by Gregory C. Benoit
Robbie Addiss was born in 1989 weighing two pounds and hopelessly addicted to drugs and alcohol. His brain was
hemorrhaging severely, causing him to suffer seizures. The staff at the New York City hospital did not create a
chart or bother with the usual paperwork, because this tiny baby would not survive through the night.
Three months later, the boy was still addicted, still having seizures--and still alive. He could no longer remain at the hospital, but his mother was in no condition to take him. She'd been using crack, heroine, alcohol, and other drugs while pregnant--and this was the fifth such pregnancy for her.
Little Robbie, consequently, was born already addicted to all his mother's habits. He needed methadone, heroine, crack, and alcohol the moment he took his first breath. He was what is commonly called a drug baby.
Drug babies are not the sort of children most people want to raise, and finding a home for Robbie did not seem very likely. But a nurse at the hospital knew a couple who had a special heart for such unwanted kids, and she contacted Bill and Carol Addiss.
Foster Caring
Bill and Carol already had three children at home: Maria, age 7, whom they had adopted from Colombia; David, age 6, their own natural son; and Beth, age 4, also adopted from Colombia. The couple had lost six babies of their own, but the Lord finally blessed them with their own son as they began the adoption process.
Their exposure to the tragedy of unwanted children, coupled with the struggles they'd endured to have one of their own, left the Addisses with a deep desire to minister to these little outcasts--to "want the unwanted." So they began taking in foster children through the New York City Children's Aid Society.
"We were earmarked as a 'mixed family' because of our Spanish kids, so we were allowed to take in black kids," Carol explains. "This was definitely the Lord’s leading, because those were the homes most desperately needed."
So the Addisses agreed to take home little Baby Robinson, as the hospital christened him, to provide him with a foster family until someone chose to adopt him. "He was very sick. We walked the floor with him for a solid year." Robbie began slowly to gain weight and strength, and for the first year his very life was never guaranteed. "He needed holding as much as any medication." Bill points to his shoulder: "Robbie lived basically right here."
During that first year, Robbie needed to be held nearly 24 hours a day, which meant that the entire Addiss household centered around little Robbie. Bill would go to bed until 2:00 am, then he'd hold the baby while Carol slept. At 4:30 he'd head for work and she’d take over walking him up and down until the kids left for school. "If he lay down and slept for two hours we were ecstatic. That didn't happen often." But after the first year this intensive care paid off, as Robbie began to stabilize and grow, and gradually he became a very happy baby.
Adopting Change
In 1991 Bill's job changed and he was transferred to Atlanta, GA. This forced the family to recognize that, as a foster child, they could not keep Robbie forever. They talked and prayed together to decide what to do, but they didn't have to talk long: the decision was unanimous to adopt him.
They spent the next year or so settling in to their new home and finding Robbie the doctors and assistance that he needed. They decided not to take in any foster children during this time, but they had not been in Georgia long before the state children's services agencies began calling them, begging them to take drug babies as foster children.
The family found it difficult to say no, and soon began again taking care of babies and young children. One of these was Shamica, a little girl with her own tragic story. But, as with Robbie, her story is no longer a tragedy, as Bill and Carol adopted her in February, 2000. "Shamica and Robbie are best buddies--they look out for each other. They're inseparable."
Today Robbie is 12 and Shamica is 6. They have both grown into happy children, though Robbie continues to pay the price of his mother's addictions. He suffers from seizures, inexplicable fits of rage, Tourette's Syndrome, chronic asthma, and a host of other serious maladies. He will often wake in the middle of the night trembling with fear. As Carol comforts him he will look up and ask, "Mommy, what’s wrong with me?" Then, as the fit passes, he'll add, "Sing me the Sunday school songs that make me feel so much better."
"Robbie is one of the most compassionate children we've ever met. He'll meet someone in a wheelchair and he'll go up and hold their hand and say 'I hope you feel better soon.' Bill was at the hospital recently and Robbie saw an elderly woman walking down the hall. He went up to her and took her elbow and said 'May I help you to your car?' He instinctively reaches out to anyone in pain."
Others Besides
The Addisses have taken in some 60 drug babies and youngsters since 1983, not counting the two they adopted. "These are the kids nobody wants. But we know that the Lord wants them--and so do we.
"This is a ministry--we're doing it for the Lord. That's all that has kept our sanity at some times, but mostly these kids have been as much of a blessing to us as we’ve been to them. We’ve also been very blessed having our two home assemblies embrace and support us--they've been a big part of the ministry."
While exact statistics are not available, Carol and Bill estimate that there are hundreds of such youngsters in need of foster homes in Atlanta alone. "It takes four to six months to become a foster family, and it's very emotional work. A couple need to both be enthusiastic before committing to such an undertaking, as do their own children." Is it worth it? "You bet it is! Just take that kid home and love him. It’s all the Lord asks."