Kris had to make a choice, do I take Mary in, or do I go on with the knowledge that this girl is being abused, and do nothing. Kris had never planned when she was younger to be a mother for abused children, “you don’t grow up thinking that’s what you’re going to do”, she said. But she couldn’t turn her back. Kris was the special education teacher and Mary was the student. With knowledge of the abuse and the conscience that she possessed, she applied to become a foster care parent and was accepted in only four months. Mary would later be adopted by Kris and grow up and give Kris a grandchild.

Kris had been a special ed. teacher for 2 ½ years when she adopted Mary. She went on to teach for 11 years total, continuing foster care work as well as eventually adopting 7 children.

Children in foster care have many problems with histories of abuse, but Kris took on the most challenging, “crack babies” and children with special needs (something she said she would never do for fear of having to watch one of her children die).

It was a three-minute news segment that caught Kris’s eye. Catholic Charity of Albany was looking for homes for crack and aids babies. Once again, Kris couldn’t turn her back on these children.

Althea was the first baby she adopted from this organization. She was one pound at birth, born only 28 weeks old. A year later, in 1988, she adopted Sean, at the age of 4. He was taken from his home when his sibling died after the parents had left them alone, with no one to care for them. Again in 1988 she adopted Noah, the thing she said she would never do, adopt a baby who would die. He had fetal alcohol syndrome, reeking of alcohol at birth and never was able to even hold his head up. Severely mentally and physically handicapped from birth it was just a matter of time, meanwhile Kris did all she could to make Noah’s time here as comfortable as possible. Noah died in 1991 at 4 ½ years old. Ty came in 1993 at the age of 5, he was born to a mother who did crack and abandoned her children. Jalil was adopted in 1996 at the age of 8; he had been in six different foster care homes by the age of 7. He seems to be doing fairly well these days he loves wrestling and playing football, he hates school but that might be normal for a 14-year-old boy. Adrianna came to Kris in 1999 at the age of 4, she had been severely abused. Today, Jalil is a student at Salem Central School while the other children receive special schooling.

Not for a moment does Kris ever regret having followed her heart to do what she knew was right. She has learned more with her children and from her children about life and what’s important than most of us will ever. To her it all seem quite normal that you would see a situation and do the appropriate thing. I on the other hand feel as if she is an extra ordinary person living in the ordinary world. I love the fact that there are people as wonderful as Kris that make tough decisions not based on personal outcome. Ironically, she will be the happier for what she’s done if she isn’t already.

I originally wanted to write this article because I was amazed by how hard Kris worked caring for these children in what seemed to be an effortless fashion. Once I started talking with her I realized the hard work wasn’t the story, it was the size of her heart.

Kris has adopted all the children I wrote about in this article. In addition to these children, Kris has cared for 17 children from 1980-1987 thru foster care.

Prior to 1977 children with disabilities were locked in institutions and treated very poorly if not cruelly. We should all take great pride in our country, state and communities for recognizing a mistake and supplying the resources and compassion to care for people who can’t care for themselves.