Consider answering a prayer by adopting

Possum Trot, Texas, is a little unincorporated community in Shelby County, Texas. It’s closer to Shreveport, Louisiana, than it is any of the Texas centers of Dallas, Houston or Austin.

But the community is the subject of a movie focused on real events, “Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot”.

The movie chronicles how 22 families in the community adopted 77 children.

Hope, indeed.

In Southeast Missouri, more than 225 children are waiting for someone to adopt them.

Two local women are working to lessen that number.

Shelley Gerard is regional manager of CarePortal, an app-based platform that connects members of participating churches with children who have specific needs as identified by caseworkers, educators and others.

Shari Stroup is co-founder and CEO of Room for One More, a not-for-profit, faith-based organization that helps children in the region and elsewhere.

Gerard and Stroup, along with Lauren Masterson, an adoption and foster care licensing manager with the State of Missouri, have been working together, using the movie as a starting point, to encourage adoptions.

Their Adopt Local campaign aims to match potential adoptive families with children by streamlining the process.

Children waiting for someone to adopt them are not unlike patients on an organ donor list.

They wait. They long. They hope.

How does someone become eligible to adopt a child?

It’s simple, actually.

Prospective adoptive parents must be at least 21 years old, complete a background check, be in good health (physically and mentally), have a stable income and be willing to participate in and complete free training and assessment. Above all, they must have a heart for a child and a belief in making a profound difference.

Fostering a child involves a similar process. Potential parents must complete an application and receive a state-issued license. There are training components to complete as well.

To possibly adopt or foster a child, contact the state Children’s Division Office, (800) 554-2222, or email moheartgallery@raisethefuture.org to begin.

Church or business leaders interested in using the CarePortal platform can contact Gerard at shelly. gerard@careportal.org.

Those interested in adopting can also go to www.room foronemorechild.org and go to the contact-us tab.

Families who adopt children offer more than hope for a full life as part of a loving family. They are the answer to prayers.

The movie "Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot" continues to be shown at Marcus Cape West Cinema. We encourage you to see it.