Patrick And Wade’s Story From The Let Love Define Family Series

In today’s Huffington Post Gay Voices RaiseAChild.US “Let Love Define Family™” series installment, Patrick Roth and Wade Holmes share how reading tragic news stories about LGBT youth suicides spurred them to open their home and hearts to a gay-identified foster youth who is now a permanent part of their family.

After adopting his daughter Julia through a private arrangement 16 years ago, Patrick Roth and his now husband, Wade Holmes, turned to the foster care system for a very special reason when they decided to expand their family.

“Although we had discussed adopting again for many years, we finally decided to do something concrete after a wave of media stories involving LGBT youth committing suicide and being bullied,” Patrick explained. “We knew we had the means, space and love to offer. We specifically wanted an older, harder to place child and were very open to one who was self-identified LGBT.”

Patrick and Wade’s subsequent journey on the road to a second child led them to foster and then adopt Cephren. Now 14, the boy was 12 years old when he came to live with them.

“This is a big point — there are fantastic kids in the foster care system!” said Patrick. “We know so many people who have fostered and/or adopted through CPS in various states, and they have wonderful, amazing kids. Some kids have more trauma than others. Some need more love and commitment to shine, but they all have the ability to surpass anyone’s wildest dreams. We’d also say that people shouldn’t be afraid to seek out older kids. The statistics for the futures of the children who age out of the system are frightening. It is never too late to make a difference in their lives! They can blossom and change in ways you can’t imagine.”

“Many states also offer incentives for those adopting older kids such as ongoing financial stipends, health insurance, or even college tuition benefits,” Wade points out. “These are great kids. They just need a family and a chance. We’d also like to add that people shouldn’t be afraid of not being approved or picked to be parents because of being LGBT or single parents. There are many thousands of kids awaiting forever families and agencies are getting more and more accepting of diversity. Kids need families and if you can provide a good, stable, loving home, then chances are you’ll find one (or more!) children who are right for you.”

Corinne Lightweaver is the Communications Manager at RaiseAChild.US, a national organization headquartered in Hollywood, California that encourages the LGBT community to build families through fostering and adopting to serve the needs of the 400,000 children in the U.S. foster care system. Since 2011, RaiseAChild.US has run media campaigns and events to educate prospective parents and the public, and has engaged more than 2,500 prospective parents. For information about how you can become a foster or fost/adopt parent, visit www.RaiseAChild.US.

The Huffington Post