Photo Courtesy of Family
Rehanna and Charlene Williams
In November, we celebrate National Adoption Month — and just in time for the holidays!
More than 100 children in Tennessee need an adoptive home through Youth Villages. Many of these children have been in the foster system for years and want a forever family and home.
Charlene Williams, a retired human resources administrator — who now runs her own nonprofit, Easter's Helping Hands Project, Inc., helping homeless veterans — looked into the Youth Villages foster care program in 2022, after watching her friend foster children for years. After the foster care training process, Charlene planned to keep her home open for children in need of a temporary home but was open to the idea of adopting a child in the future. In late December 2022, a six-year-old girl came into her home, her first foster child who she adopted six months later.
I have grown children, grandchildren and great grandchildren,” says Charlene. “There is nothing that can shock me.”
Charlene and Rehanna took a little time getting used to each other, learning how to follow rules and schedules and consequences of actions. But they weren’t alone in their journey. When parents foster and adopt through Youth Villages, they are provided in-depth training, including trauma-related classes, and constant contact with a foster care or adoption specialist during the entire process. Following a six-week course and six hours of foster care training, parents can reach out any time to ask for help.
“Rehanna needed help dealing with grief and loss that she had experienced,” says Melinda Wilbanks, adoption specialist with Youth Villages, who worked with them.
Charlene said Rehanna often tested her limits to see what she could get away with. Creating structure and teaching self-control helped their relationship a lot. Charlene has a big family and her great grandchildren, around Rehanna’s age, are often at her house. Being around similar-aged children in the same house demonstrated to Rehanna what was expected of her.
Charlene is exactly who Rehanna needed,” says Melinda. “Some people foster and adopt to make a family, and some do it to give a child a family, which is what Rehanna needed most.”
In June 2023, Charlene adopted Rehanna — together, they changed her name to Rehanna. She is in second grade and on the honor roll, active on the cheer team, and enjoys going to church with Charlene and their family.
We put the past in the past and Rehanna is starting with a fresh page,” says Charlene.
This year will be their first holiday season together, and Charlene is excited to celebrate Christmas with Rehanna.
Give them a chance,” says Charlene. “You have to want to help the children in your care.”
To learn more about fostering and adopting, you can sign up for an information session, certification classes (TN-KEY), or speak with a representative at DCS or a partnering agency:
Youth Villages - 888-MY-YV-KID or www.youthvillages.org
Department of Children’s Services - 877-DCS-KIDS or www.tn.gov/dcs