Families, Teens Await Holiday ‘Adoption’

According to Interface Children Family Services, about 20 families and well over 100 children are waiting to be “adopted” for the holidays.

The nonprofit agency supervises over 25 programs to help families and children deal with a full range of problems, from domestic violence to moving from foster care to independent adulthood.

Gretchen Bradvica, community relations specialist, said the biggest difficulty is finding presents for the adolescents served by Interface programs. “They’re very specific about what they want,” she said.

Many of them are in foster homes and have no families, so they expect no gifts. Those wishing to adopt a family will provide a Christmas dinner and presents for the children. They will receive the first names of the family members plus their ages and what they need.

Interface forwards the gifts to families to protect their privacy. Presents for children should have a tag indicating the appropriate gender and age. Bradvica recommended gift certificates from music and clothing stores for teenagers.

For more information, call Bradvica at (805) 485-6114.