This article appeared in The Central Mass Magazine – September 2007

Adoption Angel

Young Julie Sargent and family give their all for kids who need a permanent home

By Laura Wareck

Adoption runs in the Sargent family, much like red hair or blue eyes does in others. Carle Sargent and his wife Debbie, have 10 children, seven of whom were adopted. Debbie was also adopted as an infant. The Sargents have even founded their own adoption agency, USAdoption Solutions.

Now, their freckled-face 14-yearold daughter Julie has thrown her young heart into helping to find families for half a million children, many of whom have special needs, all of whom need homes. In late July, Julie and Carle sat together in the office of their West Boylston home, trying to describe the uniqueness of living with such a large family, the mission of USAdoption Solutions, and their upcoming second annual cross-country trek in August to raise money and awareness for adoption.

It’s been almost 10 years since the Sargents adopted their first child, and it’s clear they would not trade a second of it. Carle and Debbie already had three girls of their own when they decided to adopt a brother and sister. They now have a family so big their house has been expanded to 11 bedrooms and a movie room that includes 20 seats from a movie theater.

Carle said that while it’s great to help children, most people don’t realize that the families themselves can actually benefit just as much – if not more – from the experience. “It’s the overall feeling you get that you’re making a difference,” he said. “When you give, you get back. And you get so much back.”

Julie, who is beginning her freshmen year at West Boylston High School this fall, was not adopted, but she says having so many brothers and sisters is an experience she feels lucky to a be part of. “There’s always company in a big family,” she said. “It’s a good feeling. …I’m never bored with all these brothers and sisters.”

Julie said that living with seven adopted brothers and sisters also helped her learn more about the world, and to know more backgrounds and experiences. Having such a big family has also become a topic of conversation at school. She said other kids are often fascinated when she tells them she has nine brothers and sisters. “Everyone is like, ‘What!?’ ” Julie said, laughing. “I can open up and tell my whole story, and it’s something everyone should hear about. It has a chain effect.” Julie was inspired by Makenzie Snyder’s Children to Children program, which gives foster kids duffel bags and stuffed animals. Julie wants to help those same children find permanent homes.

USAdoption Solutions

More than 500,000 children are in foster care around the United States, with 120,000 waiting to be adopted. A variety of reputable non-profit agencies work to help families adopt children. Different agencies are better fits for different families, depending on what they are looking for, Carle said. Some agencies work with just foreign children, others with infants. USAdoption Solutions is a private not-for-profit agency, Carle said, and unlike public organizations, it can search the United States to find suitable matches. This has many benefits, Carle said, including the ability to help families find the right child for them.

“It’s almost like a dating service,” Carle said. “You look at a child’s profile, the family’s profile and try to match the strengths and weaknesses.” Three of the kids in the Sargent family came from Connecticut, and four from Texas.

It wasn’t intentional, but it just worked out that way, Carle said. He added that adoption is always all about finding the best match. “We want to create a relationship that works, for the child and the family,” he said.

To accomplish this goal, the Sargents need to raise money, hence the drives across America. The idea for the first family trek was Julie’s. She has also raised thousands by running in the Disney 3K in January and organizing kick-a-thons at her Taekwondo school. “We were already going on vacation, so we threw the two together,” Julie said.

The first trip last summer was to Alaska and back. This summer’s trip was to Montana. Carle said the cross-country fundraisers works out perfectly because the family vacations while raising money and awareness for adoption at the same time. “It’s a win-win,” he said. “Wherever we stop, we try to create a buzz.”

The Sargents’ camper was parked in their driveway at the end of July, already packed and ready to go. It’s large enough to fit the entire family, and the words “Driven to find US Foster kids families” is labeled across the sides. The big family camper really helps promote the cause, Carle said. “It’s huge. You never know who will see it and adopt. It’s not all about raising money.”

Carle said he’ll often come across people who see the camper who have already been thinking about adopting a child. People will sometimes beep. “It’s an eye catcher,” he said. “It can rekindle their interest.” Carle said that one of the main reasons the family enjoys the trip is because it allows them to connect with people across the country who have adopted children, or who were adopted themselves. Julie agreed, and recalled a similar family they met in Minneapolis, with seven adopted children. All the kids met each other and even had breakfast together.

Last year the family traveled 10,000 miles and this year they hoped to reach about 8,000 miles, according to their web site. “It worked out great last year,” Carle said. “We stopped at baseball games, media events. We even got on TV.”

If anything was surprising to the Sargents during the first trip, it was how willing people have been to help, whether it’s been donating money, providing media attention or letting the family stay for free at campgrounds. “Everyone has been super supportive,” Sargent said.

‘A great feeling’

In many ways, Carle Sargent is the ideal candidate to open his own adoption agency. He is in the unique position of having seen the issue from both sides –he has worked at an agency in the past, and of course has adopted seven children of his own. In addition to investing, Carle works on USAdoption Solutions full-time while Debbie is a wedding photographer. “I know the fears, and I know how the system works,” Carle said. “It’s nice because I can really answer questions.

I’m always willing to do that.” Carle recently spoke to a family who wanted to adopt an infant. Although USAdoption Solutions doesn’t place babies, he was able to point them in the right direction. Carle said he enjoys answering questions, especially because there are many misconceptions about adoption. He said it is generally more difficult for children between the ages of 4 and 17 to be adopted. The problem is even more compounded because many of those kids have special needs or have been abused.

Although it is an issue, Carle believes it has to do with a lack of knowledge and attention more than anything else. “It’s not advertised a lot, kids who need homes,” he said, adding it’s not necessary to be a foster family in order to adopt a child. “A lot of people are confused as to know it works. Many people can’t deal with the whole foster thing. … You can go right to adopting.” It doesn’t help, he explained, that most of the time the only adoption stories in the news are negative ones.

“The Lifetime movies scenarios are so rare,” Carle said. “Ninety-five percent of kids are legally free [to be adopted], but the one time where someone messed up, a movie gets made. People get scared, but it’s not like that.”

What many people also don’t realize is how much of a community the adoption world is. “So many people who adopt go back time and time again,” Carle said. “It can be very challenging, but it’s also very rewarding. You get a lot of out if. It’s really cool.” On the trip last year, Julie said she spoke to people who were interested in adoption, lots of times because they were adopted themselves or knew others who were adopted. “Adoption is a great thing,” Julie said. “It’s not based on groups of people. Anyone can adopt. Age doesn’t matter.”

The Sargent family only needs to raise $20,000 more to open its first office in Albany, NY. The goal is to open the agency doors this month. Eventually they hope to open a second location in Worcester. “That way we can serve the whole state,” Carle said. “We can hit everywhere because it’s centrally located.” For more information on the trip, adoption and the Sargents, visit usadoptionsolutions.com.

wareck@centralmassmedia.com