Linda Williams writes: "...I want to tell you of our major project we 
launched on the 17th of April. Foster parents in Alabama have decided to make an impact on our state legislators. We (foster/adopted) parents went to our State legislators and gave them the opportunity to become foster parents to baby dolls (they represent our kids in care). 

We got 140 dolls from thrift stores, all kinds of color and ages. Each doll has a case plan. For 5 weeks before the event we sent letters to each legislator and our Governor explaining the process foster parents have to go through to get to be a foster parent and the responsibilities they would have. 

We will go back in 3 weeks and pick our dolls up for other placements. We will take the foster dolls to a local mall and let the public know how their legislator took care of his/her foster child. We have blown our state house wide open. As you can see this is no small venture but God has opened doors we could not have opened.... 

We took our own kids to help and had a news conference. Our dolls were in strollers, wagons, and wheel chairs. We are trying to make our State aware of putting money into children that are in foster care and help them not to fall through the cracks and go into the prison system later. 

Our doll project went better than anything we expected. We had news media everywhere. There were probably over 40 foster families, adopted parents and concerned citizens. We surprised a lot of people to say the least. We had to explain that we would come back for our foster dolls, and they will get a letter Monday outlining their responsibility again and we will send them letters of encouragement. We got to meet one on one with our own legislators.  Our evening news portrayed the need for foster care with a professional look. 

I was very proud of my adopted and foster kids, they represented all kids well. We dreamed this dream in 1998. It took today for our dream to be real. Our prayer is that God will help us to make aware to the public how much foster care and adoption is a blessing." 

Charmaine Mandell, author and Washington State University "WOMAN OF THE YEAR" participated in our Doll Project. She was the keynote speaker for our 2001, ALABAMA Foster Parent Conference; facilitated workshops, lectured at Tuskegee University, visited Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women, and did television interviews supporting our efforts in the capital too. 

Charmaine left for the airport with Ally & Bama in her arms - #67 & #68 -
two of Alabama's Doll Project children. These precious dolls will
accompany her to other state foster parent conferences, and the United
Nations, World Children's Summit, September, 2001.

Updates

The Galleria shopping mall is going to let us display our dolls after we pick them up from our legislators. The shopping mall is the biggest one in the state! We will take pictures of the legislator with her/his doll and this way we will see who took care of their foster doll and followed their case plan. Senator Vivian Davis Figures has gone beyond anything we expected. She bought new clothes, a doll chair, toys and books for her doll. I would give her a blue ribbon if I could. Mr Busky is having a seamstress to make dolls clothes for his doll. 

I went down to our State house yesterday putting letters on doors letting everyone know we were coming down. We are so blessed to get to put our dolls in the Galleria. 

30 April 2001

We have had so much public response to our dolls I would give anything to an avenue to it going National. Most people can't believe we would do all this work or how the visual of grown men babysitting dolls is humorous. Tomorrow we are taking a Foster Parent Survival Kit to help them it consists of: 

An eraser, to remind you that mistakes are lesson's learned 
A rubber band, to stretch yourself beyond your limits 
A stick of gum to remind you to stick with it 
A piece of string, to tie things together when everything else fall apart 
A lifesaver, to stay afloat 
A seed, to remind you what you feed grows 
A lollipop to remind you to have fun 
And a hug, to let you know someone cares 

We are going to put it on each legislators door. 

2nd May 2001 

Linda writes:

There are legislators that have taken foster care to their heart and are trying to help, but the sad thing is before decent laws are passed our kids are thrown around like used baggage and they should be the top priority.
 

18th May 2001

Yesterday we went to our State House to pick up our foster dolls for their new adopted homes. Security allowed us free reign of all the floors! We were so blessed by the response we got from our legislators. We had prayed this was God's day to use us to network with our legislators. We had legislators hunt us down to get their pictures took with their dolls. Our Senator Figures who had spent so much time on helping with her doll's case plan made sure to find us to have her picture taken with her doll! She is the legislator that inspired others to take their foster doll more seriously. 

The woman who made our day at the beginning by using a paper towel a diaper for her baby doll talked about how much fun they had all had. We had legislators thank us for our project and promise their help next session with foster care. They were excited for us to see how well we were received. We were excited too. We now have to stay in contact with our leaders so our children will not be forgotten. 

 

October 2001

As of July 27-28 our dolls went to a playground to allow the public to see who their foster parent was in the state house. We had television and newspaper coverage.

The hard work is paying off. Our legislators thanked us for bringing such an awareness to the need for foster and adoption care in our state.
Beginning October our foster children and soon to be special needs adopted children will get a living allowance increase. We have been told that our doll project and the media coverage we got has motivated the administration to do something for our children.

I want to thank Adoptedlife.com for all the exposure you gave our children of the State.

If anyone would like information about doing this project in their state we would be happy to give them information.

Linda Williams
lw52@msn.com
205-655-7658
205-492-5652