My father and his 4 siblings, ages 8 months - 10 years old, were abandoned in a theater in Atlanta in the 1950s. They remained homeless and starving for nearly 6 weeks, while the oldest sister begged and stole condiments from gas stations to help them survive. All of the children were placed in an adoptive home on a farm with an older couple who had never been able to have children of their own. They desperately wanted children, and needed the help. My father said that the man was a good, strong, hardworking man, and taught them how to work hard, fed them well, clothed them, and put them in school. They lived with the couple, happily, for almost two years. The state, however, got wind of the fact that the couple were atheists and did not attend church.

The children were pulled from the home, and the boys and girls were split up. My dad and his two brothers were put in another home, with a staunchly religious couple who beat them all with a switch on a daily basis to cleanse them of their sins and "bring them closer to Jesus" by showing them how he suffered. They kept him out of school because it was too 'worldly' and the husband drank heavily and abused the wife.

After numerous attempts at running away, they were put in an orphanage called 'The Hill' where they lived for most of the rest of their adolescence, bouncing in and out of other foster homes, getting into drugs, violence, and crime. My dad was finally reunited with the oldest sister about 15 years ago, but they've still been unable to locate the youngest. One of my father's brothers were killed in Vietnam. The other brother has been in and out (mostly in) of jail.

My father is now an activist for equal rights for adoptive parents, whether they be christian, single, gay, domestic partners, etc. It has become a life passion of his to ensure that GOOD PARENTS are able to adopt needy children and provide them with a happy childhood, not just people who check the right boxes.