Special focuses on the need for adoption
The holidays are supposed to be a time for sharing and good cheer - warm family gatherings and lifelong memories. But for the more than half a million children who are in foster care in the United States, the Christmas season can be anything but merry. Many feel alone and unwanted during the holidays. Many have been physically abused and bounced from foster home to foster home.
"A Home for the Holidays With Mariah Carey", which CBS describes as a musical event to celebrate families, reminds those of us with kids just how thankful we should be. Through stories about adoption, the one-hour special, with performances by Destiny's Child, Charlotte Church, Mandy Moore and Enrique Iglesias, also raises awareness of this important social issue.
Take Shane Walter, for example. Walter was 4 when he and his brother were taken from their drug-addicted mother. By age 16, Walter had lived in nine foster homes. "Sixteen years of heartache," he says. Yet those years of heartache didn't stop Walter from making something out of his life. He was a high school valedictorian. He went to college. He joined the Navy. He got married and had three children of his own. He's a successful businessman.
But that wasn't enough. Walter wanted - needed, actually - to give something back. He wanted to give a needy child a loving home and break the agonizing cycle of neglect. So, over the years, he and his wife have adopted four children. "If people can step in and do what someone else can't to assure that we maximize human potential," Walter says, "that's the miracle of adoption."
"A Home for the Holidays" is the third CBS adoption special. The formula is simple: Taped segments are wrapped around big-name star performances. Josh Groban might look familiar. He played a lovesick high school student who went to the prom with Ally McBeal. His powerful baritone is nothing short of magnificent.
It's also touching when several kids who are still hoping to be placed with a family talk about the simple joys of life that many of us take for granted. One loves to play catch. Another enjoys reading. One girl loves to paint because she can get messy. A young girl speaks about the love for her brother because he sticks up for her.
Then there's 4-year-old Sarah, who recently, along with her 6-year-old sister, was placed with a Maine couple unable to have children of their own. There was a real chance Sarah and her sister were going to be split up for good before they were adopted. Sarah was very clear about how she felt about moving to several foster homes in her short life. "Every time I'd gone to the house, I got tooked away," she says quietly. "And I wasn't really happy." She is now. (Star Tribune)
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