Everyone Wants To Adopt Davion Only, Too Bad His Adoption Service Keeps Dropping The Ball

The more time I spend on the Internet, the more I realize that things are hardly ever what they seem. You’ve probably been scammed into sharing a photo of a sick kid on Facebook (that was clearly Photoshopped) to raise some kind of awareness. You’ve also probably heard of the heartwarming viral story of Davion Only, a 15-year-old boy who pleaded with a church congregation to adopt him because he was in need of a family.

I absolutely loved this story. I have a special spot in my heart for kids that don’t feel wanted””related to my own childhood issues that involved divorce, my biological parents, and a step-parent. When I heard that Davion had the guts to stand up as an orphaned kid and ask for a loving home, I was floored.

Here’s more about Davion’s backstory:

He was born while his mother was in jail, and one day he took his birth certificate and looked up information on a library computer and discovered that his mom had died just a few weeks before. He has lived in numerous fosters homes, and at Eckerd’s Carlton Manor residential group home.

In a perfect made-for-TV movie scenario that made my heart melt, Davion went to church on a Sunday and made a heartfelt plea to the congregation:

“I’ll take anyone. Old or young, dad or mom, black, white, purple. I don’t care. And I would be really appreciative. The best I could be”¦ I know God hasn’t given up on me. So I’m not giving up either.”

After this tear-jerking story spread like wildfire, we were led to believe that Davion may have found the family he was hoping for just in time for Christmas of last year. This appeared to be a wonderful beginning to an adoption story that would hopefully make ripples and raise awareness for thousands of other kids in Davion’s situation””older adoptees who are “unwanted” and lost in the shuffle.

The most recent update to the story absolutely sucks. Davion still has not been adopted, and the blame is likely to rest on his adoption agency, Eckerd. Eckerd is under fire as a number of potential parents claim that the agency never returned their calls in regard to Davion. The teen once received mass attention after appearing on national talk shows and morning shows, but now his adoption service won’t allow him to communicate with the media””with no cell phone or email access and stringent Facebook privacy settings.

This is all kinds of bullshit. Why have the 10,000 people who expressed interest in helping or adopting Davion been ignored? Why is he still in a foster home without any hope of placement with adoptive parents? Roughly 300 people contacted the Eckerd foster agency directly without any response. Loving parents interested in providing Davion a home blame “the system” for this unforgivable mess.

(Image: Eckered.org)