Mega Mom

     Betty Hinton has eight adopted children, ranging in age from nine to 27. Her personal as well as professional life focuses on providing homes for children who do not have one. Ms. Hinton works for You Gotta Believe!, a not-for-profit organization that specializes in finding homes for the children of the NYC foster care system age 10 and up.
     Ms. Hinton speaks to prospective parents and can provide them with personal wisdom of what it means to bring a child into your home. Though she reminds them that “nothing can prepare you for actually parenting, hands-on is where you learn”.
     At 28 when Ms. Hinton adopted her first son, she describes a feeling of excitement. A teacher at the time, she thought that she was going to do great things, “make such a difference in their lives”.
She would buy gift after gift in an effort to make up for all that her son had missed out on. She recieved a phone call from his teacher one day informing her that he had been giving away his belongings to the other children.
     It was at this moment that she learned an important lesson. The material possessions did not matter to him. She learned that nothing she buys will make up for the past, nothing can. All she could do was be there for him. “I’m still gonna be here”, she said. That was what he needed. Now at 27, she still is there for him, she is still mom – to him and 7 others.