Show It was a simple idea: Create a community where older people would-b- e parents and foster children can find each other WHEN RUFUS arrived at Hope Meadows in Rantoul 111 in 2000 be rarely spoke He never smiled Perhaps he expected this new foster home to be like all the others However Debra and Gregory Morrow had a future planned for him The couple already had two biological children and a third on the way when they moved to Hope Meadows yet drey had ClockwIm from right: OVvta Roberta 8 an adopted child always dreamed of adopting lads in need gama with Qi You're not going anywhere else” Debra playa a board King 72 at the ooim unity reassured Rufus when they first met reoraathM eentar wMlo Tory Hinao a parent looka on Still Rufus at arm's kept everyone length Soon Mary Trotter one of the older citizens at Hope began doing puzzles with Rufus After school he went to the Intergenerational Center to do his homework There were lots of older people there to tutor and read to him It took months but eventually it became apparent to all dim Rufus was so happy that he’d rather talk than eat Hope Meadows is a unique main in the system for a long time" says Eheart “When they can’t find any- body who wants these kids we get the call” Her program called Generations Brands Krauaa Piaart founder of Nona Maadowac and Dabra Morrow with her adopted eon flrantk whoao Ufa changed whan ho moved there of Hope helps parents by offering fam- ily therapy tutoring and respite care (provided by the older volunteers) Today 11 femilies —some with a single parent some married couples — have accepted one or more children into their homes in the commu- nity Altogether there are 47 children (foster biological and adopted) and 56 older citizens muhigeneratiooal place where parents kids and the elderly' Jive interdependent lives It was the brainstorm of Brenda Hope Meadows I marveled at its normalcy: Carefree kids skate- Krause Eheart a University boarded and hiked Driving of Dlinois professor of sociology When Eheart learned in the early 1990s that 33 of foster children never return to their families (the percentage has decreased since then) and are not adopted she decided she had to do something about it Eheart recognized that children who never have a home often are destined to be rootless maladjusted adults She herself had grown up m a tiny town where people of all ages cared about each other thought 'What would! want if it were my child?' ” she says Eheart 's inspired idea was to replicate the spirit of her hometown What hap-- give the children living here a childhood a sense "We through down the street Elderly people waved But I learned that virtually every house I passed had a story rtf transfor- mation Like Rufus most of die children who came to Hope Meadows and experienced stability and connection to a community fer the first time went through dramatarrived ic changes One ofpermanence" pened exceeded her Wildest dreams S In 1 994 after 2000 calls and a fiu to the White House Eheart receivsd permission tobuy part of adeoranmisskmedAk Force base in Rantoul She named the attractive homiesat reduced rents She also advertisedfor femilies who would take in foster kids with the goal of providing adoptive homes Then she contacted the Illinois Department of Chil- - drenand Family Services andrequesfed ' set abcxdplacmg newspaper ads for old- kids—those who were er people willing to work as volunteers ' oldet moretroubled orm sibling groups withftarechikinminexdiangEfcrioonty ‘‘They’re the ones most likely to re hard-to-pla- B Y L O U A N N un-abl- hold a pencil and not knowing his cobra Within a few years he moved from special education to regularclass- es One girl came from neighborhoods continued ’ W A nm LIE mlv 7 tees muum R |