THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, September 30, 1996 TAG: 9609300048
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 84 lines
The 5-week-old infant had a gold angel pinned to his shirt when Angie cradled him in her arms the first time.
The new mother took the tiny winged cherub to be a heavenly messenger, a sign of God's grace.
She and her husband, Bob, (not their real names) had pined for a child with whom to share their love for five years when the call came one day last spring. Catholic Charities of Hampton Roads wanted to know when they'd like to take their new baby home. It had been only four months since they'd turned to the agency for help.
To Angie, the child was a miracle, a gift from God. She'd harbored a secret fear in her heart all during her 10-year marriage - that God would never give her a child. As a girl, she'd heard tales of painful childbirth and had come to dread the prospect. In more prayers than she can count, Angie had begged God to make her barren.
Baby A.C. is one of 19 Hampton Roads babies who've found loving homes so far this year, thanks to Catholic Charities. Four more infants are in temporary foster homes awaiting permanent parents.
That's twice as many as in the first half of 1995, and Margaret Robertson, executive director of Catholic Charities, expects the trend to continue.
The demand on the non-profit agency to find homes for newborns has doubled this year because of a new law that, for among other things, disallows additional payments to welfare moms for children born after April 1.
Many mothers, especially the single ones, are ``already stretched to the limit'' financially, Robertson said. That's when they turn to Catholic Charities for help.
There is a pressing need just now for adoptive parents for African-American and interracial babies, said Robertson.
Catholic Charities serves people of all faiths and last year received $239,491, or one-third of its funding, from the United Way of Hampton Roads.
The 1996 United Way campaign, now under way, is more than one-fifth of the way toward its goal of $15.3 million. In 1995, United Way raised just over $15 million and distributed it to 68 designated local agencies, helping one in five people who live in Hampton Roads cities.
In addition to finding permanent homes for babies like A.C., Catholic Charities Child Welfare program offers pregnancy counseling and shelter for homeless women who are expecting.
The organization also provides counseling, education and community outreach to people of all ages.
But the charity's adoption program is its oldest. During the past 65 years, thousands of infants like A.C. have found homes.
When Bob, 42, saw his new son, he thought, ``This is one little fish that won't go back in the ocean. He's a keeper.''
Sitting on Angie's lap on a recent afternoon, 7-month-old A.C. cooed and gurgled, then looked at his father next to him and said, ``Dada?'' The way the final syllable of the word trailed off in higher pitch made A.C.'s first intelligible word sound like a question, but there was no doubt in those big, brown eyes, no query in the way the corners of his mouth curled up in a smile.
Angie, 32, is already looking to her son's future and leaning toward encouraging him to become a doctor or a lawyer.
Dad's reserving judgment for now. But he does think there's a certain musicality in all that baby babble. ILLUSTRATION: MIKE HEFFNER
The Virginian-Pilot
Baby A.C.'s new parents found him by way of a Beach agency that has
handled adoptions for more than 60 years.
MIKE HEFFNER
The Virginian-Pilot
Baby A.C., 7 months old, was the answer to his adoptive mother and
father's prayers; they had waited five years for a child of their
own when the call finally came from Catholic Charities.
GRAPHIC
UNITED WAY OF SOUTH HAMTPON ROADS
1996 GOAL
$15.3 million
Raised as of Sunday Sept. 30
SOURCE: United Way
MORE DETAILS
For more information about Catholic Charities of Hampton Roads, call
467-7707 or 625-2568.
KEYWORDS: UNITED WAY by CNB