Ok - I learned about this family, THE MURPHY's, while watching TLC (or was is Discovery Health Channel?) the other night. The TV special airs on both TLC & Discovery Health - "Our 27 Kids" is the title. I can not give justice to the work these people have done. I say, "Watch the Show".
The Family:
27 Children Total.
4 biological kids, all average.
23 adopted kids. ALL adoptees have Special Needs (they are mentally &/or medically challenged or in one way or another).
The majority of the adopted children have Down Syndrome, http://www.ndss.org/ . Most these kids have severe medical (heart) conditions attached to them while some of the other children are products of mothers addicted to drugs and others have severe brain damage (one of which was a result of being shaken after birth). The show commented that this family takes in those children that are normally not 'wanted' in the adoptions that take place in the Untied States. (sad, huh?)
The couple that is raising these kids/people is amazing in their own right! This family has more love than any on if can imagine. The children (and some are now adults) in their care have all turned out better than anyone could have hoped for. These people have really allowed them to thrive! They have nursed some very sick kids back to health. The kids are all home schooled. These kids seem to have learned more in this environment than they may have in the school(s) in their area.
Their mother finds tasks for everyone to get involved in, no matter what their ability level is. Everyone participates in activities of daily living at the very least. Some of the higher functioning, older children are mentoring the younger ones with vocabulary, assistance with eating and other tasks.
The family also takes a yearly vacation to the beach - that is a lot of planning & organization with such a large group! And the behavior of all of these guys/gals out as a large group is AWESOME! (I hope, if I ever have children, that I am able to teach children as well as this family has taught theirs!)
This is a link to allow you to see a bit more about them:
http://www.murphyhouseproject.com/
(This link is a donation site that was started to get these guys into a bigger, newer home AND to provide other items to them. The back story/ information is there too)
The Social Worker in me would love to follow their lead.
1 comment:
Great post. Whenever I see people like this I wonder what it is inside of them that allows them to simply "do" without hesitation or concern for how much is involved. Makes me feel very small in the big picture.
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