Andrea and Adam Walter went all in three years ago with their commitment to making futures brighter for four Lincoln children -- and more recently a fifth.
The couple signed up to be foster parents, and within five months their family grew from the two of them to a family of six.
The biggest thing the couple had to get used to: the increase in laundry, Andrea Walter said, smiling.
Jazzmin, Elizabeth and Nate, who are siblings, and then Elijah, who was only a couple of days old when he came to the Walters' house, settled in quickly with the foster parents.
The couple adopted the siblings, now ages 6 to 8, on National Adoption Day in 2012. They plan to adopt Elijah, who is now 3. And a couple of weeks ago, Elijah's big brother Trevon, 16, came to live with the Walter family.
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Children in foster care have been through enough heartache, and the least people can do for them is to help maintain those sibling ties, Andrea Walter said.
"Our society is in desperate need of loving foster and adoptive parents to become advocates," she said.
Several hundred children in Nebraska are waiting for adoption, Gov. Dave Heineman said Wednesday at a news conference at the Capitol. These children have parents who are unable or unwilling to provide them with a safe environment in which to grow up.
"A brighter future is one of the greatest and most generous gifts one person can give another," Heineman said.
During the first 10 months of this year, 326 foster children were adopted in Nebraska, said Thomas Pristow, director of Children and Family Services. Another 122 will be adopted at ceremonies across Nebraska this month.
Courts in Lincoln will host an adoption celebration this weekend, and those in Omaha, Hastings, Grand Island and Kearney will celebrate on Nov. 22. Other celebrations will take place in Fremont, Norfolk, North Platte and Scottsbluff-Gering.
But 322 children are still waiting for families, Pristow said. Photos of 42 of those boys and 31 girls are on a Department of Health and Human Services website at .
Pristow wanted people to especially consider adopting older children. About 70 percent of foster kids are at least 7, and more than a third of all available children are teens.
"When they have been traumatized at home and then enter the child welfare system, they have fewer years to experience the guiding love of a family," he said.
It's important for them to have that experience before they go out into the world, he said. Otherwise they are more likely to model what they have seen in their homes.
When children are not connected to a family, it's not uncommon for troubles to pile up, such as homelessness, abuse of alcohol and drugs and crime.
"We have the opportunity to break that cycle," Pristow said.
For parents willing to adopt, the state offers an adoption subsidy and post-adoption services, taking into account long-term needs of children and families.
Andrea Walter said some people hesitate to become foster parents because they fear developing a connection with children who could ultimately go back to their parents.
"I worried about the same things, but, to be honest, it's the kids who really need the help, and we need to think about their needs more than about our own feelings," she said.
Dealing with the trauma of separation from the biological family is an ongoing process, she said. Resources and counseling are available.
"We just spend quiet time talking to each one of our kids, trying to figure out their needs and ways to address those needs," she said.