Grant Me Hope works to find homes for older children
By Annette Manwell
The Holland Sentinel
HOLLAND, Mich. (AP) - While watching a continuing training video, foster mom Helen Zeerip heard a little boy retell a sad moment of his life - he was told older children don't get adopted.
"'No one should steal your hope,'" Zeerip remembered the boy saying.
It was a life-changing moment for her that could lead to life-changing moments for forgotten children, wards of the state.
"Once you hit 11, it's very hard to get adopted," she told The Holland Sentinel.
There is an average of 600,000 children in the U.S. available for adoption, according to information provided by Zeerip. Half of those children are considered unadoptable because of their age.
Helen and her husband, Craig, owners of Teddy's Transportation in Fillmore Township, have three biological children, two adopted children and have fostered countless others for the past 14 years. For Helen, those numbers and the loss of hope were unacceptable, so she got to work.
It was Sept. 11, 2014, when she had the idea to start Grant Me Hope. Six months later, Helen is amazed the collaboration that has happened and the possibilities still out there. Grant Me Hope is working with Pathways MI, which acts as a trustee for the funds it raises. Several videos have been produced, each featuring one adoptable, older child, who is already a ward of the state, some living in facilities because there are not enough foster homes.
The children are interviewed and taped with the permission of the Michigan Adoption Resource Exchange, which on Monday said there are 265 children in Michigan waiting for homes.
WZZM in Grand Rapids has agreed to air the videos, the first ran the first week of January. A new child is featured each week. Because the adoption process takes time, there are no success stories yet, but Grant Me Hope has had inquires on several children featured.
At the same time, Helen started making inquiries to branch out of West Michigan and now, one child a week will be featured on a television station in the Metro Detroit area. She and a film crew went and, in two days, 10 Detroit-area children were interviewed and taped.
Helen has met others who, like her, have a passion for children in their state. She's working with Bethany Christian Services which has locations in 34 states, where it will act as the trustee. Helen has started the process in Ohio and Texas. One woman is doing the same thing in Florida and North Carolina. Zeerip doesn't want to waste time duplicating a process that has already started there.
"It's been easy," Zeerip said. "Everyone wants the same thing. We've just got to get it going."
While things are happening quickly, there will be hurdles.
"There's a misconception they're juvenile delinquents," Helen said. "They're not. They've been neglected, abused, surrounded by drug use."
Of the kids who age out of the system at 18, 25 percent of them will be homeless, Zeerip said. If they're homeless, they're going to steal, they're going to join a gang. I can't deal with that."
Zeerip believes people likely don't realize the number of children in the system and that adoption is relatively easy. For children who are a ward of the state, it takes applying, a home and background check and court fees of roughly $120. The process, which also includes classes and training, could take up to one year, from the first inquiry to the final court date, Zeerip said.
As for the Zeerips, they've been the forever family to Alexander, 9, since he was 6, and Jeremiah, 14, since he was 8. The older Zeerip children - Ashley, Mikayla and Ethan - agreed the adoption didn't change the family. For them, there were always foster children in their lives.
Young Alexander wouldn't talk much when the family gathered to discuss adoption, but when he saw his mother arrive for the meeting, he ran to her for a hug and took the opportunity to cuddle into Helen's side several times. Jeremiah said he's happy. He loves his dad, who bought him a dirt bike as an adoption gift and has taken his older boys on hunting trips to New Mexico.
"I'm not by myself anymore," Jeremiah said.
Published: Tue, Mar 24, 2015
