Indianapolis, Indiana – A growing number of people in the Indianapolis area are in need of help, and this has been especially notable since the pandemic hit nearly three years ago. Many local nonprofit organizations are working to help the local residents in need of financial support or those without a place to live, but these activities are becoming more challenging since everyone is hardly hit by the rising prices and skyrocketing inflation.
Earlier this week, Teresa Wessel, Executive Director at Horizon House, once again confirmed what we all knew very well. Nonprofits are struggling with resources due to fewer donations from the local community, which therefore negatively reflects on their ability to help those in need. And more and more people are in immediate need of help now that the weather is getting colder as we slowly approach the winter.
But the homeless and those in need of financial support are not the only ones who need help. Thousands of children are waiting to be adopted and finally get a new home. This week, more than 20 teenagers and young kids officially got adopted after a judge signed the documents needed to make the adoption process official.
The Marion County courtroom was decorated with balloons, streamers and banners as families, loved ones, case managers and others gathered in the courtroom to watch. A touching image for everyone involved in the process.However, thousands of children in Indiana are still far from being adopted, and things are only going to get more complicated in the future if the number of children waiting for adoption continues to grow.
Just like the case with the nonprofits, everyone is hardly hit by the rising prices and record-high inflation. The American economy is headed into a recession that many experts expect to take place early next year, and the recovery process will be slow and painful for everyone. That means that many couples thinking about adoption might not have the financial ability to adopt a child in the upcoming years. And the problem just keeps going on and on.
It’s not all negative, though. More than 20 children and their new parents got the papers on Friday and headed home together.
Friday was especially special for 4-year-old Jeremiah McMallum. The little boy was adopted in April this year, and on Friday, his new parents adopted his biological brother Ozias too. Jeremiah and his brother Ozias were happy to be reunited again, but so were their parents, Julia and Kevin, who said that they now feel blessed to call the boys theirs.
“They’re ours now. He was mine from the moment I laid eyes on him, from the moment he came into our home,” Julia said. “Today is very special, we know that they are McCallums and we know this is where the Lord meant them to be.”
Julia herself was adopted more than 50 years ago in Marion County, and she is well aware of how these kids feel. Her biological mother decided to give her up for adoption, as she wanted the best for Julia but was unable to provide for it. That’s why she wanted to give back. Julia and her husband decided to pursue adoption a few years ago after learning that there were thousands of children in Indiana waiting to be adopted, and that number was only growing.
Firefly, an organization that works to help children and families, says more than 1,500 kids are waiting for adoptive homes in the state. That doesn’t include the thousands of foster kids in the system. For more information on adoption, click here.
