A television special, "Home for the Holidays," will feature children who are waiting for families and will air at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 22, on CBS. As the mom to 10 great kids who my husband and I have added to our lives through the adoption of waiting children, I encourage everyone to tune in. In the United States today there are more than 115,000 children who are waiting to be adopted. They have a history of abuse or neglect and are currently "wards of the state" as their birthparents’ rights have been terminated. These kids have no family and long for a place where they know that they belong. Many of them are children of color or in sibling groups. There are families waiting to adopt the younger children, but few are interested in the majority of these children who are over the age of 10. Through my volunteer position as an Adoption Specialist for the Adopt America Network, I am finding myself inundated by the descriptions of teens and pre-teens who flood my e-mail box every day. Their social workers are asking me to find homes for children who, often because of choices others have made for them, remain in foster care for years. These kids have issues, complicated by the fact that they are dealing with the tough job of growing up without the support of a parent or parents who will love them unconditionally. I find these kids haunting my dreams, because I know that the number of individuals who might consider adopting teens are few. More than likely it is because people who do have the courage and the character necessary simply do not know about this need. They do not know that the majority of teens who turn 18 before being adopted end up incarcerated, dead or homeless before they are 30. Any person or couple who knows how to love unconditionally and who has what it takes to make a commitment and stick to it can change the life of one of these kids forever. The requirements are not tough: you can be as young as 21 or even older than 60. You can be married, single, widowed or divorced. You can own your own home or rent. The only qualifications are that you have clear background checks and good references. Because of my passion to find homes for these young people, I have advocated to secure funds to offer NO COST adoption for any families willing to adopt children over the age of 10. Through Permanent Family Resource, which has an office in Luverne, families can be trained, prepared, home-studied and matched with a teen or sibling group free of charge. I would love the opportunity to explain why adopting a teenager is a great idea to anyone who would consider this option. I invite you to call me at my home at (507) 283-4551. On behalf of teenagers without families across our country, Claudia FletcherLuverne