Instant Family tells a funny, relatable story

November 21, 2018

Port St. Lucie -

Communities Connected for Kids and its local caregivers celebrated National Adoption Month earlier this week with a private screening of Instant Family.

The movie, about a couple who decide to become foster parents and end up adopting three children, gives an important - and fairly realistic - glimpse into the lives of foster and adoptive parents.

"Foster parents haven't always been portrayed sympathetically or in the best light, so it was nice to see this movie portray us like real people who love our children and do our best," said one local foster dad present for the Sunday, Treasure Coast 16 showing in Jensen Beach.

The show - free to caregivers thanks to the sponsorship of Florida Sen. Gayle Harrell, Grand Senior Arcade and Seacoast Bank - also explores the real-life system challenges of keeping siblings together and finding families willing to take teenagers.

"Those are very real issues for us," said Christina Kaiser, CCKids Community Relations Director. "It's a big part of the education we do throughout the year, but especially this month, during National Adoption Month."

There are more than 800 children throughout Florida waiting to be adopted. To get that message out, organizations like CCKids are partnering with the Florida Coalition for Children, the Department of Children and Families, the Selfless Love Foundation and the Dave Thomas Foundation to launch the One Heart, One Home campaign.

Other on-going CCKids campaigns include the Forever Family project, which leverages the power of local media to find adoptive homes for children in foster care, as well as online social-media recruitment campaigns and the day-to-day work of Children's Home Society, the organization that provides adoption services to CCKids' system of care.

If you are interested in fostering or adopting, please click here. New classes throughout Okeechobee and the Treasure Coast regularly are scheduled to accommodate busy schedules. Please take a look. You could be the one heart that changes a life forever.