they told me that my aunt had turned us over to the state. We went to SafePlace and then to a shelter home in Sunrise then to a group home in Lauderdale. We didn’t have any clothes and there wasn’t really a bed for us. I had been going to an A++ school when we lived with my aunt, Stoneman Douglas, but there wasn’t any way for me to get there so I didn’t pass 10^th grade English. I just kept my cool and tried to adapt to my surroundings but it was hard to be a sophomore in high school and have to go to bed at 8pm.

This November, they chose three guys from the group home and three guys from another home and we moved into another group home. When you walked in, it felt like home with a huge house and a kitchen like you see on TV. There was a big pool and a patio. Our bedrooms were big enough to share and the staff was really nice, I was only there for six weeks until I turned 18 on December 20^th and I “aged out” of the system. They told me I could go to a house and rent a room or come to the Spirit of Success. They told me that at the Forum where we live, you could get help 24/7. I needed help. I didn’t know what to do on my own about bank accounts, applying for a job- what to do or what to say. I can get information about anything like school or programs I’m interested in. I live with guys who have a sense of what I’ve gone through and some of them have cars so they’re great about taking me to the grocery store and stuff. I can take a bus to school and I’m back at Stoneman Douglas where I’m trying to make up the work so that I can be a junior. I’m taking English II and III at the same time. That’s hard for me but I want to graduate in 2008. I came to the Forum just before Christmas.

I want to go to college and then get a job working with computers. I’m really good with kids and I want to get married and have two sets of twins.  My brother is still in the group home so I go to visit him as much as I can. I was excited to go to the Adventure Learning Centre in Nassau since I’ve never traveled anywhere except to Orlando. They helped me get a passport so I could go. When we went to the AIDS camp, there was a lady there who reminded me so much of my mom that I broke down. Ken and Jeannette took me aside and prayed for me. Going to the Bahamas really changed me.

After seeing the kids in the orphanages, I’ve learned to not take things for granted.

Foster Family Story

When either of my sons hug me, I ask myself, “What did I do to deserve this joy?”

When I first heard about being a foster parent, I was interested but I figured that there was no way that my husband would agree. I was stunned when he called me after a meeting to ask me if I was willing to be a foster parent. At a board meeting for his company, he had started talking to a business associate who was a foster parent. As we looked into it, there seemed to be answers for our concerns. Do we need to have a large house? Children can share a room. What about health insurance and college? Foster children are covered under Medicaid and there is financial assistance available which allows them to attend college. What if we make mistakes? Experienced foster parents assured us that we were going to mess up but that our love for the child was the essential part. We signed up for the MAPP classes and nothing they discussed or required made us change our minds. My husband and I found that the classes were a great chance for us to hear from people who had “been there and done that” so we could get a realistic picture of the process.

Once we were licensed, we got a call asking if we would be willing to take a little boy who had been abandoned at a local hotel, On our way to the meeting, we had to walk by the room where he was playing. This adorable little four year old was just sitting on the floor playing with toys while in the other room, we were being asked if we could provide him with a temporary home. Billy was with us for six weeks before he was placed with a family member. Of course I cried when he left us but I had known since the beginning that the placement would be temporary. Six months later, we received a call asking if we could take in a three-year-old little boy. After a year of appointments and hearings, we were able to adopt Jeremiah. Throughout this process, 4KIDS was really there for us.

When people ask me about the effect on my son, Luke, I am reminded of the grace of God. Luke knows that we are taking these children in so that we can help them for a little while. While they are with us, they are like brothers but when they leave, I can see Luke’s acceptance that this is what was going to happen.

These children are not the problem, they are the victims. They need the same love and understanding that my son needs. The Bible doesn’t say that some are ‘called’ to take care of the children, it’s what He commands. I keep thinking that we have the chance to minister to Jesus since Matthew 18:5 says that when we’ve welcomed a child in His Name, we’ve welcomed Him. For us, it was just taking that first step of obedience and signing up for the MAPP classes. People tell us what an awesome thing it is that we’ve had foster children and have adopted our son. I ask them, “Would you think that I was awesome for accepting a million dollars from someone?” Of course not! Having the chance to love these children is worth more to us than a million dollars. If you don’t take that first step, you will miss the struggles but you will also miss the miracles and joys. I can tell you that once a child was in our home, we loved him like our own.

I cannot speak highly enough of the support and encouragement that 4KIDS has given us. Whether it was help with supplies, an understanding ear or help with working our way through the required paperwork, the staff at 4KIDS has just been an amazing resource for us. It boggles my mind how much this ministry is able to accomplish. It is truly a God thing.

A Foster Care God Story

“I said, ‘Lord, you know I’ve always wanted a big family,’ and He put it on my heart that we needed to foster care with the possibility to adopt. I asked the Lord to give me a confirmation: if my husband brought it up, then I would know it was from God. The next day, he came to me and said, ‘What do you think about foster care?’”

When Alana came into Ken and Liz Lacy’s home, she had already been in four placements—two respite homes, a foster-care home, and a non-relative home—and she had just turned one. Her biological home was filled with neglect and drug abuse, and her future was uncertain.

The Lacys were eager to take her in and share the love of Jesus with her. “Taking care of orphans has been our heart for some time,” shares Ken. As a single person, Liz was a houseparent at a group home and then after they were married they were houseparents together.

In 1994, they started a family of their own and now have four children—Josiah, 11; Jonathan, 9; Joel, 7; and Joanna, 6. But after suffering a miscarriage in 1999, Liz sought the Lord on what to do next. “I said, ‘Lord, you know I’ve always wanted a big family,’ and He put it on my heart that we needed to foster care with the possibility to adopt. I asked the Lord to give me a confirmation: if my husband brought it up, then I would know it was from God. The next day, he came to me and said, ‘What do you think about foster care?’”

Over the years, the Lacys have taken in ten children, some for just a night and others for several months. The Lord has uniquely equipped Ken and Liz to be foster parents. Ken is an alternative service director for the YMCA, overseeing a school program for kids who get expelled, and Liz homeschools all their children. Every night the family gathers around the dinner table for devotions, and Liz makes sure that Bible memorization is part of the children’s curriculum.

“You know,” shares Ken, “God has adopted us. When you don’t know a parent’s love, especially a father’s, there’s fallout. So if we can give Alana that foundation early in life, maybe she can avoid some of the fallout. It was His idea to send her to us. We’re just glad to be walking with Him.”

When the Lacys first received Alana, she would scream a lot and was terrified of men. “Within a month, she was much more relaxed,” says Liz. The kids took to her really well, especially Joanna. “There are times when Joanna comes in and calms her down. She’s amazing to me.”

“The kids are able to do ministry. They have to sacrifice, not much but there are some luxuries they have to do without, and they have to learn how to share us with a toddler who can require a lot of time,” says Ken.

What does the future hold for the Lacys and Alana? They really have to take it one day at a time. “If the opportunity comes up, we would love to adopt her, but there are a lot of things that could happen,” says Ken. “You have to keep your expectations low because you never know if deadlines will be met and who might come forward from her family.” “But we’re ready for it if it happens,” confirms Liz with anticipation, while cuddling her little one who calls her mommy.

A father to the fatherless . . . is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families . . . .—Psalm 68:5–6 (NIV)

*The foster child’s name was changed to protect confidentiality.

An Adoption God Story

On Christmas Day 2003, Tim and Alice Suggs, former houseparents at KidsPlace, learned that Jay and Joanna, a brother and sister whom they had fostered, were being moved in four days—to separate homes.

“My wife started crying,” recalls Tim. “We couldn’t let that happen. They were like two peas in a pod. Jay would do anything for his little sister.”

When Jay, 8, and Joanna, 6, came to KidsPlace in September 2002, all they had were the clothes on their backs and an overnight bag. They had been removed from a home filled with filth, infested with rats, and marked by the pungent odor of a bucket in the corner that served as their toilet.

Houseparents Tim and Alice welcomed them to the family style home and gave them a clean place to sleep, home-cooked meals, and most of all, the love of Jesus. “These are great kids,” shares Tim. “Jay has a million-dollar smile and lots of energy, and Joanna is a pleaser.”

“Out of the fifty-five children we ministered to, she was the easiest,” remembers Alice. But Tim immediately was drawn to Jay. “I like the kids that are rebellious,” adds Tim, commenting on Jay’s stubborn streak yet seeing a great opportunity for God to work.

After a couple of months at KidsPlace, Jay and Joanna were placed with a foster family, but when Jay’s hitting, pushing, and arguing escalated, the children were moved to another foster home. During this period, Tim and Alice kept in touch with the two by celebrating birthdays, calling frequently, and taking them on outings.

“These families did a great job, but Jay was angry. He carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. He thought it was his fault that he and his sister were in foster care,” explains Tim. Jay’s behavior eventually proved too difficult for the second foster family, and the children faced the possibility of being separated. Grieved by the prospect, Tim and Alice, now in their own home, decided to welcome the children until a permanent placement could take place.

They consistently taught the children about the Bible and watched Jay become more interested in spiritual matters as he now focused his questions on the works of Jesus. He began to grasp and feel the unconditional love of Christ. Tim felt that Jay could truly understand Psalm 27:10: Though my mother and father forsake me, the Lord will receive me.

“I gave him a card with Nehemiah 6:3: I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. He kept the verse in his pocket to remind him to stay focused,” says Tim. Within three weeks Jay’s behavior had markedly improved.“He made the honor roll and won student of the week,” says Tim.

“One day Jay came home from school and said, ‘Mr. Tim, I want to write an essay for a contest about Father of the Year,’” remembers Tim.

“I offered to help, thinking he was writing about his biological father. But he told me that he wanted to write about me,” says Tim, with tears in his eyes. “I sent him to Alice, and he dictated his essay to her as she typed.”

The essay, shown below, was entered into the 2004 Florida Father of the Year contest sponsored by the National Center for Fathering. Out of 15,000 essays, Jay’s won first place. In April, Jay and Joanna moved into their permanent home with Christian foster parents who are in the process of adopting them. “It was hard to see them go,” says Tim, his voice cracking with emotion. “To know that it’s God’s will is the only thing that’s gotten me through it.”

"The LORD is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid? . . . Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me."—Psalm 27: 1, 10 (NIV)

*The children’s names were changed to protect confidentiality.

“What My Father Means to Me”

My father makes me feel like he’s my real father even though he’s my foster dad. His name is Tim, and he is a firefighter. He makes me feel safe when he’s around. When he is at work, I still get to talk to him and sometimes we visit him. I can’t wait until he comes home because he works twenty-four hours, and I miss him when he is gone.

When I first came to live with Mr. Tim and Mrs. Alice, I was having hard times at school. When I had a bad day, he took the time to listen and understand how I felt. He helped me show more self-control by teaching me from the Bible. I even got student of the week. My teacher says that I’m the most improved student that she ever had in her whole five years of being a teacher. Now I’m trying to get on the honor roll. Almost every day, he has me journal so he can know how to help me not make the same mistake again. This shows me that he really cares about me. I feel special when I’m with him.

A couple of times I went with my dad to help him work on a house that he was fixing up. We left my sister and mother at home. It was just the guys hanging out together. He let me pull the bricks out and put the sealer on the new patio. I caught a snake that was twelve inches long. It was lots of fun helping my dad and finding the snake.

Spending more time with my dad makes me feel really special. I don’t care what we do as long as we are together.

An Adoption 4KIDS God Story

“Someone far greater than I grew inside of me. I protected him and kept him healthy, happy, and strong. My mistake of getting pregnant was the ultimate blessing. I have learned what love really is. Now I need to learn how to love from a distance.”

On January 1, 2005 at 12:36 in the morning, Christina, age seventeen, gave birth to a beautiful and healthy baby. It was a boy! What joy! And what sorrow. In their powerful bonding love, Christina cradled her son, Dontrell, in her arms. Her time with him was brief. Christina wanted her son to have the life she had always dreamed of. She knew that at this point in her life that dream could only come true through adoption.

“I didn’t think it would be possible, but at the moment they placed him on my chest, I loved him even more,” says Christina, who was about to give her child to Elaine and Eric, the adoptive parents. As Christina watched Eric and Elaine care for Dontrell and heard how they were actively involved in their children’s lives, her heart was comforted. God allowed her to get a glimpse of her baby’s life to come, but as she signed the papers, her world began to move in slow motion.

While Ava Thompson, licensed clinical social worker and program director for Adoption 4KIDS, read the documents, a flood of thoughts raced through Christina’s mind: God, you allowed this to happen, so it must be your will. I don’t like what’s happening, but I trust you. As the last paper was signed, fresh tears flowed from Christina’s eyes. “It was as though my heart had loved so much and so hard that I was hit with a lifetime of pain all at once.” Only a courageous mother with a deep love of and faith in God could do something this selfless.

How did Christina get here? She says that if she were to watch a film clip of her life, she would see herself walking up a flight of stairs and through a door, leading to the person she is today—confident, strong, and armed with a new purpose in life. The youngest and only girl of three children, Christina and her siblings were separated from their mother at an early age because of their mom’s drug habit. They went to live with their father, a retired military man who is now a police officer, but the transition between a free-spirited mom and a strict father soon put strains between father and daughter. At age sixteen, after a few escapades, Christina finally left home and began to try to find herself in all the wrong places but instead found trouble every step of the way.

Hoping to rescue his daughter, Christina’s father suggested a military school since he knew that had always held her interest. Christina joined one of the toughest base military schools in Illinois, but soon found out she was pregnant. The school nurse suggested many abortion options, and Christina considered every one. Then, just weeks before she was scheduled to have an abortion, someone stole all her money. Christina turned to her family who agreed to help financially, although they were terribly disappointed in her.

On the day of her scheduled procedure, word got out to the director of the school of her plans, and he refused to allow her to leave the base. After graduation she made another appointment at a clinic in her hometown, but she didn’t have a ride and she couldn’t take a bus back to where she was staying. “I knew at that point that it was more than just a coincidence that I had tried with all my might to do this and each time I had failed,” recounts Christina. One day she went to her mentor’s house and her husband spoke to her about abortions and God’s view on the matter. From that point on, Christina strived to protect her unborn child and not interrupt God’s plan. Even though she was homeless and completely in the dark about her future, she decided to carry out the pregnancy.

A year earlier, Christina had met her mother for the first time in twelve years. She knew her mom lived in Opa Locka, Florida, and so she set on a journey to find her. But her mother lived in an environment that was not conducive for someone in her condition and so the reunion left her with as many choices as she had before—none.

One hot day, as she was walking along looking for direction in her life, Christina remembers feeling quite thirsty. Suddenly, she heard a man talking about the body being a temple. Without realizing it, she had stumbled into a church. They offered her all the water she could drink, but more than that, they led her to a homeless shelter for young people in Broward County.

By then Christina was five months pregnant and hadn’t received proper prenatal care. The shelter urged Christina to find a maternity house, which led to her meeting Ava. “I had considered adoption, but at this point, I was uncertain,” explains Christina, who didn’t want her child to grow up as a confused kid in an adult world. “There was a repeated cycle of abuse in my family, and I had decided it will stop now.”

Then one day, Ava called Christina to say she had identified a Christian couple who fit her requirements perfectly. They were both music therapy majors with degrees, had six children, had been married for many years, and had a house of their own. And, they would love nothing more than to parent Christina’s child.

After Christina left the hospital, His Caring Place provided an independent-living opportunity so that she could recover. Christina found solace in the loving arms of Olga, the houseparent who did more than just nurture and care for her. “I never could have imagined the things Olga sees in me,” says Christina.

The adoptive parents named the baby Isaac. Just like Abraham, who trusted God with his son’s life, Christina, too, has learned to trust Him with hers. “Someone far greater than I grew inside of me. I protected him and kept him healthy, happy, and strong. My mistake of getting pregnant was the ultimate blessing. I have learned what love really is. Now I need to learn how to love from a distance.”

“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”—John 15:14 (NKJV)