Transcripts

text | pdf |

---

SPEAKER: I'm going to tell you something.

SPEAKER: My life is changing. And it's not great.

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR: Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech.

SPEAKER: Will the next one--

SPEAKER: It still looks like a war zone here. It looks like ground zero.

SPEAKER: Will the next round hit my husband, hit my soldier?

SPEAKER: Does he have a crush on me?

SPEAKER: No.

SPEAKER: Figures.

SPEAKER: I just believe I'll die for my cause.

SPEAKER: Hearing is seeing.

STEPHEN SMITH: From American Public Media, this is an American RadioWorks documentary.

AMANDA: Each year that goes by, it's more and more of a reminder that I don't have a permanent family.

STEPHEN SMITH: Amanda and her brother Chris are looking for parents.

CHRIS: We're up for bid, kind of.

AMANDA: Like a puppy in a free box.

STEPHEN SMITH: But Chris and Amanda are teenagers. Most families want younger kids.

MICHELLE CHALMERS: Usually after about age ten, folks start saying unadoptable, and I just don't believe that.

STEPHEN SMITH: Most teenagers in foster care never get adopted. They turn 18 and the state cuts them off. They're on their own.

MARK COURTNEY: If I had a friend who was a parent who behaved that way toward their 18-year-old, I would be horrified.

STEPHEN SMITH: In the next hour, Wanted-- Parents. First, this news.

CRAIG WINDHAM: From NPR News in Washington, I'm Craig Windham. Thousands of lawyers took to the streets of Lahore, Pakistan, today and clashed with police during a demonstration to protest the declaration of emergency rule by the country's president, Pervez Musharraf.

[SHOUTING]

The BBC's Barbara Plett says hundreds of the lawyers were arrested.

BARBARA PLETT: Police were out in full force to crush them, beating them back with batons and arresting them in dozens. The judiciary has been a target of the emergency measures. General Musharraf blamed hostile Supreme Court judges for paralyzing the government and sacked them. Some are under house arrest. All this happened just days before they were set to rule on whether his presidency was legal. The deposed chief justice has issued a strongly worded statement urging lawyers to continue their struggle.

CRAIG WINDHAM: The BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is expressing concern and dismay over the situation in Pakistan. President Bush is expected to make his first public comments on the matter this afternoon.

Emergency workers and relief groups are scrambling to get food and drinking water to hundreds of thousands of people in Mexico who've been forced to flee their homes by widespread flooding along the country's Gulf Coast. Authorities say at least 20,000 people are still stranded on rooftops, awaiting rescue. Michael O'Boyle reports from Mexico City.

MICHAEL O'BOYLE: In Tabasco's sunken capital of Villahermosa, residents went searching for supplies by canoe. Others were looking for evacuated family members. Hundreds of thousands have been camped out on their roofs since last week, when the worst floods in 50 years hit the area. 3/4 of the state has been affected. Some shopping centers were looted over the weekend, and isolated fights over food and water were reported.

The mayor of Villahermosa has compared the destruction to Hurricane Katrina's impact on New Orleans. Much of this city is also below sea level and will have to be pumped dry. President Felipe Calderón toured the area for a third time Sunday, saying it was one of the worst natural catastrophes in Mexico's history. For NPR News, I'm Michael O'Boyle in Mexico City.

CRAIG WINDHAM: Hollywood writers are walking picket lines outside film and TV studios after going on strike early this morning. Film producer David Dobkin, whose movies include The Wedding Crashers, says there should be a way to settle the dispute.

DAVID DOBKIN: I think it's all one side of the street. It's just about people cutting up the pie properly so that everybody gets the benefit from their work, you know. And unfortunately, it's always been a hard road for writers, and it's a hard time also for the business. But there's always a compromise.

CRAIG WINDHAM: But it may take some time to reach that compromise. Last-minute contract talks with the federal mediator collapsed last night. And outside Rockefeller Center in New York City, where NBC is headquartered, picketers are marching next to a giant inflated rat.

On Wall Street at this hour, the Dow Industrials are down 54 points at 13,540. The NASDAQ Composite is off 15. The S&P 500 is down 7. This is NPR News from Washington.

SPEAKER: Support for news comes from PBS. Airing tonight, Antiques Roadshow and American Masters featuring Carol Burnett, starting at 8:00/7:00 Central on PBS.

STEVEN JOHN: From Minnesota Public Radio News, I'm Steven John. Minneapolis police have arrested a suspect in the September killing of a bicyclist. The 23-year-old is in jail pending charges related to the death of 41-year-old Mark Loesch. The father of four was found dying in South Minneapolis on the morning of September 13, after leaving his home on a bike ride the night before.

The pilots' union and Northwest Airlines is getting ready for a merger as the heads of Northwest and Delta recently said consolidation in the industry is likely. Minnesota Public Radio's Martin Moylan reports.

MARTIN MOYLAN: The union recently created a quarter million dollar fund to deal with merger issues. The move followed a spike in speculation about a possible merger of Northwest and Delta Airlines. Union spokesman Wade Blaufuss says labor could block any merger plan, or it could throw its support behind one.

WADE BLAUFUSS: Make the merger a positive for those employees. And now that we have all been through the bankruptcy meat grinder, and we've lost so much pay and benefits, one way to do that would be to make us whole again. Keep everybody's jobs safe. And I think if that were to occur, that you'd see a possible much higher positive response from the employees, and cooperation.

MARTIN MOYLAN: Combining labor forces is one of the most difficult jobs airlines take on when they merge, and can lead to years of acrimony. Martin Moylan, Minnesota Public Radio News, St. Paul.

STEVEN JOHN: Hamline University is investigating after six football players wore blackface and dressed as African tribesmen during an off-campus Halloween party. The players were not suspended from school, but will not be able to play the rest of the football season.

A partly to mostly cloudy afternoon across Minnesota. Breezy wind advisory up for much of south, central, and northeastern areas. A gale warning for much of Lake Superior. Maybe some light snow in the north. This is Minnesota Public Radio News.

SPEAKER: All right. Thanks, Steven. Six minutes past 12:00.

STEPHEN SMITH: It's a bright fall day in a little town in Minnesota. A dozen people come down the steps of the courthouse. They're laughing and hugging each other. People passing by might guess there's been a wedding, but it was an adoption. A 16-year-old girl was just adopted-- the girl in the army cap, the one holding a little bunch of flowers and grinning. She poses for photos with her new mom and dad, and her new sister and brothers.

The parents have only known this girl for a year. During the court hearing, they told the judge they understand what they're getting into. They said they were happy. But the joy is bittersweet. The girl has found a family, but they wish she had never had to look for one. The mother who gave birth to her wouldn't take care of her. The foster homes she bounced through wouldn't keep her. So at 16 years old, she has to forge a new family. She has to make parents of strangers.

SHANNON: Are you hungry?

STEPHEN SMITH: The family drives off to brunch, and from there, to the rest of their lives together. From here on out, anything could happen.

[GENTLE MUSIC]

From American Public Media, this is an American RadioWorks documentary. I'm Stephen Smith.

This was a rare day. Teenagers don't get adopted very often. Foster kids who don't get adopted before they turn 18 face a grim future. Often they wind up on the streets. They get too old to stay in foster care, and they have nowhere to go. So there's a growing national movement to try to find permanent homes for kids, even when they're on the brink of adulthood.

Producers Ellen Guettler and Catherine Winter have been following a pair of teenagers for more than a year. They're a brother and sister, Chris and Amanda. They're looking for parents to adopt them. They want to be together. But time is running out as Chris's 18th birthday approaches. Their story shows how challenging adopting teenagers can be. Over the coming hour, Catherine Winter tells the story of Chris and Amanda.

[CHATTER]

CATHERINE WINTER: It's a spring afternoon, and school's out for the day. Chris and Amanda are at the pizza pub in a little town in Central Minnesota.

CHRIS: I will get breaded chicken strips.

CATHERINE WINTER: Chris is 16 and Amanda's 15. They're out with Jen Braun. She's an adoption recruiter. She's trying to help them find a family willing to adopt them. Today, she's brought them a draft of a brochure she made, kind of an ad for Chris and Amanda.

JEN BRAUN: So what I did is I just put some stuff in here about you two, you wonderful, wonderful kids.

CHRIS: God bless you.

JEN BRAUN: Read it out loud, please, and then we can make changes as we go.

CHRIS: OK. "Chris is a friendly, talkative guy with a great sense of humor. He likes to hang out with his many friends and play sports of all kinds."

AMANDA: "Amanda is a bright, insightful teen who absolutely loves writing poetry and participating in debate and speech at school. She's hilarious. She won an award at a talent show for her standup comedy act."

CATHERINE WINTER: The brochure also says Chris and Amanda want to be together, and that they'd like to have a dog. Once the kids approve it, Jen Braun will make copies of the brochure for people who are looking into adoption.

JEN BRAUN: What do you think of the brochure?

AMANDA: It's cool.

CHRIS: I'm loving it.

JEN BRAUN: Really?

AMANDA: I don't like that picture.

JEN BRAUN: I can take that picture out.

CHRIS: I like that picture, so keep it in.

JEN BRAUN: So one likes it and one doesn't?

AMANDA: No, it's fine. It's fine. I'm just-- I like it.

CATHERINE WINTER: Chris and Amanda are horsing around at the table. Chris blows on his sister with his straw and swipes her copy of the brochure.

AMANDA: Give me my brochure.

CATHERINE WINTER: The brochure shows two dark-haired teenagers. Chris is short and muscular. Amanda has a round face. She's got braces and piercings all the way up her ears. Chris and Amanda have been looking for parents for years. They've been in foster care since they were 10 and 11.

AMANDA: We were pretty much abandoned by our mom. She was a truck driver, and she'd come back every weekend. And then once in a while, every two weeks, every other week. And then once a month. And then one day it was just not at all.

CATHERINE WINTER: Their mom's boyfriend took Chris and Amanda to their grandmother. They love their grandma, but she has diabetes and MS and uses a wheelchair. She couldn't keep them, so they went into foster care. They say for a long time, all they had was each other. They live in separate foster homes now, but they still have lunch together every day at school. Jen Braun is trying to find them a home where they can be together. She's looking for a permanent home for them, because most kids can't stay with their foster parents after they turn 18.

JEN BRAUN: If you turn 18 here and you age out of foster care, if you need help with rent or groceries, is there someone you can fall back on?

CHRIS: No.

AMANDA: No!

CHRIS: Take a million dollar loan out, I'll be good for a couple of years.

JEN BRAUN: So my point is--

AMANDA: Like they'd really give that to you.

JEN BRAUN: My point is, and just what I want you to think about is if you had an adoptive family, that those would be folks you could fall back on.

CATHERINE WINTER: Chris and Amanda say they're not worried about turning 18 and losing their foster homes. They say they'll just live together. Chris says they'll have a house with a pool and underwater tunnels.

AMANDA: I want a small, organized house, and he wants a pimped-out house. OK.

CHRIS: I'm going to get a go-kart track in my house instead of stairs.

AMANDA: And what are you going to be doing, Chris?

CHRIS: I don't know. Playing the computer.

AMANDA: To earn your go-kart track and your underwater tunnel?

CHRIS: I'm going to be a lawyer.

AMANDA: [LAUGHS]

CHRIS: I am.

CATHERINE WINTER: Chris and Amanda help Jen Braun with their brochure, but not very much. Today they're not so psyched about the adoption thing. They go back and forth about it. They're a little gun shy. They haven't had great experiences with parents, like their mom and their stepfather and their first foster parents.

AMANDA: Well, it's hard after going through what we've gone through, and then thinking that there's somebody else who can change your mind about the whole thing of parenting, that you set your standards pretty high after that. After your heart's broken once or twice, it's pretty hard to want to go in a family a third time.

CATHERINE WINTER: Three years ago a woman wanted to adopt them, and Amanda was tempted, but Chris wasn't so sure.

AMANDA: Obviously Chris seen something I didn't. I looked at the fact of somebody actually wanting to adopt me, and Chris looked at the big picture of, well, can she handle it? Can she handle us? Can she give us love? Can she give us good care and stuff?

CHRIS: Because she took us to Twins games and Wild Mountain and all these places you don't go very many times in a summer, you know. And I felt like she wanted it too bad to look at it and see if she was ready for it.

AMANDA: But I was actually really excited, because by that time, we were so close/ and I thought she was the-- she reminded me of my mom. But only flawless compared to her. The way she talked, she had a little Southern drawl, like my mom did. Her jokes. We started to set everything up, and I'm like, yeah. And I wanted to, like-- let's go. I was like, OK, let's do it tomorrow. [CHUCKLES]

CATHERINE WINTER: Amanda was 12 and Chris was 13. They had to make a decision that would affect the rest of their lives. Chris said no, but Amanda said yes. She moved in with the woman who reminded her of her mother. Amanda blames herself for what happened next. She says she behaved badly. She was defiant and mouthy. She stole money from the woman's purse. Maybe she was testing her new mom. If she was, the woman failed the test.

AMANDA: So I went with her for-- I think it was three months that I was living with her. And then things started to fall apart. And we went down for family therapy together. [SOBS] And then she left. And the last I seen her was when she was leaving the driveway. I wanted to try to work it out. She didn't. I watched her drive away.

[GENTLE ACOUSTIC MUSIC]

CATHERINE WINTER: The adoption that fell through was three years ago. It was before the kids started working with Jen Braun, their adoption recruiter. Jen wants to make sure they don't get rejected again. She's trying to find a family that will agree to stick with them, no matter how they behave.

JEN BRAUN: The families that we work with, we want to make sure that they understand that you can't give these kids back. If that teen does something dumb that they wind up in JDC, if they start using chemicals, and wind up in CD treatment, then you're a family with a kid who's in CD treatment. That doesn't mean that you get to walk away and give them back to the system.

CATHERINE WINTER: Jen Braun says there are families that will promise to keep a kid forever, even if that means they might wind up visiting their child in lockup. The project she works for has been around for four years, and it's placed 30 teenagers in permanent homes. That's a third of the kids they're working with. It's called the Homecoming Project. It got a federal grant to try to prove that you can find people willing to adopt teenagers. Jen Braun is constantly looking for more families.

JEN BRAUN: I ask my dentist. I ask people at the checkout line. Almost everyone I meet, I'm asking them, might you be interested in adopting a teenager?

CATHERINE WINTER: Jen Braun has to sell the idea of adopting teenagers to social workers, too. Until quite recently, kids over 12 were largely assumed to be unadoptable. Jen Braun says she recently went to talk to a teenager in a group home about adoption. One of the workers there said to her, he's 17. Why bother?

JEN BRAUN: That makes me so angry. And I said to her, well, let me ask you something. Do you still have family that you talk to and see, even if it's not regularly, several times a year? Is there someone that you can call in your family, if you have a problem, or someone that you need to bounce an idea off of? Well, sure. Yeah. So you say to me, he's 17. Why bother? And I say to you, because he is only 17. He's got a lot of life left.

CATHERINE WINTER: Jen Braun says she has to persuade the teenagers that they should bother, too. A lot of kids are reluctant to be adopted. Jen Braun says many kids are attached to their foster families. They're scared to start over with a new family.

JEN BRAUN: I had a kid explain it to me once as, it's like you won a dollar. Do you trade that in and try to win the $100 ticket?

CATHERINE WINTER: In fact, Chris and Amanda have rejected two families she found for them. The kids said the parents didn't seem like they'd have enough time for them. Jen Braun tells them it's OK to say no. She'll keep looking. She gets Chris and Amanda to do a TV spot. A local station does regular profiles of kids who are looking for homes. To liven things up, the station tapes them shooting hoops with a famous basketball player.

SPEAKER: These kids still hope to find a family.

CHRIS: Yes, because we need somewhere to feel secure and to have someone to talk to, and not worrying about moving. And they'll always be there for us.

SPEAKER If you would like to adopt Amanda and Chris, or any of Minnesota's waiting children, please call 612--

CATHERINE WINTER: Chris and Amanda also talk to groups of prospective parents. The people at the Homecoming Project keep a video of their presentation.

MICHELLE CHALMERS: Even if you're sitting here tonight thinking, oh, I'm so excited for the bouncing baby who's going to be joining my family, I would really encourage you to take some time to take a look at the information on some of our older kids. And without further ado, I would like to introduce Chris and Amanda.

CATHERINE WINTER: Chris urges the group to adopt teenagers, because older kids don't need to be potty trained.

[LAUGHTER]

Amanda says teenagers aren't much trouble. They'll just hang out in their rooms and listen to music.

[GENTLE ACOUSTIC MUSIC]

The push to find adoptive homes for teenagers is partly fueled by some new research. Studies show that kids who don't have permanent families face grim futures. When the state stops paying for their foster care, they have to leave. Some young people return to the very families they were taken from to begin with-- the people who abused and neglected them. Some wind up on the street. It's called aging out of foster care. 24,000 kids in the United States age out of foster care every year. In most states, they age out when they turn 18.

MARK COURTNEY: Normal parents do not wash their hands of responsibility for their children at the age of 18.

CATHERINE WINTER: Mark Courtney is a professor at the University of Washington. He studies kids who age out of foster care, and he says on average, they don't do very well. The young women are twice as likely as their peers to get pregnant. The young men are more likely to go to jail than to go to college.

MARK COURTNEY: Bottom line is that compared to their peers at 19 or so, between 19 and 20, these young people are less likely to be enrolled in school, more likely to have been physically victimized, just generally less well-off than other young people during the transition to adulthood.

CATHERINE WINTER: Mark Courtney found that within a year of aging out, one in seven young people had been homeless. He points out that these days, most Americans get support from their parents until well into their 20s, and many still live at home. He says the state is supposed to be the parent for foster children, and parents don't cut kids off when they turn 18.

MARK COURTNEY: If I had a friend-- I'm a parent. If I had a friend who was a parent who behaved that way toward their 18-year-old, I would be horrified. And I would tell my friend that I was horrified.

[VEHICLE RUMBLING]

CATHERINE WINTER: On a spring day, Jen Braun gives Amanda a ride to her foster home. Amanda and her brother Chris live in separate foster homes. His is in town. Hers is in the country.

JEN BRAUN: So how have things been going this last month, Amanda?

AMANDA: Good. I'm planning on getting a job this summer. So I'll either make ice cream Blizzards, stock shelves, or give people greasy hamburgers. [CHUCKLES] I don't know which one. They're all tempting. [LAUGHS]

CATHERINE WINTER: They drive past a farm and turn down a dirt road into the woods. The little house is in a clearing, with a swing set and a dog kennel. Inside, Amanda's foster parents, Brenda and Tom Engh, are getting ready to go to a school concert with their daughters. The girls are 11 and 13. All four of the Enghs say they adore Amanda. Brenda and Tom say they've gotten attached in their three years together.

BRENDA ENGH: She's just a joy. She's just a great person.

TOM ENGH: She's funny. She fits in perfectly. Or we all fit in with her life, I guess, perfectly together. She likes to travel. We like to travel and camp and fish and do things together. And she enjoys those kind of things, and we just have a great time all the time as a family, so.

AMANDA: Not to say I don't have my days.

TOM ENGH: Oh, we all do, don't we?

BRENDA ENGH: And we have our days, so that's-- when Amanda first came to us-- do you mind if I talk about it now?

AMANDA: Please. [LAUGHS]

BRENDA ENGH: She was a very different kid, and she had issues with cutting and stealing and all kinds of unpleasant behaviors. And we had nothing to do with-- Amanda has done all the hard work. My opinion is when she accepted the Lord. And it was like a complete change. You know, she's a great kid.

CATHERINE WINTER: The Enghs have had hundreds of foster kids, some for a few days, some for months or years, like Amanda. But Amanda is the first foster child they've thought about adopting.

BRENDA ENGH: Honestly, we've loved all the kids that we've had. It's just she's really been a really neat part of our family.

TOM ENGH: And in the past, most of the kids that we've had, they weren't really up for adoption. Because I think if we go back about three or four years, the teenage kids didn't really get adopted out.

BRENDA ENGH: It wasn't, I don't think-- I don't think ever was even asked.

CATHERINE WINTER: The push for teen adoption is still new, and there are laws that discourage foster families from adoption. If the Enghs adopt Amanda, they can get some help from the state for her care, but it'll be less than half the money they're getting now.

TOM ENGH: [SIGHS] Well, we have talked about this in length. Yeah, we have thought about adopting. But we're committed to foster care, and we don't know. We're praying about it. And right now, I think Amanda working with her family counselors, individual counselors, it seems that right now that's the best fit for her in her life at this time.

CATHERINE WINTER: So the Enghs aren't going to adopt Amanda. If another family comes forward willing to take her and she wants to go, they'll let her go. If not, when she turns 18, she'll have to leave.

[GENTLE MUSIC]

In early summer, Chris runs away from his foster family. The first time we met Chris, he told us he had anger issues. He was laughing when he said it, but his temper gets him in trouble. Once, he smashed the window of his foster brother's car. When he got out of lockup for doing that, his foster family took him back. They've stuck by him through a lot of unpleasant behavior. He says he loves them, and he believes they love him. But sometimes he and his foster mom get in angry arguments, and sometimes he runs away.

[DOOR CLOSES]

This time, when he comes back, he has a meeting with all the adults who make decisions about him-- his foster mom, his social worker, his therapist, his court-appointed guardian, Jen Braun from the Homecoming Project.

MARY RINDEN: We're going to go ahead and start our staffing.

CATHERINE WINTER: Chris's case manager is Mary Rinden. She goes over Chris's treatment plan with him.

MARY RINDEN: Would you read objective number two? It's very short, right in the middle there.

CHRIS: "Chris will remain in placement without running when angry."

MARY RINDEN: I don't want you to be sleeping anywhere but where we know you are safe, cared for. Now, is that a doable goal?

CHRIS: Yeah.

MARY RINDEN: OK. So that means the next time you get mad, what are you going to do?

CHRIS: Um, talk to Margie about it. Or Steven.

MARY RINDEN: Yes.

CATHERINE WINTER: Margie and Steven are Chris's foster parents. Margie tells Chris she worries about him when he runs. She can't sleep. The group has Chris sign an agreement not to run for the next 30 days.

CHRIS: Am I done?

MARY RINDEN: You are done, Chris. Thank you.

CHRIS: Bye, everyone. Thanks for coming.

MARY RINDEN: Bye.

CHRIS: See you later.

CATHERINE WINTER: After Chris leaves the meeting, the adults discuss what to do with him. Jen Braun tells the group that a woman is interested in adopting him and Amanda. Chris's case manager, Mary Rinden, isn't sure that's a good idea.

MARY RINDEN: I really don't know that for him to look at the adoption track is best for his mental health. I'll be honest, I just don't. I think he's got so many struggles, and he's struggling to maintain a long relationship with Steve and Margie. I mean, four years.

JEN BRAUN: My concern with Chris is where is he going to be when he emancipates from the foster care system?

CATHERINE WINTER: Jen Braun says if Chris isn't adopted, he'll have nowhere to go when he turns 18.

JEN BRAUN: What's he going to do? He's a year and a half away from that. Less.

CATHERINE WINTER: Mary Rinden responds that she's sure his foster family would let Chris come home for Christmas and Easter. Jen asks, what's he supposed to do the rest of the year?

JEN BRAUN: And where will he move?

MARY RINDEN: Mm-hmm. And I get all that. And I think the thing that we have to-- and I know we all care about is finding a match so that if they're going to be adopted, that it's successful. That it's a permanent-- that it doesn't disrupt.

CATHERINE WINTER: This is a concern that Jen Braun hears often. People worry that kids will get hurt if they move into an adoptive home and it doesn't work out. It's too much disruption, they say. But advocates for teen adoption argue that if a kid like Chris isn't placed for adoption, he faces certain disruption. His foster family won't keep him after he ages out. An adoptive family might. Jen Braun doesn't buy the argument that adoption is too risky.

JEN BRAUN: For most of these kids that we work with, the worst day of their life has already happened. So what are we protecting them from?

CATHERINE WINTER: And then it turns out that the bond between Chris and his foster parents isn't that strong. Soon after he comes back from running away, Chris does something at his foster home. He won't talk to us about it, but it's something so serious that the foster family sends him away.

He has to go to a locked treatment center. He sends them a letter saying he's sorry, but they never write back. They won't be having him to visit at Christmas and Easter. They won't talk to him at all. His chance of finding an adoptive family seems slimmer than ever, and now he doesn't even have a foster family.

[MELANCHOLY MUSIC]

STEPHEN SMITH: This is Stephen Smith. You're listening to an American RadioWorks documentary. To learn more about teen adoption, and to see pictures of Chris and Amanda, visit our website, americanradioworks.org. Our program continues in just a moment, from American Public Media.

[GENTLE MUSIC]

SPEAKER: Invitation to join us. Extended midday program today at 1 o'clock. Catherine Winter will be hosting a discussion in the UBS Forum. Many guests on hand to share their perspectives on this issue of teenage adoption. And we'll also be opening the phone lines so that you can call in your questions and comments as well. Should be a very, very interesting discussion. And that'll be coming up 1 o'clock this afternoon.

STEPHEN SMITH: You're listening to an American RadioWorks documentary. I'm Stephen Smith. In this hour, we're following the story of Chris and Amanda, two teenagers looking for someone to adopt them. Adoptions of foster children have been rising over the past decade. That's partly because of a change in federal law.

A decade ago, a lot of kids spent years in foster care while authorities tried again and again to reunite them with their biological families. In 1997, Congress called on states to cut off parents' rights faster, and move more kids to adoptive homes. More kids are getting adopted today. But most of them aren't teenagers. Nationally, only about a tenth of the foster kids who find adoptive homes are teenagers.

So the odds are against Chris and Amanda, and time is running out. Chris will be 18 in a year and a half. If he hasn't been adopted before he ages out of foster care, he'll have nowhere to go. Catherine Winter continues our story.

CATHERINE WINTER: On a summer day, adoption recruiter Jen Braun drives out from Minneapolis to the little town where Amanda lives. She's got a meeting with Amanda and Amanda's social worker, Kelly Schaaf. The three of them swing by A&W for onion rings and ice cream, and head out to a city park.

JEN BRAUN: So how are you doing, kiddo?

AMANDA: Good. Pretty good.

JEN BRAUN: So-so good?

AMANDA: Yeah.

CATHERINE WINTER: Amanda's worried about her brother Chris. His foster family recently kicked him out. It's not entirely clear what he did. His records are sealed because he's a juvenile, but it was serious enough that his foster parents don't want him back. He's been sent to a juvenile treatment center, and he doesn't know where he'll go when he gets out. Amanda says her foster dad drove her out to see him last weekend.

AMANDA: I just had a visit with him on Sunday. We talked for a good hour, hour and a half.

JEN BRAUN: Do you think this is pretty serious?

AMANDA: Yeah. But I'm excited that it's getting taken care of.

JEN BRAUN: That he's getting treatment?

AMANDA: Yeah.

CATHERINE WINTER: Chris will get therapy at the treatment center. He's supposed to work on managing his anger. But Kelly and Jen don't just want to talk to Amanda about her brother. They want to find out whether she's still interested in being adopted. Jen has found two more families interested in the kids. The families wrote letters to Chris and Amanda to introduce themselves. Kelly got the letters to Amanda a week ago.

KELLY SCHAAF: So Amanda, we chatted last week, a little bit, after you had an opportunity to read the letters that were written to you and Chris from a couple families.

AMANDA: Mm-hmm. There's one family I like, Eric and--

KELLY SCHAAF: Shannon.

AMANDA: Yeah. I like them a lot. And I told Chris that he'll probably like them too. Because--

KELLY SCHAAF: What was it that you liked about them?

AMANDA: Just how open the kids were. Like, in the letters, what they wrote. Corbin, I think, wrote [LAUGHS] that he's somewhat of a comedian, too. And he's like, so I hope that I can meet you and find out for myself. I'm like, oh. I mean, they're just really nice, and they're really hoping to meet us.

KELLY SCHAAF: Do you have questions for us that we can try and help answer, so you can learn a little bit more about them and their family?

AMANDA: I don't know if it said it in the letter, but I was wondering about how much space they had, as far as their house. How many bedrooms and stuff.

KELLY SCHAAF: Yep. They're actually doing remodeling. And you would have your own bedroom.

[LAUGHTER]

AMANDA: Yeah.

CATHERINE WINTER: In the past, Jen Braun has found other families interested in adopting Chris and Amanda, but the kids have always said no. This time, Amanda tells Kelly and Jen she's willing to think about being adopted by this family. Even though it would mean moving an hour away and leaving the foster parents she loves, leaving her school, and all her friends.

AMANDA: Probably because each year that goes by, it's more and more of a reminder that I don't have a permanent family. It's just foster. And I don't know. I mean, I don't want to meet them tomorrow. I mean-- but I mean, probably I'll write them a letter. And then we'll see.

CATHERINE WINTER: Amanda says last time she thought she was going to meet a family interested in her, she was so nervous that she got sick. Jen and Kelly tell her she can have all the time she needs, that she's brave to even consider it.

It's a brave thing for the family, too. They had to agree to adopt these kids sight unseen. They don't get to meet the kids and then change their minds. That would be too hard on the kids. So this family has agreed to adopt two teenagers they've never even spoken with. And they know these kids may not be easy to live with. Jen Braun says she always tries to tell families the good things about kids, but she warns them, too.

JEN BRAUN: And I say to them, look around your house. What could you not stand having be broken or lost or taken away? Put it away.

CATHERINE WINTER: She asks families, can you stand it if this child screams at you? Can you stand it if this child hurts your pets? And there are families that say, yes, they can stand it. For the sake of a child they've never met, they'll take the risk.

SHANNON: Did you feed the dogs?

SEAN: Yes, I did.

CATHERINE WINTER: Eric and Shannon live outside Minneapolis with their three kids. It's not quite the suburbs, not quite the country. It's a nice house, bigger than the one Amanda lives in now. There's a bright, open kitchen.

[LAUGHTER]

It's late August, the end of a workday. The family's having takeout Subway sandwiches. One of the first things you notice about them is that they like to laugh. Their 16-year-old, Kierstin, gets them all giggling with stories about her summer job at the state fair. She sells deep fried pickles.

KIERSTIN: It's got crust around it, like chicken nugget crust around it, almost. And it's just warm and soggy, and the texture is just like, ugh! [LAUGHS]

CATHERINE WINTER: Kierstin has long hair and a Mr. Yuk T-shirt. The boys are blonder. They're 11 and 12. There's a big yellow dog and a little white dog.

SEAN: Are the cookies ready?

SHANNON: Almost.

CATHERINE WINTER: The kids say it's OK with them if their parents adopt a new brother and sister. Kierstin thinks it's a good idea.

KIERSTIN: I think our family could definitely handle this, because we're so good with each other, and we're so good with communicating, and we're so good at understanding each other. Since we're doing so good, we need to help somebody else do good. And so Mom said, well, here's these two. Read about them. And I really liked what I read about Chris and Amanda. And I said, yeah, these two are the ones. So we're waiting for them to say, I like these people. [LAUGHS]

CATHERINE WINTER: Chris and Amanda haven't answered the family's letters yet, but Eric and Shannon are proceeding as if the answer will be yes. They've started remodeling their house to add two bedrooms in the basement.

SHANNON: This is Amanda's room.

ERIC: That will be Chris's room. I've got to put an egress window in there.

CATHERINE WINTER: Eric is a carpenter. Shannon's a bookkeeper. They're in their late 30s. They've been thinking about adoption for several years.

ERIC: Well, I think part of who we are is our faith. And we had come to a point in our life where we were pretty comfortable. We both had really good jobs, nice house, two nice cars.

CATHERINE WINTER: But Eric says it was hard for him to live a comfortable life when so many people are not comfortable.

ERIC: So we just wanted to make a difference.

CATHERINE WINTER: They were thinking of a younger child, but during their adoption class, they saw one of the teen panels put together by the Homecoming Project. They got interested in Chris and Amanda. By the time Chris got into trouble, they were already committed to adopting the kids, and Shannon says they still are.

SHANNON: I told-- because I think it was Kelly I talked to last week. She just wanted to find out, are you still wanting to pursue Chris? And I said, oh, yeah. I said, we haven't wavered on that at all. And I told her, I said, when Eric and I decided to do this, we knew it was going to be a permanent thing. That if we have to travel around in our retirement years to a penitentiary to visit our children, child, or whatever, that's what we have to do.

ERIC: Mm-hmm. We've gone through scenarios, Shannon and I. And let's say a worst-case scenario, if somebody gets hurt in the house by this child--

SHANNON: Physically.

ERIC: Physically hurt, it would be the same for anybody. If I were to hurt somebody in this house, if Shannon were to hurt somebody, they would have to be removed from the house. And we've talked about this. But that does not deter our parenting, you know what I mean? If they have to go out and get treatment or help, we would be right there with them. They just wouldn't be in the house--

SHANNON: For a period of time.

ERIC: For a period of time, yeah.

CATHERINE WINTER: But Eric and Shannon say they're not focusing on worst-case scenarios. They're looking forward to good times. They want to take all the kids tubing down the river in their backyard. They want to go camping together.

ERIC: We're not there to bring them into our house and we're going to rescue you and be your big savior, blah, blah, blah. These kids are going to come in and bless us with their laughter and their accomplishments.

CATHERINE WINTER: The family's gotten word that both Chris and Amanda liked what they said in their letters. The kids want to keep exchanging letters and email.

SHANNON: I'm excited about it. When we finally get to meet them, it would be great. We've gone through that. I said, can I hug her? And Eric's like, just shake her hand. I'm like, shake her hand? Are you kidding me? Shake her hand? [LAUGHS]

CATHERINE WINTER: It's hard to know how to greet a stranger who might become your daughter. But it will be a while before they have to face that meeting. Amanda's still not sure she wants to meet, and Chris still isn't free to go.

[GENTLE ACOUSTIC MUSIC]

[CHATTER]

It's a rainy morning in early fall. The trees are starting to go gold and crimson on the grounds of the treatment center where Chris is living. The place looks a little like a private school, with classrooms on the main floor. Chris lives in an upstairs dormitory.

CHRIS: And this is our living area. And there's two bunks on each side of the wall to accommodate four guys. I have my adoptive family hanging up on the wall.

CATHERINE WINTER: Tacked above Chris's bunk are pictures of Eric and Shannon and their kids. He takes them down.

CHRIS: This is my adoptive family. Sean, Corbin, Eric, Shannon, Kierstin. These are the animals. Two dogs and a rabbit. I got pictures of their house, of their yard. They have a river in back. So I'm going to dam that up and make a Jacuzzi.

CATHERINE WINTER: Chris hasn't met them, but he's already calling them his adoptive family. This is a change of heart. Before he was sent to treatment, he had said he didn't want to be adopted.

CHRIS: Now that I'm here, I guess I'm opened up to it, because I don't know where I'm going to be going after this. So it's like, why not have another option?

CATHERINE WINTER: In the past, Chris has rejected families that were interested in him. He didn't trust people who seemed to want to buy his affection. But so far, he likes this family.

CHRIS: Because they're-- they're not spoiling us. They send me a whole bunch of letters saying that they care or whatever, and that they're thinking about me. They're not taking me to Twins games and spoiling a whole bunch of money on us. They're being a real family.

CATHERINE WINTER: A week ago, Amanda agreed to meet this family. She was so nervous that day that she got sick to her stomach and had to leave school. But later, she told Chris that once she got to Eric and Shannon's house, they hit it off right away.

CHRIS: I was talking to Amanda. I was like, Amanda, did you hug them? She's like, yeah. I was like, how did you decide that? She's like, I don't know. I just winged it and hugged them. Then she said she really liked them or whatever. So I was like, all right, I'll meet them. You know, Amanda likes them. I'll try.

CATHERINE WINTER: Two days later, Eric and Shannon take time off work. They take their kids out of school, and the family drives to a restaurant near Chris's treatment center-- an ice cream and burgers place. They get a big table and wait for Chris.

ERIC: There he is.

KIERSTIN: Are they here?

SHANNON: Oh my gosh.

CATHERINE WINTER: Chris's adoption recruiter, Jen Braun, comes in with Chris. He's grinning.

CHRIS: I'm going to give you a hug.

[LAUGHTER]

ERIC: Nice to meet you.

SHANNON: Nice to meet you. Hi, Chris.

CHRIS: Hi.

CATHERINE WINTER: Chris hugs them all. And then it's sort of awkward for a few minutes. But after a while, everyone is laughing and joking and telling funny stories.

[LAUGHTER]

Chris tells about the time he and Amanda were about six and seven, and found some matches. They started some leaves on fire, and the fire got too big.

CHRIS: You know, and I've seen her going, oh my god! So I take my shoe and I start trying to step on it, you know. I'm going, ah! You know. Amanda walks over with this hose and just-- and she's like, why did you stick your feet in the fire? I was like, why didn't you tell me you had a hose?

[LAUGHTER]

CATHERINE WINTER: Things are going well until Shannon mentions that they don't allow TV on school nights. Chris looks startled. But then Shannon says that can be negotiable, and Chris says he's not that into TV anyway. After they've eaten lunch, Shannon takes out a gift bag.

SHANNON: Chris, I got you something, just from us to you to have.

CATHERINE WINTER: She passes it down the long table to Chris. There's a screaming yellow T-shirt in the bag.

SHANNON: It's so we don't lose you.

[LAUGHTER]

JEN BRAUN: Safety yellow.

[LAUGHTER]

CATHERINE WINTER: Under the T-shirt, Chris finds a fleece blanket.

JEN BRAUN: Ooh, let me touch that.

CATHERINE WINTER: Shannon says later that she wanted him to have something from them to take back to the treatment center. She didn't like to think of him all alone there. Chris's mouth opens a little, but he doesn't say anything. He pulls the blanket out, and then he touches it to his face. For a while, he doesn't say anything at all.

[GENTLE ACOUSTIC MUSIC]

The family spends almost two hours with Chris. The restaurant has pretty well emptied out by the time they say goodbye.

SHANNON: Drive safe.

JEN BRAUN: No more skipping school.

CATHERINE WINTER: When Chris is gone, the kids say they like him. So do Eric and Shannon. Out in the parking lot, Chris climbs into Jen's car. He flashes her a grin and a thumbs up. Later, he phones Jen's boss and tells her to give Jen a raise for finding him this family.

What follows is almost like a courtship, with letters and phone calls. Amanda starts spending weekends with the family. They all visit Chris together. Eric and Shannon put thousands of miles on their car.

[CHATTER, LOCKERS BANGING]

Just before homecoming weekend, Jen and Kelly visit Amanda at school. They want to find out whether she thinks she might like to move in with this family. Amanda is giddy, like a girl in love. She says when she's not with Shannon and Eric, they're sending each other text messages.

AMANDA: I call them brother or sister, Mom, Dad, now. Every time I text them I'll be like, from daughter. And then he's like, from Dad. And then last night, he's like, we love you, and good night. Have sweet dreams. From your last family. And I'm like, no, dot, dot, dot, my first family. And he's like, sniffle, sniffle. I'm like-- [LAUGHS] I'm like, Eric!

[LAUGHTER]

Yeah. It was awesome. Oh, it's crazy.

KELLY SCHAAF: Do you get nervous about thinking about living with Chris again?

AMANDA: Yes. I don't think that mentally he's able to be adopted.

KELLY SCHAAF: And why not?

AMANDA: Because his anger is so strong. If one thing happens--

KELLY SCHAAF: You think that he'll sabotage it, you mean?

AMANDA: Yes.

CATHERINE WINTER: Amanda tells Kelly she's worried Chris will sabotage her chance to be adopted, too. As she's talking, she gets a text message on her cell phone. She fishes it out of her pants pocket.

AMANDA: It's Shannon. "Hi. Have an especially great evening, Supergirl. Hugs from future mother. Hugs." [LAUGHS] Yeah.

CATHERINE WINTER: Amanda's going to the homecoming dance this evening. Amanda has lots of friends here. She just got elected to the student council. So it's hard to leave. But just before her 16th birthday, she says goodbye to her friends and her foster family. She and Eric load her things into the van, and she moves to their house.

[LAUGHTER, CHATTER]

A few months later, Chris is visiting the family. He's playing foosball with his three new siblings, Corbin, Sean, and Kierstin. Amanda's curled up on the couch, watching.

[CHATTER, CLATTERING]

CORBIN: If you just hadn't have moved your buttocks!

CATHERINE WINTER: Chris is still living in a residential treatment center two hours away. Eric drove down to get him this morning, then they all visited Chris and Amanda's grandmother.

[CHEERING, LAUGHTER]

[CHATTER]

Chris says he's surprised to find that he likes having younger brothers.

CHRIS: Oh, it's fun. It's a blast. Fun playing with them, because then it gives me another excuse to be a little kid.

CATHERINE WINTER: The other kids say they're getting on well, too. 16-year-old Kierstin says she and Amanda are attached at the hip.

KIERSTIN: She's just like-- she's like one of my best friends. This is my homegirl. [LAUGHS] We paint our nails. We go shopping. We tease Dad. We drive to them mall together and we try to find our way back home together. We get lost together. [LAUGHS] All that jazz.

CATHERINE WINTER: Amanda says she loves living here, even though her new parents have some strict rules. She has to leave her bedroom door open during the day. She has to let Eric and Shannon see her cell phone text messages.

SHANNON: We told her. We were very upfront with her that our house is a bubble, and we reserve the right as parents to review any literature coming into the house, any music coming into the house, any media at all.

CATHERINE WINTER: In fact, they made Amanda throw away about 30 of her CDs. They said the music had hateful messages. When Chris heard about that, he was alarmed. He and his new parents sat down with a therapist to come up with rules they could agree to for when he moves in. Eric and Shannon agreed to relax the no TV on school nights rule.

CHRIS: Because I watch football or basketball. And if there's games that I want to watch, I just ask Mom or Dad. And they said that they wouldn't have a problem with me watching a Monday football game, or-- so yeah.

CATHERINE WINTER: Amanda says overall, living here is more laid-back than living in foster care was. And even though she hasn't known them nearly as long, she feels more attached to Eric and Shannon than she did to her foster parents.

AMANDA: There, I didn't call Tom and Brenda Mom or Dad, and I didn't call my foster sisters my sisters. I call Shannon and Eric Mom and Dad, and Corbin, Sean, Kierstin, and Chris brothers and sisters. Because there, you knew it wasn't going to be permanent. So you never got in too close and too deep in the relationship, because it wasn't going to be like that forever.

CATHERINE WINTER: But Amanda says this feels like forever to her. She trusts Eric and Shannon to stick by her no matter what happens. She's ready to get the formalities over, sign on the dotted line, and be their daughter.

[GENTLE ACOUSTIC MUSIC]

In April, Chris is finally released from his treatment center. He decrees a pajama day for his first day home. Everyone has to wear pajamas all day, and just be home together.

[LAUGHTER]

A few weeks later, it's Mother's Day. Chris says all the kids got up early and pitched in to make Shannon a bagel and eggs.

CHRIS: And so we cooked breakfast for Mother. And I went back to bed after we watched her eat. [LAUGHS]

CATHERINE WINTER: The kids made cards for Shannon. Amanda wrote Shannon a poem.

CHRIS: And I typed it.

SHANNON: And yes, Chris did the typing.

CATHERINE WINTER: Shannon reads from the card.

SHANNON: "I'm not of your flesh, but I'm no less your own. You gave me your love, your heart, and your home. You're always there to lend me a hand, to pick me up when I couldn't stand. I no longer have to worry when my blue skies turn to gray, for I know you'll always be there to chase those clouds away. Happy Mother's Day, Mom. OXOXOXOX." [GIGGLES]

CATHERINE WINTER: Chris is in the kitchen with Shannon and Eric, playing with his new pet. It's a snake he named Jess. He lets Jess slither on the kitchen counter. He's wanted a snake for a long time. Eric and Shannon agreed to let him get one if he wrote a research paper on caring for snakes.

CHRIS: I was telling Mom that. I go, I think over half our family's adopted. And she goes, just you and Amanda. I go, well, Dorey's adopted. Jess is adopted. Me and Amanda.

CATHERINE WINTER: Dorey is one of the dogs. There's another dog, Sunny. But they explain that Sunny wasn't adopted. They bought her.

[LAUGHTER]

Things seem to be going so well. And then one day, two months later, Shannon tells us she and Eric got into a dispute with Chris. They wanted to take a video game away from him to punish him for some misbehavior. Chris wouldn't give it to them. When Eric took it from him, Chris got up and shoved Eric.

SHANNON: Then Amanda went to grab Chris. And then he turned and elbowed her in the neck. So then Eric grabbed him from the back, and Amanda was in the front. So there's this threesome that were struggling together. And that's when I said I was going to call the police.

CATHERINE WINTER: So Shannon called the police, and Amanda says Chris exploded.

AMANDA: He started screaming, F you, and you guys don't F-ing care, and this is BS. And he's been saying that every time he gets angry, he'd say something like that. And then Chris started throwing things around, breaking things. He broke my stereo in two, in half. He put that hole in the wall right there. And he took all the pictures of him out of my room, his school picture and another picture of him out of my room. And then he took all the picture frames that he was in, he took the pictures out of them. And then he tried to pack up his things and waited for the cops to come.

CATHERINE WINTER: Eric and Shannon went to see Chris in court the next day. They hugged him. They told him they loved him. And then the police took him away. He's back in residential treatment now. Eric and Shannon say they still want to adopt him, but that doesn't necessarily mean they'll let him come back to live with them.

ERIC: Well, he's got to earn his way back in the house. There's going to be some guarantees, and even an aggressive action or a word is not going to be tolerated. Because as much as Shannon and I will sacrifice, to a point, our safety, we won't do it for our kids. We won't sacrifice that.

CATHERINE WINTER: Chris has told the family he doesn't want to come back. He doesn't want to be adopted. We wanted to ask him what happened, but he didn't want to talk to us. Amanda is heartbroken. She says she feels torn between Chris and her new family.

AMANDA: For the first I don't know how long he was gone, I either couldn't fall asleep or I'd cry myself to sleep, because he's my brother.

CATHERINE WINTER: Shannon passes Amanda a box of Kleenex. Shannon and Eric have wept too, but they say they don't regret taking these kids in.

SHANNON: I think our capacity to love has grown immeasurably. I think the world needs families to step up to the plate and practice what they preach about loving others and having unconditional love.

ERIC: And they have given so much into our lives, the love and the good times and the laughter. I mean, they always outweigh what we're going through with this. We have a lot of high hopes for Chris and Amanda. And it's my dream that-- [EXHALES] that will be realized.

CATHERINE WINTER: Amanda's eyes fill with tears again when she sees Eric cry. She says she's still in love with this family. She still wants to be adopted. But the joy is bittersweet, because she'll have to go ahead without her brother.

AMANDA: But I am happy. I won't be labeled a foster kid or ward of the state anymore.

CATHERINE WINTER: Amanda's frustrated because the court date for her adoption keeps getting delayed. Amanda says they're just going to go ahead and have a party anyway. She cheers up when she talks about it. She jokes around with her brother, Sean. She's calling the party a not-so-baby baby shower.

AMANDA: Yeah. Because we tried to use the court date thing as something to look forward to. But after five months, it's just--

SHANNON: [LAUGHS]

AMANDA: We need a new plan.

SEAN: Will there be cake at this party?

AMANDA: Yes.

SEAN: Oh, then I'm in.

[LAUGHTER]

CATHERINE WINTER: Two months later, the paperwork is finally in order. It's a spectacular fall day. The family gathers at a small town courthouse. Shannon and Eric, all their kids, Shannon's parents, Chris and Amanda's social worker and their court-appointed guardian, Jen Braun and her boss from the Homecoming Project, and Amanda. And Chris. Chris has been talking with the family, and he wanted to come to Amanda's adoption. Chris and Amanda wrap their arms around each other and hug for a long time.

In the courtroom, Amanda sits between Eric and Shannon in front of the judge. Chris sits out in the audience between two social workers. He looks down at his hands in his lap. The judge asks Eric and Shannon if they're sure. They say they are. He asks Amanda how she feels. She tells him she's happy. She's grinning. The kids' adoption recruiter, Jen Braun, leans over and whispers something to Chris, and he breaks into a smile, too.

[LAUGHTER, CHATTER]

Amanda's still grinning as the family assembles on the courthouse lawn for pictures. She's clutching a little bunch of flowers someone gave her. Every little thing makes her laugh. The whole group piles into cars, and they all head off for a celebration brunch.

[GENTLE ACOUSTIC MUSIC]

Soon after, the family gets a call from Chris. He's changed his mind. What Jen Braun said to him in the courtroom was, that will be you someday. And Chris wants it to be him. He's told the family he wants to be adopted, too, if they still want him. And they do still want him. As soon as they can get the paperwork done, they'll make it official. They'll be his family forever, his and Amanda's, no matter what happens.

[GENTLE ACOUSTIC MUSIC]

STEPHEN SMITH: Wanted-- Parents was produced by Catherine Winter and Ellen Guettler. The editor was Mary Beth Kirchner. The American RadioWorks team includes Sasha Aslanian, Ochen Kaylan, Laurie Stern, Craig Thorson, Denise Nichols, and Emily Torgrimson. At American Public Media, Dave Sonderegger and Melinda Driscoll. I'm Stephen Smith.

To hear more stories about teenagers looking for homes and the families who adopt them, visit our website at americanradioworks.org. There you can download this and other American RadioWorks documentaries at americanradioworks.org. Major funding for American RadioWorks comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

SPEAKER: American Public Media.

SPEAKER: Well, that does it for our midday program today. Well, the first part of our midday program. Don't go away. Because as soon as we take a short break here for station identification, we're off to the UBS Forum here in St. Paul for a discussion, some of the many issues raised in this documentary.

SPEAKER: Today's programming is made possible in part by our generous philanthropic partners, including Cargill, committed to nourishing ideas and nourishing people.