WASHINGTON  -  Adoption is when a child grew in its mother’s heart instead of her tummy. – Unknown  When making the decision to begin a family, there is little difference between two parents who pursue childbirth and those who choose adoption.  Parents who become pregnant, however, know that their child will arrive in about nine months.  Parents who adopt may have to wait longer.

Luckily, just as there are obstetricians, nurses, and a system of support for natural
parents-to-be, there is also a similar system in place for adoption – which is just as natural an expansion of the family as any other means of having children.

Candy Wilfong from Marble Hill is a part of that network. 

 
Every year, the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute, of which I am a proud
member, identifies individuals who make the decisions and the process surrounding adoption as easy as possible for the families hoping to share their lives with children.  These people are called Angels in Adoption, and, this year, Candy Wilfong is our Angel.

Mrs. Wilfong is the adoption specialist for the 32nd circuit court in Cape Girardeau.  She has worked for the Division of Family Services for seven years, and in that time she has helped Southern Missouri families whose children have grown in their hearts, not their tummies.  She has worked with every aspect of the process, from court-ordered adoption searches to parents who voluntary offer their children for adoption. 

Each year, Mrs. Wilfong helps facilitate between 20 and 30 adoptions within the 32nd
Judicial Circuit.

There are three sides of the adoption triangle, and Mrs. Wilfong has worked with all of
them – the child, the birth parent, and the adoptive family.  She has even successfully united some adult adoptees with their birth parents.  She and her colleagues at the Division of Family Services go above and beyond the call of duty, just like an obstetrician might, to be available before and after office hours.  They always try to be there for the
children and the parents who need them.

The ultimate goal for Mrs. Wilfong, and for everyone working to match children with loving adoptive families, is to create a “forever family” for each waiting child.  It requires the care and concern of dedicated professionals, because our families are the most valuable resource in our communities.  The “forever family” is the strongest covenant possible between parents and their children.

There are thousands of foster children in America and millions of children around the
world who need permanent homes.  Yet the process of carefully matching them with “forever families” occurs only one at a time.  It is, by necessity, a process which requires lots of patience – a lot like the process of raising children.

Forming families and raising our children in positive environments are our ways of saying we want our families to go on and that we want our communities to remain strong. 

 
No matter how we bring children into our lives, they immediately change the way we live
and how we consider our place in the world.  No matter how we bring them up in our homes, the lessons we impart have a lasting effect.  As a parent to wonderful children, stepchildren, and grandchildren, I know that the challenges of parenting are well worth the end result. 

In Missouri, the end results are clear.  We have professionals like Candy Wilfong who work hard to form lasting, loving, “forever” families.  And we have “forever families” throughout Southern Missouri. 

Thank you to everyone in our district who does the same good work as Mrs. Wilfong.  You are all Angels of Adoption, and you are a true strength of our community.  Family values depend upon strong families to pass them from one generation to the next.  Adoption is a beautiful act that enables Americans to share the concept of a
“forever family” even when, for some children, the odds seem stacked against them.

Growing a child in your heart is different from growing one in your tummy – that is certain.  Each comes with different challenges and sacrifices.  But the child’s smile is the same, no matter where they come from, when they wake up in a loving home.