By: Barbra Blake – Photos  By: Erin Brethauer

ASHEVILLE — It was an interesting series of events that brought Teresa Dennison from her home in Mills River to the annual WNC Foster/Adopt Fall Festival in Asheville. She joined several hundred people to learn more about giving a child a temporary or permanent home.

Mark DeVerges presents a Pink Balloon Poodle

“I saw this movie called ‘Hotel for Dogs,’ and the two kids in it were fostered,” Shalyn interrupted politely over the din of voices filling the large room at Coleman Place. “We talked about it, and she (mom) said she’d buy this book about adoption to learn more about it.”

Actually, Teresa Dennison had already been thinking about fostering or adopting, because “I don’t want Shalyn to be an only child.” And Shalyn is all on board with that.

“I want to have a younger sister, somebody I can play with all the time,” she said. “I have a friend in class who has a brother, and he said I shouldn’t get a

brother, I should get a sister, instead.”

There are plenty of sisters — and brothers — waiting for placement in foster or adoptive homes, and the need never ends, said Erica Jourdan, a Department of Social Services specialist who organized the annual festival.

  Thirty children in Buncombe County alone are cleared for adoption and awaiting families.

 

Balloon Illusions twister, Mark DeVerges, builds a custom Orange Dinosaur for Foster Festival participant

Between seven and 10 children enter the foster care system each month, and there is an ongoing need for families willing to take sibling groups and older children, as well as those living in group homes who would like to have their own family, Jourdan said. And there are more than 250 children in Buncombe County already living in foster homes.

Cheryl and Bryan Miller drove from Wilkesboro to get more information about adopting one of those children. The couple lost a daughter to cancer five years ago, have one child grown and gone and another who will leave for college next year.

The couple spent a good amount of time reading handwritten biographies and watching videotapes of children telling their stories, hoping to find a connection with a girl age 10-14.

 “It’s something we’ve always wanted to do, so we’re here to find out more about how to do it,” Cheryl Miller said.

One of a number of couples who volunteered to talk with prospective adoptive or foster parents about their experiences were Harvey Price and Roseann Ohanion, who sat at a table with their 10-year-old adopted daughter, Heather.

Heather came into the family as a foster child from the Grandfather Home when she was 5, bringing with her several physical and mental disorders, Price said. When they look at their daughter, enchanted with a festive balloon and patiently waiting for a cookie from the refreshment table, it’s not the disabilities they see.

“It’s been challenging, but there are so many rewards. When we look at how she was and how far she’s come … you really can’t put a number on the rewards,” Price said. “You just fall in love — in spite of all the issues, you fall in love.”