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The Tangled Hearts Project
Celebrating Adoption and Foster Parenting By Teri Brown
It all began, like so many worthwhile projects do, with the love of a child. Patti Bongiorno, mother of three girls, writer and child advocate, adopted a lovely daughter who began asking serious questions about her adoption – the kind of questions many adopted children have as they near adolescence, with the most important being, "Why did my birthmother give me up for adoption?"
In early 2002, while Bongiorno was writing a series of children's books, her daughter came to her with a request. "She asked if I could write a book about adoption, and by the way, could I look for her birthmother?" says Bongiorno. "It's the by the ways that usually get me."
Already overwhelmed with the books she was working on, Bongiorno knew she didn't have the time or the energy for a birthmother search. She told her daughter that if the books were successful, the birthmother would find them. She was right. Shortly after a story on Bongiorno and her books appeared in Woman's Day, her daughter's birthmother made contact. Rebecca, her daughter, was elated, and Bongiorno was ready to start writing the book.
"I started writing Tangled Hearts, but as I worked through the creative process, I realized that although the book would accomplish its objective – to provide insight into the 'Why me?' question at the root of adopted adolescents' insecurities, it wouldn't fulfill my own personal wishes that the foster care system be transformed and we achieve healthier outcomes for our nation's most vulnerable children," says Bongiorno. "More had to be done."
There are now nearly 600,000 children in foster care. On any given day, over 100,000 children are available for adoption. Each year, approximately 20,000 children age out of foster care, which means they reach the age of emancipation without ever being adopted. These children haunted Bongiorno.
"Where do they spend Thanksgiving? Who helps them plan their future? How do they navigate the hurdles of higher education – namely money and motivation to stay in school?" These are the questions Bongiorno kept asking herself. She realized that the profits from the Tangled Hearts necklace could do more than just be a symbol; it could be a way to help support higher education scholarships for these very special people.