Upcoming Town Hall Discussion to highlight resources for those interested in adoption and fostering children
Deborah Farmer is the brainchild behind the “Empowering the Village: A Discussion on Adoption and Child Advocacy” town hall and discussion which is set for Nov. 15 at Fellowship Baptist Church. Photo provided by Deborah Farmer.
Deborah Farmer was prompted to produce a Town Hall Meeting titled, “Empowering the Village: A Discussion on Adoption and Child Advocacy.” She thought about her journey with her son, Joshua; she had quite a few of her peers who wanted to foster or adopt, but they didn’t.
Farmer wanted to have a conversation around adoption and fostering children. She was also ready to write her second book, “From Fears to Families.” She decided to coordinate a town hall panel discussion, featuring organizations that will provide resources to those who are interested in starting their own fostering or adoption journey.
“Empowering the Village” will take place from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 15th, at Fellowship Baptist Church, located at 4543 S. Princeton.
“I know at our core, we’re natural nurturers as women, and Black women in particular. I just wanted to bring some experts together to get to the root of the stigma, the myths and also, debunk those myths around it and then bring some solutions, by way of resources,” Farmer said.
When it comes to why there is stigma around fostering and adopting children, Farmer said it comes from lack of information, people are not fully aware of the process and there is a lack of research. Without information people can create their own ideas around it which can create misinformation. Also, people fear the unknown. Farmer said with fostering, the objective is to reunite the child with their biological family. Overall, Farmer said that a lot of the stigma and myths are rooted in fear and ego.
One Hope United is a nonprofit organization that provides education, children and family services, and behavioral health resources. It also provides foster care and adoption resources to families. A representative from One Hope United will be on hand at the event to assist people with the initial licensing process for people to get their foster care license.
CASA is an organization that promotes and supports court-appointed volunteer advocates for children and youth. People who might not want to foster or adopt a child can still engage with children as a CASA representative to assist children and young people in the foster system as they go through the legal system.
Fellowship Baptist Church Pastor, The Reverend Reginald Sharpe will be the host of the event. Farmer acknowledged there are countless stories in the Bible of people adopting children.
Farmer’s book, “From Fears to Families” is a guide for Black women who are considering foster care or adoption. In it, she shares her personal experiences and offers advice.
Farmer hopes that those who might be on the fence about adopting or fostering children will come to the event and be moved to start their journey, in the spirit of love, and go through the process of getting their foster care license and possibly start the process of adopting a child.
“I really hope that we can have a conversation around how we can stop putting the adoptive mothers in a place of being villains. Oftentimes, mothers are given a bad rep for even putting their child up for adoption, but that’s an act of love. My hope is that people walk away having a better sense of what love is. If that love leads you to foster children, if that love leads you to serve as a by proxy CASA representative, if that love leads you to support somebody else through this journey. I hope people leave empowered to stop living in fear,” Farmer said.
Farmer wants Black women to prioritize their happiness, to not suppress what makes them happy. And, if being a mother is what is on their heart, for them to stop living in fear and stop suppressing that happiness for fear.
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