family connection By
Susan Grandpre
Develop the Bonds of Love
Foster care is designed to be a temporary stay for children who need
to be removed from their birth parents. So often, the temporary aspect
of foster care is lost and children spend too much time in the system
awaiting adoption.
Thirteen-year-old Sheara entered foster care in 2004 due to abuse and
neglect. She has waited to be adopted ever since.
Only 10 years old at the time, she had already led a life of hardship
that included the inconsistency of moving around a lot. Sheara was born
to very young parents and it was determined that the situation with
abuse and neglect necessitated her removal from her biological family
and her entrance into the foster care system.
Once in foster care, she continued to move around and as a result she
was separated from more people who were important to her. This severing
of ties has affected some aspects for her development in a negative way.
Jennifer Surrat, an adoption social worker with Coordinators2, describes
Sheara as a “fun and loving child with many strengths and talents.”
Sheara enjoys shopping, church activities, art and outdoor play. She
loves animals and likes caring for pets. Sheara has many friends in the
neighborhood and enjoys spending time with them.
Sheara is currently in eighth grade and enjoys school. She is benefiting
from the one-on-one attention that she now receives in a small class
setting. In addition to liking her schoolwork, she enjoys the many
friends that she has made at school.
Managing her emotions is an area in which Sheara has been working hard
and has made great progress. She has also concentrated on improving her
interactions with younger children.
Surrat feels that Sheara would grace any family with her many
attributes, but she would thrive in a one- or two-parent family where
she is the youngest or only child in the home.
One element that Sheara needs from an adoptive family is for that family
to provide her with meaningful nurturing and consistency. She should
start and finish every day with her adoptive family knowing that she is
loved and that she is worthy of that love.
In her short life, she has already encountered so much hardship and
sadness that she, like all children, deserves to face the rest of her
life with dependability and devotion from a permanent family of her own.
For more information, contact Jennifer Surrat with Coordinators2 at
804-354-1881.
Susan Grandpre earned a B.A. in English from James
Madison University and has been a freelance writer for nine years. She
lives in Richmond with her husband and three children.
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