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CNN Live Saturday
National Adoption Day
Aired November 22, 2003 - 18:20 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Families come in all shapes and sizes. And today, hundreds of American families are making new memories and planting new roots. That is because they are adopting 3100 foster children. It is part of national adoption day. CNN's Michael Okwu shows us how one man's commitment changed the lives of seven boys.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was in foster care since the day I was born. But every foster home I was in they would be abused.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was never, ever treated like a real kid.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was angry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was kind of misbehaving and stuff.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I felt like I didn't have no purpose in life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't have no place to go and I didn't know what to do.
MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They were all faces, voices of broken homes, victims of neglect and abuse. Foster children with no hope until the day they met this man and could call him dad.
JIM MORRIS, ADOPTIVE FATHER: If you had told me five or six years ago that I was going to have seven or eight kids before I am married I would have laughed at you and said that is ridiculous.
OKWU: In 10 short years, Jim Morris went from single guy to single dad of half a dozen boys. The first son Herman adopted when he was 13 is now 23.
HERMAN MORRIS: One place got tired of me I was just shipped to the next place. So I felt like I didn't have any value.
J. MORRIS: I just saw the direction that he was going in, that the system was steering him and I saw that road as a dead end for him. And that's why I decided to step in.
OKWU: Morris, a social worker didn't stop there. Two years after adopting Herman he began assembling a largely teenage home of seemingly wayward children, prone to fits of either rage or depression. Morris adopted Andrew and later John, Danny, Aremis and Darren. He says he made each a promise, commitment.
J. MORRIS: That, I believe, is what has made all of the difference of each and everyone of them is unconditional love and them knowing that I was going to be with them or the long haul
OKWU: On Friday, he finalized his adoption of Ashanti.
(APPLAUSE)
OKWU: That makes seven. There are an estimated 542,000 children in foster care. More than 126,000 of them still available and waiting for adoption. Morris says it is his blood. His own mother was adopted. But seven boys?
J. MORRIS: When I see these individual lives being turned around one by one that inspires me.
OKWU: On national adoption day more inspiration. His 18-year- old John a keynote speaker.
JOHN MORRIS: And the best part is I am finally gong to have a mom. My dad is getting married in February.
OKWU: Michael Okwu, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 22, 2003 - 18:20 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Families come in all shapes and sizes. And today, hundreds of American families are making new memories and planting new roots. That is because they are adopting 3100 foster children. It is part of national adoption day. CNN's Michael Okwu shows us how one man's commitment changed the lives of seven boys.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was in foster care since the day I was born. But every foster home I was in they would be abused.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was never, ever treated like a real kid.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was angry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was kind of misbehaving and stuff.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I felt like I didn't have no purpose in life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't have no place to go and I didn't know what to do.
MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They were all faces, voices of broken homes, victims of neglect and abuse. Foster children with no hope until the day they met this man and could call him dad.
JIM MORRIS, ADOPTIVE FATHER: If you had told me five or six years ago that I was going to have seven or eight kids before I am married I would have laughed at you and said that is ridiculous.
OKWU: In 10 short years, Jim Morris went from single guy to single dad of half a dozen boys. The first son Herman adopted when he was 13 is now 23.
HERMAN MORRIS: One place got tired of me I was just shipped to the next place. So I felt like I didn't have any value.
J. MORRIS: I just saw the direction that he was going in, that the system was steering him and I saw that road as a dead end for him. And that's why I decided to step in.
OKWU: Morris, a social worker didn't stop there. Two years after adopting Herman he began assembling a largely teenage home of seemingly wayward children, prone to fits of either rage or depression. Morris adopted Andrew and later John, Danny, Aremis and Darren. He says he made each a promise, commitment.
J. MORRIS: That, I believe, is what has made all of the difference of each and everyone of them is unconditional love and them knowing that I was going to be with them or the long haul
OKWU: On Friday, he finalized his adoption of Ashanti.
(APPLAUSE)
OKWU: That makes seven. There are an estimated 542,000 children in foster care. More than 126,000 of them still available and waiting for adoption. Morris says it is his blood. His own mother was adopted. But seven boys?
J. MORRIS: When I see these individual lives being turned around one by one that inspires me.
OKWU: On national adoption day more inspiration. His 18-year- old John a keynote speaker.
JOHN MORRIS: And the best part is I am finally gong to have a mom. My dad is getting married in February.
OKWU: Michael Okwu, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
