I get emails from the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption and today this video arrived. Joe Toles grew up in foster care and aged out at 21. Now, he’s the adoptive father to 7 sons. The lines from his story I love most: “We have a home base.” And “Everyone knows that they can come home.”
Here’s the video. Which you must watch!
As you probably know, Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy’s, was adopted as an infant. During his adult life, Thomas advocated strongly for adoption, ultimately creating the Dave Thomas Foundation, which focuses exclusively on adoption through foster care.
When we started to research adoption in 2002, I knew very little about foster care adoption. In hindsight, I wish I had known more. Not that I want to change our family’s configuration–I don’t! But the information would have been helpful.
I’m sure at some point on this blog, I’ve posted about the Foundation’s Adoption Guide. An updated version is now available.
PBS’s award-winning non-fiction showcase, Point of View, will broadcast another documentary about adoption, tonight, Tuesday, September 7 at 10 p.m. Titled Off and Running, the film was directed by Nicole Opper. Please note: some PBS affiliates are screening the show at a later date. Check your local listings for air time by clicking on this link and typing in your zip code.( http://www.pbs.org/pov/tvschedule/)
How exciting and wonderful that the subject of adoption is receiving so much attention on public television! I’m glad I support my local affiliate, KQED, with a membership.
Here’s the PBS synopsis:
“Off and Running tells the story of Brooklyn teenager Avery, a track star with a bright future. She is the adopted African-American child of white Jewish lesbians. Her older brother is black and Puerto Rican and her younger brother is Korean. Though it may not look typical, Avery’s household is like most American homes — until Avery writes to her birth mother and the response throws her into crisis. She struggles over her “true” identity, the circumstances of her adoption and her estrangement from black culture. Just when it seems as if her life is unraveling, Avery decides to pick up the pieces and make sense of her identity, with inspiring results.” (more…)
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