Adoption Stories

The Ellis Family

By March 22, 2010No Comments

Lakeland is working to encourage more Christian families to consider becoming a “forever family” to an orphaned child.
According to Dr. Jerry Haag, president of the Children’s Homes they have had a number of recent successes where older children and large sibling groups have been joined to an adoptive family.

The Ellis brothers pictured from left to right Coleman 8, Cooper 5, Connor 10, and their newly adopted older brother Kobe 12, pictured top center. Kobe’s adoption was finalized last month. There are nearly 1,000 children available for adoption in Florida.

“We are absolutely thrilled at the number of adoptions that we have completed recently. We are even more excited by the fact that many of these children have been older and part of large sibling groups. Typically these wonderful children are harder to place,” Dr. Haag said.

One adoption that was recently finalized was Kobe Ellis who was in residential care at the Children’s Homes’ Lakeland 5.

“There are a few days in the life of my family that are emotional beyond words. They include our wedding day, the birth of our three boys, and now the adoption of our dear Kobe!” Jennie Ellis said.

Ellis attributes their adoption of Kobe to God’s miraculous work and the many people that were praying for him to find an adoptive home. “God revealed to us last spring that we would have another son. I had never heard God speak so clearly. I soon learned that many people had been praying for Kobe,” Ellis said.

Sue Latter, the Children’s Homes social worker that worked with the Ellises in placing Kobe attributes much of the success to God’s intervening work.

“One day at lunch several staff and what a struggle it is to place them in an adoptive home. We decided that day that we would pray specifically for two children on our campus. Kobe was one of those children. Within a few weeks I received a call from Kobe’s basketball coach, a wonderful Christian man, named Kenny Ellis.”

“Kenny said that his family had grown to love Kobe and the ball started rolling from there,” Latter said.

The Ellises are involved in a wide variety of activities including many different sports, which made Kobe feel right at home. “They are all very active and tumble boys. But most importantly they all love the Lord! Before Kobe even met the Ellises he had stated that he hoped one day to be adopted into a family that had siblings who like sports. He also said that he wanted to be with a Christian family as he loves going to church,” Latter said.

Kobe was considered a special needs child by the state of Florida, which entitled the Ellises to a number of benefits to help care for him. Dr. Haag explains that the term “special needs” is a bit misleading, but refers to certain categories of kids that are harder to place into an adoptive home.

‘‘’Special needs’ is a term used in federal rules that describe certain categories of children eligible for financial assistance in the adoption process. It does not necessarily mean that the child has a mental or physical disability,” Dr. Haag said.

In Florida one or more of the following criteria qualifies a child andicap.
The financial assistance for a special needs child usually includes free health care (for the child) through the Medicaid program and free college tuition to one of Florida’s state universities, colleges or vocational schools. In addition, a family adopting a child from state care will usually be eligible for a monthly stipend to help defray some of the costs related to adding a child to their family.

Dr. Haag said that parents that adopt children through the state of Florida are not charged an adoption fee and court costs, but in many instances those may even be reimbursed by the state.

“We have a number of children in our care that are available for adoption, and throughout Florida there are more than 1,000 children looking for a forever family,” Dr. Haag said. “Our prayer is that each of these precious children will be placed with a loving Christian family.”

For more information on adoption contact the Children’s Homes at 863-687-8811, e-mail.