By Jean Nash Wells

Christmas. It’s all about children. It began with the birth of Baby Jesus. The Christian belief in the divinity of his birth and the glory of His second coming is ever abiding. We take delight in the wonderment on the faces of our own children as they listen to the story of Jesus’ birth in a manger. The joy on their faces on Christmas morning makes the arduous task of shopping for just the right gift worthwhile. The gathering of the family to partake of all of the wonderful gifts of the season makes this a special time for most of us, and our children. But for some – far too many–of our children, the picture is entirely different.

Recently we were introduced to an organization called CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates for children.) through our colleague and friend Manish Franklin-Reynolds, director of Community Relations for the managed care organization Amerigroup, who recently assumed a position on CASA’s Board of Trustees. Adrian (The Positive Community publisher) and I were deeply moved and disturbed by what we heard. Over 50% of the more than 500,000 children in foster care in the United States are African American. In Essex County, NJ of 582 children under court supervision, a staggering 80 percent are African American. These statistics point to a disastrous trend regarding how our community cares for its children.

While the situation is dire, there is much that can be done. Our hope is that we as a community will fully respond to the needs of our children, after all these are our children, and join forces with the many organizations that need your help to deal with this epidemic.

Meet Greg Matthews, a CASA volunteer. Greg is married and lives in Montclair. He is a retired human resources executive with American Express who has been a CASA volunteer advocate for over four years.

As an advocate he is the eyes and ears for the social worker on behalf of his assigned child. His goal is to be able to advocate for the child in court and seek the best possible scenario for that child’s future. “We do a little bit of everything,” he said. The ultimate goal is to get the children reunited with their parents. “You may help the mom get into parenting classes, get a G.E.D., or get a stable job,” he said. “I have spent time with a child’s teacher, their doctor, even their psychologist. You like to see children go back to their parents, but, if things don’t work out, parental rights are denied and the child remains in foster care and is available for adoption. I have to present what I believe are the best interests of the child.” Why does he do it? “It only takes about 10 hours a week and I’ve been blessed,” he said. “When I retired from my pressure- packed job at American Express I decided that what I’d like to do is dedicate my life to helping other people.”

Disturbing facts and figures children are placed in foster care because a child protective services worker and/or a court have determined that it is not safe for the child to remain at home due to a risk of maltreatment, including neglect and physical or sexual abuse. Sheila Stainback of the New York City Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) provided statistics that are astonishing: 9,681 black children are in foster care in New York City. 1,716 or 54 percent of all children awaiting adoption are black.

Children in foster care are more likely than other children to exhibit high levels of behavioral and emotional problems. They are also more likely to be suspended or expelled from school and to exhibit low levels of school engagement and involvement with extracurricular activities. Children in foster care are also more likely to have received mental health services in the past year, to have a limiting physical, learning, or mental health condition, or to be in poor or fair health. One study found that almost 60 percent of young children in foster care, ages two months to two years, had a high risk for developmental delay or neurological impairment. The challenges as they grow older and finally age out of foster care can be devastating and these are the children who are the future of our race.

All children need stable, lasting relationships with caring adults to ensure their healthy emotional, cognitive, and social development. But for children and adolescents in foster care, these essential relationships are often absent.

Karen Burns, executive director of CASA in Essex County and Diane Mack LMSW, an administrative supervisor of Home Finding and recruitment with the Catholic Guardian Society and Home Bureau in New York City agree that volunteers are key to helping to solve the problem, especially African Americans with means and African American men - caring individuals, like Greg Matthews who step up to become child advocates and mentors. We need more caring adoptive parents like the ones we met, recently, on National Adoption Day just after their adoptions had been finalized. These are their stories.

Opening hearts and homes

Glen and Cortina Ford have four biological children aged seven to 12, still they found room in their hearts to adopt Christina’s nephew Quaron, also 12. When I asked why he agreed to the adoption, Glen replied, “He’s a kid; you can’t just get rid of him; plus now there are two boys in the family. This kind of kinship adoption is encouraged.

Rhonda Johnson who has two biological children, adopted Atifah and Atiyah (11 & 12 years-old). Smiling from ear to ear, Atifah says she loves everything about living with her new mom, whom she has been with for one and a half years as a foster child. Now, she says, “I’ll be able to go to college.” Atiyah has great ambitions, too. “I want to be a teacher,” she said. She already has a role model in her mom who is a daycare teacher. Rhonda’s fiancé, Laquan Burton, who was present for the official adoption along with several family members, says he is pleased. “I always wanted a big family,” he said. Rhonda and LaQuan are finalizing their wedding plans.

Brenda Vick, who is retired, adopted her four year-old granddaughter, Aaliyah. Mrs. Vick has been taking care of Aaliyah since she was 10 months old. She has cared for Aaliyah’s 19 year-old sister for many years. Both are her son’s children.

“I fell in love with her when she was 6-months-old and I didn’t want her to go to a stranger,” is the reason Carolyn Heath gave for adopting Deborah. Deborah was in a foster care home with other children run by a friend that Carolyn would often visit and would have to be moved. “I knew I had to step up and take the role.” Carolyn is graduate of Rutgers University and a psychologist by profession. How does she manage a demanding job and a 4-year-old? “You reach out to your resources- friends and family. But it’s dealing with the emotional part-yours and the child’s- that I have found to be most challenging. Anybody can feed and clothe a child.”

For Kimbelyn Smith it was a cousin who convinced her to become a foster mom, which led to her adopting Shaquan in 2004 and his one-year-old brother Jamir on National Adoption Day. Kimbelyn is involved in a stable, long-term relationship that she described as “an alternative relationship.” Her cousin had already adopted Raylid age, 8 and with three biological children could not take on the newest siblings, so she called upon Kimbelyn so they would at least be in the same family. “When I took in Shaquan, I didn’t really understand the need,” she said. “But now I’m very much aware of the problem. These children need happy homes.” Kimbelyn is a registrar at University Hospital.

As we move into this Advent season, let us never forget that our Lord and Savior’s greatest proclamation is that we should “…love one another as, as I have love you.” Greg Matthews says that his greatest wish is that every Black church would inaugurate a foster care ministry.

The King will answer, “Whenever you did it for any of my people no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did it for me.” -Matthew 25:40 African American Jubilee Edition

Merry Christmas!