All these kids want for the holidays is a family

The seasonal celebration of family and the spirit of giving are folded into the heartfelt, fifth annual “A Home for the Holidays” special tonight on CBS.

It’s celebrity-studded musical show crafted around a public service message about the gift that hundreds of thousands of children in foster care dream about: adoption.

Singers Sheryl Crow, No Doubt, Pat Monahan of Train, Enrique Iglesias, Mary J. Blige, Mya, Vince Gill and Amy Grant perform during the emotion-filled show.

Actors Lauren Holly, an adoptive mother; Jamie Foxx, an adoptee; and “The Young and the Restless” star Victoria Rowell, who spent 18 years in foster care; are among the celebrities who introduce video segments about real families enriched by the adoption of mostly older children whose chances to find adoptive parents dwindle with each passing year.

Among them are an older couple who happily started over with a 2-year-old; another couple who intended to adopt a baby and fell for a lonely 8-year-old instead; a photographer who became mom to the 9-year-old whose plight she had been hired to publicize in a photo essay; and parents of an only child who opened their hearts to two brothers who had been separated for a year in the foster-care system.

The families, who attended the event, are shown after each segment and only an unredeemed Scrooge will remain unmoved as these parents and children react to their stories with shared tears and embraces.

Half a million children are in foster care in the United States and only a small fraction will be adopted, according to the program.

This festive special -- presented in association with the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption (established by the late founder of Wendy’s restaurants, who was adopted) and the Children’s Action Network -- hopes that the message will have extra resonance during the holiday season.

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‘A Home for the Holidays’

Where: CBS

When: 8 tonight

Rating: The network has rated the special TV-G (suitable for all ages).