Dawn Brand: A heart's desire to be a mom

Do you ever question God when life doesn't seem to be going exactly how you think it should be going?  Why didn't I get that promotion?  Where is my financial windfall?  Why don't I get a Mr./Miss Right?  Why does she get to have a baby?

Yep.  We have all done it and can list questions as personal as our real weight and not what we list on a driver's license:)  (It's a goal, right?!)

Dawn Brand has been there.

She loves children.  In fact, she is the Minister of Preschool at Trinity Baptist Church in Lake Charles.  Dawn says it was her heart's desire to become a mom one day.  During her 20s and early 30s, she watched friends get married and have babies.  Where was her Prince Charming?  Why would God give her a desire to be a mom and not give her a husband?

Isaiah 55:9: "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are MY ways higher than your ways and MY thoughts than your thoughts."

Doesn't our loving Father always have the best plan in store for us, even when we can't see it?

Dawn will tell you she knows that, but it took a little time to see His creative plan.

"I never really considered adoption," said Dawn, "because I wanted to have the child.  Adoption really wasn't an option."

The dream of a family was put on the back burner for a few years, but Dawn said she never stopped praying about it.  Then came one of those left field texts from a friend one morning, "She said, 'I was cleaning my bathrooms and had a thought.  Have you ever considered adoption through foster care?'" said Dawn, "That was the spark that started it all."

Dawn said she began rethinking what mommy-hood could look like for her.  She said James 1:27 illustrated that a caretaker of orphans does not need to be married.

James 1:27: "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress."

That was three years ago and Dawn enrolled in the certification classes through the Department of Children & Family Services.  She got a crib, the blankets, the baby necessities - all she needed was the child God had for her.

Dawn knew she wanted to experience raising a child from as young as a baby if possible.  "In Louisiana, you can do race, age and gender.  You can tell them basically what you want and I did under two, girl and race didn't matter, because it doesn't to me."

Dawn said she wanted to raise "a little lady that would love the Lord."

Just a few months after completing the home study and certification process, Dawn got a call about a three-month-old baby girl that needed a home.  From the beginning, she knew that this child was not her child.  The infant's biological parents were doing what they were required to in order to regain custody.

Dawn took on the late night feedings, tears, firsts and nurturing - for this season.

Six months later, the little girl went back to her biological parents.  Dawn said it was hard.  "I would've adopted her in a heartbeat, but I knew she wasn't mine.  Still, that didn't help the heartache."

A roller coaster.

Regardless of whether your adoption plan is through foster care, private domestic or international adoption, 100 percent of the parents I have talked to say it is an emotional roller coaster.  Dawn says you have to prepare your heart for that and it took a few months until she was receptive to another placement.  "My heart needed time to heal," she said. 

Then, the call came.

Dawn's case worker said a two-day-old girl, not even weighing five pounds needed a home.  She was also told the child was an African-American girl and her biological mother used cocaine throughout the pregnancy.

Dawn didn't think twice.

She named the baby girl Lakeyn and was in love from the first moment she saw her.  The first few weeks were tough, as Lakeyn's tiny body tremored working through the cocaine in her system.

Dawn had some friends ask the "what ifs" about a drug-exposed baby.  "I said, 'You don't know the what ifs about a biological child,'" said Dawn.  "Would you not be willing to walk that road with your child if you knew it could be hard?  I'm willing to walk the road if this is my child and God will help me get through."

Lakeyn will turn two in a few weeks and she is developmentally off the charts!  She is pure joy, sunshine and smiles.

It took nearly 16 months for her adoption to be finalized, but Lakeyn is officially Dawn's for all of her earthly days.

"A lot of times people say that she's one blessed little girl," said Dawn.  "I know that I'm one blessed mommy.  With a heart's desire to be a mom, she's made my life complete."

Check out Dawn's story that aired as part of The New Family Tree on KPLC-TV.

-Britney

"I want to be adopted."-Ke'vontre

Meet Ke'vontre!

This eight-year-old boy will steal your heart from the moment you meet him.

I must admit: I was already quite familiar with Ke'vontre before meeting him at a local park.  I skim through the Department of Children & Family Services link every week that lists some of the foster kids available for adoption through the state.  This link, though, does not share all of the children, just the ones that are in the category of "hard to place."

Age can land them there.  Race can land them there.  Health problems can land them there.  Sibling sets can land them there.

Ke'vontre was originally part of a sibling set...but nothing happened.  Then he watched his baby brother get placed into a home.  Next, his six-year-old sister got the good news that she had been placed in another home.

But not Ke'vontre.

He has been moved around into different foster homes.  For now, he is in the care of a sweet 79-year-old woman named Ms. Easter.  She has three other foster children in her home and said, "Honey, if I can handle four, a family can definitely handle one."

I spent a couple of hours with Ke'vontre.  We played basketball.  He taught me his trick dribbling move.  He told me he dreams about playing on a team one day.

Then we sat on a couple of swings and got to talking about his life.  I asked him if he cared what his potential parents look like.  His response was raw, "I don't care what they look like.  I don't care if they're nice or mean.  I want to be adopted."

Ke'vontre's age and race will continue to classify him as hard to place.  His adoption fees through the state are minimal.  It would likely cost under $500 for everything to be completed and Ke'vontre will likely qualify for a monthly stipend to help in his placement.

Please consider making Ke'vontre a part of your new family tree.  He is legally ready to be adopted.

To learn more about adopting Ke'vontre or one of the other 350 children in state care, call the Department of Children & Family Services: 337-491-2470 or 1-800-814-1584.

Check out Ke'vontre's profile story that aired on KPLC-TV.

-Britney

The New Family Tree

I love Mondays.  Really.  It's the idea of a fresh start - and a clean slate.  Something new and the hope of doing life even better this week than last.

This Monday is extra special for me.  This new week kicks off off a new series at KPLC-TV where my passion for television collides with my passion for an issue that burns in my heart: orphan care.

Television reporting can be emotionally draining.  I know watching the news can be, too!  But there is so much happening OFF SCRIPT that we are not always at liberty to share with viewers. 

Stories of abused children.  Stories of neglected children.  Stories of babies thrown aside like they are garbage.  Stories of toddlers wandering around local streets alone.

Where is the mommy?  Where is the daddy? 

We can report these stories when we get the go-ahead from law enforcement, but that is just not always in the best interest of investigators.

So, those of us who took the concerned call into the newsroom from a neighbor, aunt, passerby or heartbroken teacher are left burdened. What will become of this child?  Does he or she feel loved?

Many of these children will end up in temporary state custody - foster care. The Louisiana Department of Children & Family Services is currently serving 4,437 foster children.  Foster parenting is critically important to these children as they transition from whatever home they knew into a new "normal," with the hopes of being reunited with a biological parent.

Sometimes that doesn't happen, though.  Maybe the dad walked out on the family.  The mom might be struggling to overcome drug addiction.  There isn't enough food to go around.  The home isn't safe.  The reasons could go on and on - but for whatever reason, there are 350 children in Louisiana's foster care system today ready to be adopted.  That means the biological parents' rights have been terminated...and no one else in the child's life is pursuing a placement.  Heart. Breaking.

The more I learned about the need for adoptive parents, the more the Lord began to work on my heart.  My husband and I have always talked about the desire to have biological children and adopt - but we weren't sure when or how that would happen.

We still aren't quite sure...but are actively enrolled in the adoption certification process for a potential future placement.  There are lots of unknowns - and that's scary.  But can you imagine a scarier unknown than what these orphaned children face every day: will I ever have a family of my own?

KPLC-TV has aired several segments featuring children in need of forever families over the past 20 years.  We don't know how many of these children had their dreams come true and how many continued to bounce around between foster homes and eventually cycle out at age 18.

What we do know is that we can do better.  We can offer more resources, more information on how to pursue adoption or foster care, more profiles of successful adoption stories and most importantly: more profiles of children in need.

That is what you will see the first Tuesday of every month on The New Family Tree. 

I love the highlighted green "i" in the word "family." It says "I" could be the person to make a life-changing difference in a child's life.

You might not be called to open up your home for an orphan, but there are so many other ways you can help!  Support a family that has made that huge step, pray for them, pray for prospective parents, pray for the orphans, encourage your children to be accepting of foster/adoptive children...and this just skims the surface.

Do something.

My favorite song is Matthew West's song by that same title, "Do Something."

Here's a snippet:

I woke up this morning
Saw a world full of trouble now
Thought, how’d we ever get so far down
How’s it ever gonna turn around
So I turned my eyes to Heaven
I thought, “God, why don’t You do something?”
Well, I just couldn’t bear the thought of
People living in poverty
Children sold into slavery
The thought disgusted me
So, I shook my fist at Heaven
Said, “God, why don’t You do something?”
He said, “I did, I created you”

If not us, then who
If not me and you
Right now, it’s time for us to do something
If not now, then when
Will we see an end
To all this pain
It’s not enough to do nothing
It’s time for us to do something

The New Family Tree: debuts Tuesday, May 6 at 10:00 P.M.

and will re-air with a live interview Wednesday, May 7 at 6:40 A.M.

-Britney