Christina Mora Dettman has seen the foster care system from all angles, as both a parent and adoptive mom. That’s why it’s so important for her to tell the stories of the children who live it.
Dettman is the spokesperson for Wednesday’s Child, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to facilitate the recruitment of quality foster and adoptive parents, to provide support for children and families in Kentucky’s child welfare system, and to connect children waiting on a forever family with educated and trained adoptive parents.
The organization has its roots in a weekly news feature on WLKY that began in 1980, featuring older children who were waiting on adoptive families. When it became clear viewers were interested in helping these children, Wednesday’s Child was created to accept donations and act as an independent initiative separate from the on-air network and segment.
“We work with children who are looking for these forever homes,” Wednesday’s Child Executive Director Dana Carroll said. “These children, through no fault of their own, have experienced trauma and neglect and have been through a lot. They are looking for a home where they can feel safe and stable and be loved for who they are. These older children need that as much as the younger children do. Our focus is to advocate for the older children who need adoption.”
Dettman also has her roots with WLKY. A former reporter at the station, Dettman saw Liz Everman, the original anchor of these segments, highlight the struggles of these children each week. In her personal life, Dettman and her husband became a foster parent to two little boys who they eventually adopted. With Everman stepping down from the station, Dettman jumped at the chance to replace her and continue the long legacy of the Wednesday’s Child stories.
Dettman said the way they do these stories has not changed much since its original inception.
“We highlight the child, what they are like, and what they like to do for fun,” Dettman said. “That’s still what I do. We don’t talk about anything negative. We’re always positive about the child and what their interests are. Maybe they like to read, maybe they collect baseball cards – highlighting the best parts of those kids. We usually do our interviews in a setting that is fun for the child.”
Wednesday’s Child focuses on older children because they are generally the hardest to get adopted. The younger the child, the easier it typically is to find a potential family. While there is no set age, many of the children Dettman interviews are teenagers who have bounced between numerous homes over their lives and will soon age out of the foster care system. Dettman said having gone through the foster care system firsthand helps her understand the many nuances these children are facing.
“By time they are older, they have sometimes been in dozens of foster homes,” Dettman said. “They get bounced around to foster homes and group homes and they’re mad. They’re jaded, defeated, angry. These are all things that happened and none of it was their fault. Academically they’ve had to change schools, and they’re behind developmentally. Their ability to build relationships has taken a hit. There are so many areas where they struggle, and understandably so. I’ll try to ask things different ways and I tell myself I’m not going to give up. They deserve to be featured, even if they’re not having a positive day, and have someone see their story.”
With nearly 9,000 children in Kentucky’s welfare system currently, the mission of Wednesday’s Child has only grown in importance over the last four decades. Dettman said the organization measures success in a variety of different ways, all of which revolve around helping these children.
“I wish it was very easy for us to draw a line and say a story equaled an adoption,” Dettman said. “In the past it was probably way easier for them to draw that line. With the world we live in now, sometimes success looks like that story aired, and someone saw it and started training to be a foster parent, or an old coach saw the story and wants to be that child’s mentor. There are a lot of different ways to gauge success. We are letting the community know about this very serious issue and there are a lot of ways to help these kids.”
Beyond the news segment, Wednesday’s Child does a number of events throughout the year to acknowledge and lift up adopted and foster children, including graduation festivities, holiday parties and a family fun day at Kentucky Kingdom, which includes heavily discounted tickets to experience a memorable day at the park.
“The whole idea is to build a bonding experience for the children,” Carroll said. “We want to celebrate with them and the whole transition for these families. We want to shed light on what is going on in the foster care community. There are a lot of hard-working nonprofits in the state that really do care for these children. The problem is there are more children than there are homes. As the need grows, more hands and hearts need to be attentive. With the help of WLKY, we don’t let that problem go away – that advocacy and putting it out there to the community.”
WLKY continues to be a staunch supporter of Wednesday’s Child, with employees of the station serving on the board in addition to airing the weekly segments. With the ever-changing landscape of broadcast news, Wednesday’s Child has remained a staple of the WLKY weekly lineup, with much of the credit due to Everman, an adoptive mom herself, and the success she had in its inception.
“In the ‘80s that was what you did; people watched this and that’s how these kids got adopted,” Dettman said. “Back then it was so big and it made so much sense. People are truly paying attention and the community wants to help. I would hope that is why it has continued. WLKY has backed this segment, and our news director and general manager have given it so much support. That makes a huge difference. They never said the results didn’t warrant us doing this. They said if we’re making an impact, keep going. It really speaks to WLKY’s commitment. The problem continues to be there, unfortunately, so it’s something we need to continue to highlight.”
The Wednesday’s Child website has a donate button on the top navigation bar that allows anyone to help with its cause. Donations go towards the weekly segments, special events and other initiatives the group wants to expand on.
