www.crossroadsnews.com Section B

Adoption & Family Expo - Aug. 15, 2009

Panelists, performers to grace stage at annual Expo

Single Women to the ReScue

Adults who have ever pondered adoption can find out on Aug. 15 how they can make a dif-ference in the lives of the children in Georgia’s foster care system.

At the 2009 Adoption & Family Expo at the Mall at Stonecrest, adoption agencies and representatives from the Adoption Unit of the Georgia Division of Children and Family Services

will be at the noon to 5 p.m Expo to provide information and answer questions.

Panelists, including parents who have adopted, will discuss reasons to adopt and share their experiences.

In addition, (clockwise from right) 3KZ, Lil P, 2008 Miss Junior Teen Bria Mattox, and Dare 2 Dance will perform.

CrossRoadsNews August 8, 2009B2

Established 1995

Adoption & FAmily 2009 Adoption Expo Program Highlights

Main Stage in front of Macy’s, Mall at Stonecrest, Lower Level 1 p.m Dare 2 Dance Co.

1:30 p.m. 3KZ

1: 45 p.m. Jazz violinist Delores Major

2 p.m. Panel: Why Adopt Panelists Shamim Neal-Baccus, Statewide Recruitment Manager, Ga. DHR Division of Family and Children Svcs Debbie Sheadel, adoption advocate, My Turn Now Suzette Brown, Placement Specialist, ROOTS Adoption Agency & adoptive parent

2:40 p.m. Zemirah Davis, 2009 North DeKalb Mall Jr. Idol Winner

2: 55 p.m Bria Mattox, 2008 Miss Junior Teen Georgia

3:15 p.m. Lil’P

3:30 p.m. Panel: How We Did It – Foster & Adoptive parents Speak Panelists:

Angela Moore, foster parent Laverne Amponsah, adoptive parent Terri Newsom, adoptive parent Todd Johnson, adoptive parent

4: 10 p.m. Conservatory of Dance 4: 25 p.m. Gary Harris, Saxophonist 4:45 p.m. Grand prize drawing for Jamaica Hotel Package for 4-day, 3-night stay at either the “Playful” Sunset Beach

Resort & Spa in Montego Bay, or the “Legendary” Sunset Jamaica Grande Resort & Spa in Ocho Rios.5 p.m. Expo ends

2346 Candler Rd.Decatur, GA 30032

404-284-1888 Fax: 404-284-5007

www.crossroadsnews.com editor@crossroadsnews.com

The 2008 Adoption Section is a publication of CrossRoadsNews Inc., South DeKalb’s award-winning weekly newspaper.

Editor / Publisher Jennifer Parker

Reporters

Jennifer FfrenchParker McKenzie Jackson

Graphics Curtis Parker

Senior Account Manager Cynthia Blackshear

The content, design and concept for CrossRoads News is copyrighted and no parts of it should be copied, reproduced

or duplicated without the expressed permission of the publisher.

2009 Adoption Expo Grand Prize Entry Form Visit at least 15 of these exhibitors* at the Mall at Stonecrest and enter to win a Jamaica Hotel Package – a 4-day, 3-night stay at either the

“Playful” Sunset Beach Resort & Spa in Montego Bay, or the “Legendary” Sunset Jamaica Grande Resort & Spa in Ocho Rios.

5 All God’s Children

5 Bethany Christian Services

5 Chick-fil-A Inside the Mall at Stonecrest

5 Community Connections

5 CRoss MGD/GTXchange

5 DeKalb CASA

5 Families First

5 Georgia Center for Resources & Support

5 Georgia DHR Div. of Family & Children Svcs

5 Georgia Mentor

5 I Luv My Hair

5 Kool Smiles Children & Adult Dentistry

5 Lutheran Children’s Services

5 My Turn Now, Inc.

5 Neighbor to Family

5 New Beginnings Life Changing Network

5 Pamela Homes/ReMax of Buckhead

5 Roots Adoption Agency

5 Sam’s Club

5 Sunset Resorts of Jamaica

5 Together RX Access

5 Transitional Family Services

5 The Potter’s House Family & Children Treatment Ctr

5 United Methodist Children’s Home

Name: _______________________________________________________________________________________

Address: _____________________________________________________________________________________

City: _____________________________________________________ State: ______ Zip: _____________________

Email: ________________________________________________________________________________________

Home Phone: ______________________________________ Cell Phone: _________________________________

*To qualify, you must have exhibitors write their codes on your entry form. You must be 18 years or older to enter. Your name, address and a telephone number are required to win. Employees and immediate family members of CrossRoadsNews and the Mall at Stonecrest are excluded from winning. Must be present to win.

Children lanquish in foster care awaiting “forever’’ families By Jennifer Ffrench Parker

The number of children in Georgia’s foster care system never seems to change. Children enter the system, some children find permanent families, and a large number of children age out of the system.

But at the end of the day, there are still 15,000 in state care.

Advocates believe that the only way to make a significant dent in that number is to have large numbers of families step forward

to provide “forever” homes for them.

Of the children in Georgia’s foster care sys-tem, 2,200 are destined for adoption.

About 250 of them are classified as “special needs” because they are African

Americans children older than a year, are part of a sibling group who need to be placed together, are eight years and older, or have physical, emotional or mental disabilities.

For the last four years, CrossRoadsNews and the Mall at Stonecrest have partnered with the Adoption Unit of the State Division fo Children Services to focus attention on the children living in foster care and hoping for permanent homes.

More than 51 percent of the children in state custody are African Americans, but the state does not have enough African American families looking to adopt.

Shamim Neal-Baccus, the state adop-tion recruitment manager, says that while African-American children dominate the state’s foster care system, the number of African-American families seeking to adopt is relatively miniscule.

She says many people are unaware of the plight of the children in state custody,

but that many more think they have to be perfect people with large homes and lots of money to adopt.

“People think they wouldn’t qualify to adopt,” she said. “There are a lot of myths about how much it costs, what kind of house they have to live in, how much money they have to make.”

But she said the state is just looking for ordinary people with a desire to include a child in their family and care for it like their

85 percent of Georgia’s foster children are adopted by foster parents, adults who offer temporary shelter to children while the state is terminating their birth parents’ rights to them in the courts, and while the state and private adoption agencies are recruiting permanent families for them.

The state’s “special needs” children, some of whom are pictured on this page, are advertised at www.myturnnow.com and are featured weekly on Fox 5’s “Wednesday’s Child.”

The state works with a network of private agencies to place the children.

To adopt, single adults must be at least 25 years old. Married couples must be at least 10 years older than the child they want to adopt.

At age 18, the state stops recruiting parents for children in foster care, but Neal- Baccus says the children are always hopeful of finding permanent families even though their chance of finding permanent families diminishes the older they get.

“Kids never give up on finding families,” she said. “They all want to belong some-where.”

own.Because there are all types of children

seeking “forever families,” she says all types of adults are needed.

The three families profiled on B4 and B5 show that regular people can adopt. Two of the families are headed by single women and and one is a same-sex couple.

Adopting a child can take from six weeks to 10 months. Adults who want to explore foster care and adoption have to attend the IMPACT adoption preparation program and work with a case worker.

Some adults start out as foster parents before deciding to adopt. Neal-Baccus says

S. Neal-Baccus

For information about these and other children available for adoption, visit www.myturnnow.com.

CrossRoadsNewsAugust 8, 2009 B3

Adoption & FAmily “Kids never give up on finding families. They all want to belong somewhere.”

Adoption & FAmily “Seeing her in distress like that, it just touched my heart. She just wanted someone to hold her.”

Rewards of raising siblings far outnumber the challengesSons make her feel she did right thingBy McKenzie Jackson

When Clariece Morrow ‘s two adopted sons cameto live with her in the late 1990s and earlier 2000s, both were classified with cogni-tive and physical developmental disabilities.

At 18 months old, Roderick was a very sickly, undersized baby, while Matthew, who came from a foster family, could barely speak and had various hygiene problems.

Now, every day the brothers are doing something with their mom, which might surprise people who knew them at an earlier age. They help grow and pick vegetables in the family’s Covington backyard garden, read the Bible, swim and fish at local lakes, camp out in the backyard and play Nintendo Wii.

Morrow says Roderick, 12, and Matthew, 9, are just regular boys and she is happy that she finally succumbed to the urge to adopt that she had fought for nearly a decade. Morrow, a resource co-ordinator and graduate student, adopted Roderick in 1999 from Roots Adoption Agency in Hape-ville.

Morrow said she knew he was her son after their first hour-long meeting at the Roots office.

“When he saw me he just grabbed onto me like a cat and wouldn’t let me go,” she said. “The lady who brought him said, ‘Have you ever seen him, do you know him from somewhere?’”

It took nearly six months to finalize Roderick’s adoption but by the time it became official, Mor-row was well on her way to spoil-ing him. Because of his early life experiences, he had many health issues, including upper body trembles, weak knees and difficul-ties walking.

Morrow, who is a member of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, said she anointed him with oils and took him to the Lord in prayer.

“I said, ‘All the things man said that you are, God says different,’” she said. “ ‘I know that you are go-ing to thrive and that you are going

to be a mighty man of God.’” Today, Roderick goes to the

doctor probably once a year.When Roots contacted Mor-

row in 2003 and asked her to take 3-year-old Matthew as a foster child, he had been with a foster family since his birth.

“He was not able to speak and he did not recognize his own name,” she said. The boy also had not been taught to brush his teeth.

“His teeth were about to fall out of his head. His gums were horrible,” she said. “He has beauti-ful skin, but you couldn’t tell.”

Morrow said Roderick became attached to the idea of having a little brother and that Matthew developed more by watching his older brother’s actions.

The two bonded and Roderick became Matthew’s defender.

“When Matthew would talk no one could understand what he was

saying and kids would ask, ‘What is wrong with your brother?’ He would tell them nothing is wrong,” she said.

Roderick loves to draw and cook and is developing a growing interest in cars and girls. Matthew likes to read the Bible, swim and play sports.

This school year Roderick will be a seventh-grader at Challenge Charter Academy and Matthew is a fourth-grader at Live Oak Elemen-tary School in Covington.

Even though they have linger-ing problems from their life expe-riences, Morrow said her sons are overcoming them.

She doesn’t like to brag, but Morrow says she has helped the boys overcome their deficiencies by being an active mother.

“We do everything together,” she said. “I love them both so much and just want to give them a stable home and family.”

By Jennifer Ffrench Parker

For Terri Newsom, taking home 2-month-old Tiffany in May 2004 was nothing short of divine provi-dence.

For years, Newsom, who had been divorced and single for more than a decade, had pondered adop-tion.

She had no children of her own and she had a two-story, four-bedroom house in Snellville.

“I have always loved children,” said Newsom, who grew up in house full of foster kids and found out in her 20s that she had been adopted at birth.

Growing up, her parents pro-vided a home for more than 20 foster children. At any one time, she said their Indianapolis home had eight to 10 children in it.

After going through train-ing with Roots Adoption Agency, Newsom, who recently went back to her maiden name so that her adopted sons will carry her family name, was looking through photo files of children at the Roots offices when baby Tiffany was brought into the office.

The newborn had just come into state custody because of pa-rental neglect and it fell to Roots, a non-profit agency that specializes in place African American children, to place her in foster care.

A week later, Newsom returned to the office to do more research into the school-aged child she wanted to adopt, and Tiffany was there again.

“She was as cute as can be but she just kept crying and crying,” she recalled this week. “Seeing her in distress like that, it just touched my heart. She just wanted someone to hold her.”

Newsom’s placement counselor suggested she take the baby home.

She did after they took the baby to the doctor and she was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection.

“She came with a few diapers, a couple of outfits and a car seat,” she said.

But help just poured in.Within days, neighbors and

friends had donated two cribs and

enough toys and baby swings to fill a room.

“Everybody was loving on this child,” said Newsom, a trained accountant and a project manager.

Eighteen months later, Newsom almost lost Tiffany when a judge ruled

Jennifer ffrench-Parker / crossroadsnews

Terri Newsom (left), herself an adopted child, and children Isaiah and Tiffany watch as Javontti surfs on the family’s computer.

Clariece Morrow picks tomatoes in her backyard garden with sons Roderick, 12, and Matthew, 9.

Terri Newsom and her kids walk in their Snellville neighborhood.

CrossRoadsNews August 8, 2009B4

Adoption & FAmily “I enjoy watching them grow and develop. I enjoy how they make me feel about myself. I see a legacy in them.”

Rewards of raising siblings far outnumber the challenges Children happy to get papa and daddy

never easy, but Newson says the rewards far outnumber the chal-lenges.

Javontti, who was 6 years old when she got him, was function-ing at a 3-year-old level. Today, he is in special education classes and gets therapy for developmental and other delays.

Morrow says she wishes she had been better prepared for the problems facing him, but they are moving on.

The kids call her Nanna, and sometimes the youngest calls her Mommy, too.

Every day she sees progress in them.

“It’s the best thing I have ever done,” she said. “It’s a rewarding experience to see them grow and flourish and see their confidence grow.”

Jennifer ffrench-Parker / crossroadsnews

Terri Newsom (left), herself an adopted child, and children Isaiah and Tiffany watch as Javontti surfs on the family’s computer.

By McKenzie Jackson

When Todd Johnson and his partner David Johnson adopted Christopher Johnson in 2005, he had the opportunity to decide what names call his new parents.

Todd said his son settled on calling him “Papa” and David “daddy.”

Six months later when Todd and David adopted Gabriel, Todd said Christopher gave his new younger brother the lowdown on what to call his new parents.

“This one over here is ‘Papa’ because he acts more like the dad, and this one here is ‘Daddy’ be-cause he acts more like the mom,” Todd Johnson said with a laugh. “That is how Gabriel got his de-briefing.”

Todd Johnson, an IT profes-sional, described his Decatur family of four as offbeat and not just because two openly gay men adopted two children.

“We are one of those really quirky families that go eat dinner at the dining room table together and talk about what happened during our day,” he said. “We go out on the weekend together and do walks and shop.”

Todd and David, a stay-at-home dad, adopted Christopher, 14, and Gabriel, 11, four and a half years ago through a partnership of Georgia Center for Resources and Support and the state of Maryland’s Division of Family and Children Services.

Todd said before Christopher and Gabriel were adopted offi-cially, the boys were told about the nontraditional family setting.

“Both of them said they didn’t care,” he said.

Todd said adoption is some-thing that he and David had always wanted to do. They first enter-tained the idea in 2003 after see-ing an advertisement for Georgia Mentor, an adoption agency with offices in Decatur and Atlanta.

“We had been together for 15 years and we had lived overseas,” he said. “We had lived in differ-ent states and we had done our wanderlust, so yeah it was time to

build a family.”Todd said they knew that they

wanted to adopt older children.“I didn’t want to go through

diapers,” he said. “I didn’t want to go through sleepless nights. I wanted a child who could articu-late what hurts, and what didn’t feel good. What I didn’t realize is when you go through this process you experience all those things. There were sleepless nights. There were things to deal with.”

The Johnsons adopted Chris-topher, who had been in foster care since age 5, when he was 9 years old. Todd said there was a pe-riod of adjustment for all of them because Christopher, who had previously lived in a group home, was not accustomed to living in a home with so many rules.

“Now we are partners in crime,” he said.

Gabriel, who had been in foster care since he was 18 months old, came to the Johnsons when he was 7. Todd said he and David always knew they would adopt another boy and that Christopher and Gabriel bonded instantly.

“I think they bonded quicker than Gabriel bonded to us,” he said. “They are inseparable, they fight like old women, but you couldn’t imagine them without one another. They can’t imagine themselves without one another.”

The Johnsons also have guard-

Todd and David Johnson adopted Christopher, 14, and Gabriel, 11, four and a half years ago through a partnership of Georgia Center for Resources and Support and the state of Maryland’s Division of Family and Children Services.

ianship over Dalton, who is a senior in high school.

He has been with them since he was 15.

Christopher, a high school freshman this year, dreams of becoming an engineer and likes to play with Legos, loves sports and has sprouted to six feet tall. Ga-briel, a fifth-grader, likes to draw, is outgoing and has never met a stranger. The brothers both have birthdays in this month. Gabriel turns 12 on Aug. 8 and Christopher will be 15 on Aug. 30.

Todd said adopting children has changed his life.

“I can’t imagine it being any different,” he said. “I can’t think of a time before children. I enjoy watching them grow and develop. I enjoy how they make me feel about myself. I see a legacy in them.”

Todd said it’s amazing how kids adopt the mannerisms and person-ality traits of their parents.

“It’s amazing these children are starting to act like me, say things that I say,” he said. “I’m just watch-ing them grow before my eyes.”

Two weeks ago Christopher and Gabriel helped their “poppa” paint the garage from beige to yellow.

“We enjoy doing things to-gether,” Todd said. “Watching them grow and thrive has been one of the most enjoyable parts of this whole process.”

that she should return to her birth parents. But despite all the support and help offered to them, they never got their act together.

In January 2007, Newsom took in Tiffany’s brothers, Isaiah, 7 and Javontti, 6, when the foster family who had them could no longer care for them. She said the state wanted to reunite the three children under one roof and was looking for a family that would take all three.

Instead of losing Tiffany again, Newson opened her home to the boys as well.

Thirteen months later, in February 2008, the court severed parents’ rights of the birth parents. In May this year, Newsom legally adopted all three chil-dren. The children have another sister between Javontti and Tiffany, who was adopted separately.

Melding a new family together is

CrossRoadsNewsAugust 8, 2009 B5

Adoption & FAmily You may want to adopt a person you know. For children under 18, both birth parents must give their consent for this to occur.

Answers to frequently asked questions about the adoption process

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The issueApproximately 250 Georgia children with

special needs are available at any given time to be adopted.

Unfortunately, most of these children are raised in temporary foster homes, where on the average of every 18 months they are moved to a new home and given a new set of parents. These moves entail entering a new physical environment with new rules, new smells, and different ways of doing things and forming new relationships. With each move, they have to sever existing ties.

The toll on the lives of children who are raised this way is great. In addition to being subjected to constant changes and disruptions, these children also are being deprived of the opportunity to form stable and lasting relationships that are essential to emotional security and healthy, productive development.

Besides the emotional trauma caused the child, the cost to the taxpayer of raising a child in foster care is about $8,900 a year.

The fact that the adult prisons and mental hospitals are filled with people who, as chil-dren, did not have stable, nurturing homes indicates that, both to the individual and to society, the long-term cost for un-adopted children can be staggering.

What is adoption?Adoption is a social and legal process that

creates a new family, giving adopted children the same rights and benefits as those born into the family.

Why are they being adopted?At any given time, there are hundreds of

children in permanent state custody of the Georgia Department of Human Resources (DHR) due to unresolved family crises. Most of the children come from difficult situa-tions and live in foster homes. If the child is available for adoption, the parents may have volunteered to give up their parental rights, but usually these rights were terminated by the court system due to abuse, neglect or abandonment. Many of the children are in the adoptive category of Special Needs.

To view a photo and description of chil-dren currently in need of a permanent home please visit www.myturnnow.com

How do you qualify to adopt?If you are single, you must be at least 25

years old and at least 10 years older than the child you wish to adopt. Married couples must be at least 10 years older than the child

they wish to adopt.A family only needs to make enough

money to cover their own living expenses.

Who handles the adoptions?Adoptions of children in state custody are

handled through the county Departments of Family and Children Services (DFCS) or through licensed private adoption agencies.

What is the process to adopt?You will need to have a family assessment,

called a “home study,” done by DFCS or a licensed private adoption agency. This is a chance for the case manager to learn about you and your family, while you learn about the children who need homes. If DFCS per-forms your family evaluation, you will also attend a training program called IMPACT. IMPACT consists of 20 hours of training and home visits by a case manager.

What is the waiting period?The waiting period for a child with Spe-

cial Needs can be as short as 6 to 10 months. Once the child is placed in your home, he or she must live with you for some time be-fore the legal proceedings can begin. A case manager will help you with any questions or problems you have during that time. The adoption usually becomes final after the child has spent about six months in your home.

What does ‘Special Needs’ mean?For the purpose of adoption, the category

of Special Needs includes the following:n African-American children older than one year of agen Three or more brothers and sisters who need to be placed togethern Children age eight and oldern Children with documented physical, emo-tional or mental disabilitiesn Two brothers and/or sisters, one of whom has a special need

Are there fees for adopting?There are no fees for a parent who re-

quests to adopt a child through DHR. In addition, DHR has contracts with certain

private agencies that do not charge fees under the agreement.

However, you will incur fees during the qualification process. These include services such as home-safety inspections and legal fees. If the child is considered Special Needs, up to $2,000 may be reimbursed through financial Adoption Assistance.

How do I know a child is right for me?Once you are selected as a potential adop-

tive parent for a waiting child, you will be provided available information on the child to assist you in making this very important decision. You will be given an opportunity to ask any questions.

If you and the case manager decide to move forward, you will have the opportunity to visit the child several times prior to the child joining your family.

Is financial assistance available?Some assistance is available to help

meet the costs of caring for children with Special Needs. The amount of the assistance depends on the child’s needs. For instance, more money may be available to help pay for medical or psychological services. Some of the children with Special Needs will still be eligible for Medicaid after adoption.

What are the tax credits for adopting a Special Needs child?

On June 7, 2001, as part of the Tax Relief Bill, President George W. Bush signed the Hope for Children Act (H.R. 622, S.148) into law. The law amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase the expenses allowable toward the adoption credit. Effective Janu-ary 2003, the current tax credit increases to $10,160 for Special Needs children and makes the adoption tax credit permanent for all adoptions. Families with a modified adjusted gross income of $150,000 or less are eligible to obtain the full credit. This credit can be spread out over five years.

For more information on the adoption Tax credits, call 1-800-TAX-FORM or 1-800-829-3676. Publication 968 of the Internal Revenue Service also provides information

about teeax benefits for adoption.

What if problems arise?If there are any problems after the adop-

tion becomes final, you can contact your case manager to discuss the situation. The case manager can help the family find resources such as counseling and respite care. Services are designed to support and guide the family as you and your child adjust.

Can birth parents or relatives come and legally take the child?

No. Before a judge terminates parental rights, DFCS looks for any relatives who could take care of the child. Once the adop-tion is finalized, the child becomes a perma-nent member of your family.

Can I seek an adoption through a non-licensed agency?

Adoption through an agency not rec-ognized by DHR is considered unlawful in Georgia. For more information on how an agency becomes licensed or for a listing of licensed agencies, visit the Office of Regula-tory Services at http://ors.dhr.georgia.gov/portal/site/DHR-ORS/

What if I want to adopt a child or an adult child I already know?

In certain situations, you may want to adopt a person you know. For instance, grandparents might want to adopt their grandchild or a stepparent might wish to adopt a stepchild. For children under 18, both birth parents must give their consent for this to occur. To adopt a child who is 18 or older, only the child’s consent is necessary. Both of these complex requests should be handled through an attorney, who will file an adoption petition. Visit the Georgia Bar Association at http://gabar.org/ for a list of attorneys specializing in adoption. You may also go to the Georgia Adoption Resource Center at www.gaadoptionresources.org/ and choose an attorney from their recom-mended list.

How do I get information on a birth family or an adopted person?

The Adoption Reunion Registry assists birth parents, adopted individuals and adoptive parents in obtaining information, conducting family searches and finding support/search groups—in addition to providing counseling and intermediary services. For more information, visit www.ga-adoptionreunion.com/.

The toll on the lives of children who are raised this way is great. In addition to being subjected to constant changes and disruptions, these children also are being deprived of the opportunity to form stable and lasting relationships that are essential to emotional security and healthy,

productive development.

CrossRoadsNews August 8, 2009B6

Sax man inspired by ‘Pink Panther’ theme ‘Idol’ champ to sing winning tunes

Variety of performers to be on Main Stage at Adoption & Family Expo

Adoption & FAmily Zemirah has appeared in True Color Theatre Company’s “The Wiz” and in “Madeline’s Christmas” at the Horizon Theatre.

From hip hop to jazz, perform-ers at the 2009 Adoption & Family Expo will be singing and dancing and entertaining families visiting with adoption and foster agencies and family-friendly business at the Mall at Stonecrest on Aug. 15.

The noon to 5 p.m. expo on the mall’s lower level has much to please adults and children.

Performers like Lithonia-based 3kz, hip hop artist Lil P, dance groups Dare 2 Dance and the Con-servatory of Dance, and jazz violin-ist Delores Major and saxaphonist Gary Harris will be on stage in front of Macy’s throughout the day.

Dare 2 Dance Company, for-merly the All4You Training Center, will be on stage at 1 p.m.

3KZ – sisters Lekel, 16, Kelcee, 14, and Kelis, 12, who have been

rapping together since Kelis was about 3 years old – will strut their stuff at 1:30 p.m.

Major, a classically trained mu-sician, is no stranger to Stonecrest audiences. She has appeared at several CrossRoadsNews expos and is a regular performer at the annual Stompin at the Savoy hosted by the Howey Hudson Lowe Foundation.

She will be on stage at 1:45 p.m. warming up the audience for the 2 p.m. panel of adoption experts and advocates who will discuss how to become foster and adoptive parents and the help and training avail-able to make it easy for interested adults.

The panel will include Shamim Neal-Baccus, statewide recruitment manager for the Adoption Unit of the Georgia DHR Division of Fam-

ily and Children Services; Debbie Sheadel, adoption advocate with My Turn Now; and Suzette Brown, a placement specialist with Roots Adoption Agency and an adoptive parent herself.

Major’s energetic performance melds jazz improvisation with pop, rhythm and blues, rock, gospel, new age and Latin jazz. She has four CDs out, D Stylin’, Shout!, All Is Good and Upclose.

At 2:35 p.m., Zemirah Davis, the 2009 North DeKalb Mall Jr. Idol Winner, will sing two of the songs that helped her defeat 14 other children, ages 8 years to 15 years, for the title and $1,500 grand prize.

She will be followed by Bria Mattox, the 2008 Miss Junior Teen Georgia. Bria, who is from Stone Mountain, will speak on her plat-

form issue of domestic violence, a issue that affects many families.

Lil’ P, who will be performing his new single Mr. Jones, has also been performing since he was 3 years old. His first stage entrance was a print and commercial model for companies like Wal-Mart, Kmart, Fisher Price and The At-lanta Braves.

His recordings include singles “Snap, Krack’l, Pop” and “In Da Hallway” released in 2006. A year later, Lil’ P followed up with “Throw Dem Deuces Up,” “Rock, Bounce, Skate” and “Mr. Jones.” He will perform at 3:15 p.m.

At 3:30 p.m., a panel of adoptive parents will talk about the joys and challenges of building a family with foster and adopted children. Panel-ists include foster parent Angela

Moore, Laverne Amponsah, who adopted her daughter.

Decatur-based Conservatory of Dance has been training kids to dance, everything from tap to mod-ern dance, for the last 14 years. The award-winning dance company will perform at 4 p.m.

Saxaphonist Gary Harris will help bring down the curtain on the 2009 expo at 4:20 p.m.

His performance will be fol-lowed by the grand prize drawing for a four-day, three-night Hotel Package to beautiful Jamaica, good for the Sunset Beach Resort & Spa in Montego Bay or the Sunset Jamaica Grande Resort & Spa in Ocho Rios.

Expo goers who visit 15 or more exhibitors can enter the grand prize drawing.

Gary Harris performed with people like Percy Sledge, Ann Nesby, The Coasters, Mikki Howard and others.

By Jennifer Ffrench Parker

At 11 years old, Zemirah Davis is a seasoned and determined performer and she has a title to prove it.

She auditioned three consecutive years before she made it into DeKalb Elementary School of the Arts where she is studying vocals and acting.

In February, when she walked away with the North DeKalb Mall Jr. Idol title and $1,500 grand prize, it was her third try at that contest too.

“If you keep on trying you can achieve it,” Zemirah said last week.

To win the 2009 Jr. Idol competition, she out-sang 14 boys and girls ages 8 to 15 years, for the title.

On Aug. 15, Zemirah and her deter-mination will be on stage at the 2009 Adoption and Family Expo at the Mall at Stonecrest. At 2:35 p.m., she will on the Main Stage in front of Macy’s on the mall’s lower level.

Zemirah will be belting out the two songs – Patti Labelle’s “There is a winner in you,” and “Good Morning Baltimore” from the movie Hair Spray – that helped her nabbed the Idol title.

Assonda Paul, Zemirah’s mom, said that when two-and-a-half pound Zemirah was born two months early on June 14, 1998, the doctors all agreed she had very strong lungs.

She also had an ear for music, and even as a baby, she “hung out” by the speakers of the family’s home stereo listening to artists such as Maxwell or Lau-ryn Hill.

“At two years old she would she would throw tantrums when her favorite Eryka Badu ‘Didn’t Ya Know’ would come to an end and would demand that it be played again,” Paul said.

Then Zemirah started singing, all the time.By age 5, her mother enrolled her with vocal coach and by age 6, Zemirah

was performing on stage.She has appeared in True Color Theatre Company’s “The Wiz” and in “Mad-

eline’s Christmas” at the Horizon Theatre, and has performed at the Sweet Auburn Festival, the Clayton County Arts Center and the Georgia World Congress Center and the Alliance Theater.

Zemirah, who lives in Lithonia with her parents and three younger siblings, says she sings to make people happy.

How does she know they are happy?“Everyone always seem to have a smile on their face when I am done,” she

said.

By Jennifer Ffrench Parker

DeKalb music lovers are in for a rare treat when saxophonist Gary Harris takes the stage at the 2009 Adoption & Family Expo.

Harris, who has been blowing notes for more than 30 years from Atlanta to Switzerland, doesn’t play much in the county where he lives.

“There are not a lot of places in DeKalb that have live music,” said Har-ris, who lives in Stone Mountain. “It just doesn’t stick and stay.”

Harris fell in love with the sweet sounds of the tenor saxophone as a small boy when he was a student at At-lanta’s E. Rivers Elementary School.

“This guy came out and played the Pink Panther theme music and I said I want to do that,” he recalled last week.

But before he does, he will be per-forming on Aug. 15 at CrossRoadsNews’ 2009 Adoption & Family Expo at the Mall at Stonecrest. He will be on the Main Stage in front of Macy’s on the mall’s lower Level at 4:15 p.m.

Harris’ first musical instrument from his parents was a flute. By age 10, he got his very own saxophone.

Thirty years later, he is maestro of both the alto and tenor sax, but is yet to play the Pink Panther notes.

“I learned to play the ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ and the music of lots of other TV shows, but I never learned to play Pink Panther,” he said with a laugh. “I still need to do that.”

For the last nine years, Harris and his band have been bringing joy to music aficionados every Sunday night at Café 290 on Roswell Road in Sandy Springs and Friday nights at the Sportsline Grill in Smyrna.

Harris’ Café 290 jam sessions attract musi-cians of all stripes, including folks touring with national acts.

“If Roberta Flack comes to town, her bass player comes through,” he said. “We have had saxophonist Kim Waters and Euge Groove. There

Zemirah Davis won North DeKalb Mall’s Jr. Idol contest in February.

is always somebody different passing through.”Harris says he makes his living outside of

DeKalb County because that’s where the op-portunities are.

He has performed with Ann Nesby, Sonny Emory, Percy Sledge, Fred Vigdor, The Coasters, Kipper Jones, Temptations, Mikki Howard, Joey Sommerville, Greg Grainer, Lew Soloff and a host of other artists and opened for Kim Waters, Pieces of a Dream, Bo Diddly, The Gap Band, and others. He also plays at weddings, parties, store grand openings and other special events.

In May 2008, Harris released his first CD “Here and Now.”

He will sign copies of his CDs before and after his performance.

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CrossRoadsNewsAugust 8, 2009 B7

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