Hero for a Child

National Adoption awareness month
By Ashlyn Tubbs, Clarendon Enterprise

Irene Oatman is known to many as a friend, mother, grandmother, and even great-grandmother. But to one little girl, she is known as a hero.

Oatman and her husband, Harvey, took the initiative to adopt their great-granddaughter, seven-year-old Amnesty after she was put up for adoption when she was just five years old. Oatman was 65 and had been retired for six years at the time, but her age did not get in her way of keeping Amnesty in the family.

“I’ve cared for her off and on since she was an infant,” Oatman said. “She’s such a joy for me to take care of and laugh with.”

There are many children who are not as fortunate as Amnesty, though. In the state of Texas alone, there are more than 6,000 children who are waiting for safe and loving homes, some of them from Donley County.

Ten years ago, November was declared National
Adoption Month to help raise awareness of the need of adoption, so these children can hopefully find a family of their own.

“Right now, we have nine children in Donley County who are in foster care,” said Ann Huey, chairman of the Donley County Welfare Board. “Four of them are available for adoption, but three of the four are special needs children, and it’s going to take very special families to adopt them.”

According to Huey, most people are looking to adopt babies, therefore those in need of adoption are mostly children over the age of six, minorities, and those who have special needs.

“The saddest thing is that when foster children turn of age and are released from the system, probably around 90% of them return to the home that they came from, so what have we accomplished?” Huey said. “The best thing to do is adopt. We really encourage adoption of these children in homes.”

The restrictions to being an adoptive parent have gone down from what they used to be. These days, people can be single, homosexual, any race, or have a biracial marriage and still be able to adopt a child in need.

“Things have come a long way,” Huey said. “They never would’ve allowed the things they do today when I was in my twenties. They have really become lenient.”

There are many safety precautions involved in the process of adoption. An adopted child must be provided a safe, appropriate home (with home studies done to ensure it) with his/her own bed. A person cannot adopt unless they have a job, no felonies, and complete the necessary training.

“Families who adopt students through the agency should have the understanding and be willing to learn the dynamics of neglect and physical or sexual abuse,” Huey said. “That’s what the training is about.”

Children are usually put up for adoption after they are taken by CPS and placed in protective custody, either because they came from a drug family, both their parents are imprisoned, or they were neglected or abused.

“Most of the kids that I visit have had at least one or more parents in prison, usually for drugs or other related offenses,” Huey said. “They’re picked up because their parents simply can’t take care of them.”

As a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) volunteer, Huey is fully aware of the treatment some children receive in foster homes and facilities.

“Seeing a child grow up in a foster care environment is really heartbreaking,” Huey said. “You can put a baby in a home with all older children, and the baby is pushed aside; or you can put an older child in a home where they wind up being used as the maid, which is obviously inappropriate.”

Huey and her husband Bill recently had the opportunity to adopt a child, but they decided not to after the realization that she would be 78 once he graduated. He is now living with a young couple who has another child and is doing rather well.

“We adored him,” Huey said. “But I didn’t think that at 78, I would be able to do the things an average mother would be able to do. It broke my heart, but we still keep in contact with him today and his picture is still on my desk.”
Huey admires Oatman for her willingness to adopt Amnesty.

“I give Irene an incredible amount of credit,” Huey said. “I don’t think I could’ve done it at my age. She is a really special lady to do that.”

In many ways, Amnesty has helped Oatman out in life just as much as she has done for her.
“Now, we’re just busy,” Oatman said. “We’re more involved in the community and with the school because of Amnesty.”

Oatman strongly encourages adoption and foster care to all those interested. Her life has been touched by her experiences of being a foster parent and an adoptive parent to Amnesty, who frequently says, “Well, we just have to look at the bright side of it.”

“To me, there’s always love to give,” Oatman said. “And you’ve got to go into it with the expectations that you’re getting nothing back, but you’re doing this because you feel like God is leading you to do it, and that you’re helping to improve someone’s life.”