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A forever home is the ultimate present

2,600 children in Ohio wait to be adopted

NEW MIDDLETOWN — The phrase “forever home” is often used by animal shelters seeking to place dogs and cats in loving homes. But it has meaning, too, for the many children and teens who are yearning to be part of a family.

One of the lucky teens to receive that gift of love is Brandon Burns, 15, of New Middletown. He became the youngest member of the Burns family after being adopted at 14.

Parents Ed Burns, who is a civil servant at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna Township, and Erin Burns, who is pastor of Zion Church in New Middletown and St. John in Petersburg, are happy with the decision to add to their family.

“Brandon was placed with the Burns family at age 13,” said Cheryl Tarantino, executive director of Northeast Ohio Adoption Services.

The Burns have a 19-year-old son Hunter, and had a younger son Nickolas Robert who was lost after birth in 2015.

“After the loss of Nickolas we realized our ability to give a child a good home to one who needed it,” Erin said. We began discerning how we could do that. We felt called to adopt an older child who needed a family. There are so many in Ohio in the foster system who have not yet found a forever home.”

WAITING LIST

Tarantino said there are more than 2,600 children in Ohio waiting to be adopted. More than 1,000 of them are teenagers like Brandon.

The process itself is a long one. It begins when a child is placed into foster care with a family. Before that happens, the family must go through 36 hours of pre-placement education classes prior to making application with an agency. Once the application is accepted, the home study process begins and can take up to six months before a family is licensed to accept placement of children. After a foster-to-adopt placement is made, the child must reside in the home for six months prior to going to court for the adoption legalization process.

“To summarize, if all goes smoothly, a child could be placed in your home six months from starting classes and that child could be adopted around 12 months,” Tarantino said.

LEARNING CURVE

Being part of a new family is sometimes rough on the youth being adopted. For Brandon, it was a big learning curve.

“It’s uncomfortable,” he said. “You’re not sure what the people are like. It takes time to trust them.”

Brandon now smiles and enjoys being a member of the Burns household. He also said he enjoyed making new friends at Springfield High School.

For Erin and Ed, it was almost the same emotions.

“You have to trust the agency and we did so much with NOAS, the care they put in is extreme,” Erin said. “It is full of nervous moments in the beginning, especially meeting a child for the first time. But for us it turned to joy immediately when we realized this young man was the perfect addition to our home.”

She said the hardest part of adoption is sometimes overcoming the thought of trying to be perfect. Parenting comes with ups and downs and parents and the child have to learn how to grow together — especially with older children as they have a past that is always a part of their story.

“Sometimes you just have to love them where they are in the moment and support them,” she said.

The biggest joy of the whole process for Ed is watching Brandon grow.

“Watching him grow and finding out who he is, to know he is capable and can be anything he wants to be,” Ed said.

The joy for Erin is in building the relationship.

“Finding the surprise joy in building a relationship that includes a biological relationship to Brandon is a joy,” Erin said. “As Brandon’s parents we have nurtured a relationship with a past family member who has brought great comfort to Brandon. We have welcomed this member into his growth process and kept in touch to help her to help him grow in healthy ways. For me it shows the power of love and openness to the situation.”

NEW LIFE

Brandon is enjoying his new life and is already looking at a career in interior design. While that is still a few years down the road, it’s his second Christmas season as a Burns and he is glad to have found his forever home.

Brandon is one of the fortunate ones that NOAS has helped. In recent years, NOAS has found adoptive homes for an average of 30 to 40 young people each year. This year, Tarantino said has been a challenge unlike previous years.

“Initially, there was a delay with courts closing and children not being moved due to COVID-19,” she said. Courts and processes did eventually go virtual. With the current surge, however, there is again a tightening of visiting and moving children.”

jtwhitehouse@tribtoday.com

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