“Say I got trouble, trouble in my eyes
I’m just looking for another good time
My heart, my heart
Kickstart my heart”
“Kickstart My Heart” — Motley Crue

The fifth track of Motley Crue’s most successful album, “Dr. Feelgood,” “Kickstart My Heart” is a high-energy, fast-paced 1980s hair metal song that really hits on all the things that parents were worried that rock music was glorifying - sex, drugs, and breaking the law.

The song was written as the band was filling out the “Dr. Feelgood” album by bass player Nikki Sixx, and while Sixx has never publicly confirmed it, the long-held rumor is that “Kickstart My Heart” refers to Sixx’s overdose where reportedly he had to be injected with adrenaline to re-start his heart.

The video for the song is set at the famous (or infamous) Whisky a Go Go club, an historic club in West Hollywood located on the Sunset Strip. Whisky a Go Go was actually part of a franchise of similar music clubs across the country, the first of which was opened in Chicago in 1958.

While certainly not comparing it to a shot of adrenaline to the heart, this song came to mind as I was considering this month as National Adoption Month, as my wife and I are blessed to be among those who have decided to kickstart a family through adoption.

National Adoption Month was instituted in 1995 by President Bill Clinton and has been celebrated every year since. This year’s theme is “Honoring Youth: Strengthening Pathways for Lasting Bonds.”

The theme encourages developing support networks for youth in foster care and adoptive care to provide them with personal strength of identity along with family, cultural, and community connections that can last a lifetime.

As of Sept. 30, 2022, nearly 109,000 children were in foster care and eligible for adoption, with teenagers making up 23% of those awaiting adoption.

Unfortunately, the average child in foster care before a permanent home is found is 34.9 months - nearly three years!

Adopting through foster care is how my wife and I were introduced to our children. We’ve been blessed to have tremendous mentors in foster care and in adoption within the Huron community, not to mention family support.

To be clear, while the focus is on providing youth a support system that they can access throughout their life, much like putting on your oxygen mask first in an airplane, it’s hard to build up a child when you’re empty yourself.

My wife and I have leaned on my parents, leaned on friends in the community, and especially took time to learn from those in the Huron area who had experience in adoption and in foster care.

I was able to nominate the Gohn family in Huron with Rep. Dusty Johnson’s office as an “Angel in Adoption” after having the opportunity to experience their trials and successes in their adoption journey while also teaching their children in Sunday School.

Many discuss the challenge that would come from being a foster parent, with a common response I’ve heard often; “It would break my heart to send the kids back.”

The reality is that two-thirds of all children in foster care (roughly 368,500 at the end of 2022) are not on an adoption track, but they need caring and nurturing people to come alongside them while their parents or future guardians work through what needs to happen for the Department of Social Services (DSS) to return the children to their home.

One of the excellent bits of advice we got from a long-time foster parent was that we, as foster parents, were not just working with the children, but we could also provide a point of support for parents and guardians who simply may be overwhelmed.

We’ve been blessed to work with multiple parents during and after their children were in our care to ensure a smooth transition home and a healthy home life upon reunification.

Of the children who were in our home, a significant portion were not removed again once the parents did the work required of DSS to get their children back.

In South Dakota, we are still well behind where we need to be in foster homes available in the state.

Throughout 2023, more than 1,000 children were in foster care in any given month, while there were only 800 licensed foster families anywhere in the state.

That still leaves roughly one-third of all children, who are either eligible for adoption, or are in the process of becoming eligible through parental rights termination.

While adoption at birth is a wonderful thing for those who can do such, there are many children born every day who will need a permanent home.

South Dakota has chosen to support adoptive care through financial supplements and staff assistance for adoptive families.

If you’re willing to open your heart and home to foster children, or you’re interested in potentially adopting a child through the foster system, contact the local DSS office at 605-353-7100.

You can make a dramatic difference for a child who is simply looking for the love of a family.