Recently Davion Navar Henry Only made a plea for a family. “I’ll take anyone,” Davion said. “Old or young, dad or mom, black, white, purple. I don’t care. And I would be really appreciative. The best I could be.”
His plea went viral. For days his plea was headline news on ABCNews.com and other news outlets. Thousands of commenters stated that they would love him and provide not only a home but a family for him. The church where his plea was made has fielded hundreds of phone calls from people wanting to help. Additionally, the adoption agency handling his case has reported receiving thousands of requests (reported to be 10,000+) for information on how to adopt this child.
I think that it is amazing that so many people have come forward wanting to help this child. However, only one family will be picked to make Davion’s dream of a family come true. What I hope will happen is that all of these who inquired about Davion, will continue to inquire about other children in the system. There are hundreds if not thousands of Davion’s waiting for a forever home. Most people are leery of adopting older children so they simply grow up in the system and age out never having had a real home or family.
I am so happy that this young man will find a home to call his forever. I am happy that he will have a family to call his own. I am happy that so many have reached out stating that they want to be his family. However, my heart breaks for all of the children that have not been given a chance to speak in public. My heart breaks for all of the children bouncing from foster home to foster home, hoping to find a safe and loving family that will want to keep them forever.
If you are interested in helping call your local DFACS office and find out how to adopt a child. Find out how you can help by being a foster parent. Fostering and adoption is not for everyone. If you want to help but can’t adopt, think about becoming a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA). CASA’s visit with children and can speak to caseworks and judges on behalf of the children. Basically they advocate for what is best for the child. They become the voice of the child. There are so many children in need and so many ways to help.
I hope that the “Davion Effect” stays around long enough to help many children who just want someone to love them. Every child deserves to have a forever family.