|
Family
Spotlight
Randy and Kelly Kurtanic
Named Adoptive Parents of the Year
by
Steve Garfinkel
 Congratulations,
Randy and Kelly Kurtanic! Spaulding for Children is pleased to announce
the recognition of these extraordinary parents of eight children,
seven of whom are adopted, as 2002 Adoptive Parents of the Year.
The award was presented to the Kurtanics by the Texas Alliance of
Child and Family Services at the organization’s annual conference
in Dallas, Texas on October 29, 2002.
In the early 1980s Randy and Kelly Kurtanic learned that due to
medical problems, they could not be biological parents to the large
family of children they wanted very much to have. A couple deeply
rooted in their faith, the Kurtanics decided to try adoption as
a route to creating the family of their dreams.
First becoming foster parents to “test the waters,”
Randy and Kelly soon recognized the joy they could experience by
helping special needs children. They adopted two children, a girl
now 19 years old, and a boy now 18.
When the Kurtanics, against all odds, gave birth to a son in 1987,
their happiness grew even more. Their lives filled to overflowing
with a family of three children, each special in his or her own
way. Surely life could get no better than this … until one
night nearly nine years ago. Randy and Kelly received an urgent
phone call from Spaulding for Children. The request: could they
come to the hospital immediately?
As the result of a devastating auto accident, a boy had been born
four months prematurely. With a birth weight of only one pound,
the attending doctors said the newborn would likely be severely
retarded even if he were to survive – a chance they thought
remote.
Four months later, when Jacob was released from the hospital to
go home with the Kurtanics, their lives changed again. Their new
fourth child, profoundly challenged by the circumstances of his
birth, would teach them yet another lesson about adoption.
Today, eight years after his miraculous survival and adoption, Jacob,
while virtually blind and developmentally delayed, is making great
progress.
“We’ve watched him respond and grow and thrive and do
all the things the doctors said he would never do,” says Kelly,
who reports that even though he still can eat only soft foods and
is unable to feed himself, Jacob is beginning to speak, and is now
able to walk and run.
Nearly two years ago the Kurtanics were presented with another difficult
choice. Three sisters, each a year apart at ages six, seven and
eight, needed a home. Their file was sent to Randy and Kelly. The
couple was daunted by what they read. The Spanish-speaking girls
knew little English and had such an intimidating record of behavioral
problems that they seemed like “Hell’s Angels in miniature”
according to Mrs. Kurtanic.
The couple deliberated long and hard about the decision to adopt
the girls. Their choice hovered on the brink until Randy approached
his wife with an overriding consideration.
“Remember Jacob,” he said. “They said he would
never walk. They said he would be a vegetable. Remember? Look what’s
happened for him.”
The girls, now the Kurtanic’s adopted daughters, have begun
to speak English. Thanks to the loving home-schooling and tailored
curriculum the couple provides, the girls now seem much like any
other girls their age.
Kelly and Randy have watched the children learn and grow at rates
they could not have achieved otherwise, proving to themselves and
to the world that, as Kelly says, “you can have special needs
and still be a success.”
The Kurtanics finalized the adoption of Joshua, a waiting child
from Reno, Nevada last November.
When asked why they’ve chosen this path, Randy explains, “you
give the kids an ounce of love, and they give you back 20 pounds.”
Caption: The Kurtanic Family. Back Row: Randy, Joshua (being held),
Kelly, Matthew, Michael. Front Row: Jacob, Ashley, Crystal, Nicole.
The family finalized the adoption of Joshua November 15, 2002 –
National Adoption Day.
|
Questionaire
