While eating fruit with my lunch today I realized that my dream home includes an apple tree and a grape vine. My apple tree insight brought to mind one of my favorite movies of all time – Baby Boom. In 1987, Diane Keaton played a driven career woman working in a Manhattan marketing/advertising agency. She dreams of living in the country but doesn’t gather the courage to leave her fast-paced city life until she becomes the guardian of her late cousin’s toddler and her boyfriend walks out on her. She recreates her big city success by developing a baby applesauce recipe using the apples on her land and turning it into a national brand.
During my teenage years I thought I was drawn to this movie because the main character traded city life for country life (which is one my goals, in case I hadn’t mentioned it before). As I became a young entrepreneur, I realized that my self-employment aspirations also connected me to the movie. Today, I realized that foster care, kinship care and adoption are central in Baby Boom. (Yes, a lot of my recent blog posts have been about movies).
Diane Keaton’s character learns that she has received an inheritance from her deceased cousin in Europe whom she hasn’t had contact with in many years. She expects money or property but not a baby. The career woman who until that moment had no desire to have a child of her own is thrust into motherhood. The “Tiger Lady” becomes overwhelmed with the needs of the toddler and her job and relationship begins to suffer. She attempts to put the child up for adoption but has become too attached to her. The former career woman makes the decision to become a full-time mother.
Abuse and neglect are not the only circumstances that result in a child being placed in the foster care system. Unfortunately, not every child who loses their parents is adopted by a loving relative. But just like in the movie Baby Boom, every child awaiting adoption deserves to have a loving, permanent home in the shortest amount of time possible.
Nicki Sanders, MSW, Chief Visionary Officer
The Teen Toolbox provides youth portfolio development and civic engagement and academic enrichment opportunities to help teens set goals for life after high school and create a road map to reach those goals through its PACKAGED FOR SUCCESS™ Programs.