2008 Woodie Awards
Pattersons open hearts and arms for another child
By: Kaelyn Pfenning
Issue date: 2/27/08 Section: Entertainment & Features
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News/Features Editor
A blonde 5-year-old girl works her way across the front of a classroom, close to the wall along the blackboard.
She stops next to a teacher and looks at her with arms stretched wide, waiting for a hug.
Mrs. Patterson leans down and embraces Veronica as she has each day since she met her.
Around December 2005, Mrs. Patterson taught in a classroom next to Veronica's class, and she knew Veronica's foster mom.
"There was this sweet little blond girl that would go up to my wife each day and ask her for a hug," Mr. Patterson said.
Erin and Tim Patterson adopted Veronica Elizabeth in June 2006, nearly two years after Mrs. Patterson and Veronica first hugged.
But Veronica's adoption is only a glance into a driving passion the Pattersons have made a life goal.
The Pattersons met in the first weeks of their freshman year at Anderson University.
Within a few months, Erin and Tim became good friends and discussed staying friends or becoming more. Despite their fears of damaging a strong friendship, they agreed to date.
As their relationship deepened, they began to discuss the future. Struggling between dating and engagement, they decided that a four year engagement would be the best choice.
"We were engaged for four years and one day on the day we got married," Patterson said.
The Pattersons were married in March 2003 and waited nearly three years before they decided to start a family through adoption, which both had wanted before they were married.
"Both of us worked with special populations, primarily people who are mentally disabled. It's just something, for me, that developed as a passion when I was doing that kind of work," Mr. Patterson said.
Veronica sought affection from Mrs. Patterson through hugs and time together at lunch during the 2005-2006 school year.
At the time, the Pattersons did not know Veronica lived in a foster home.
When the Pattersons discovered Veronica was living in a foster home, they decided to adopt her and began inviting Veronica over to their house on the weekends.
At the end of August 2006, Veronica moved into their house under foster care. Less than a year later, the Pattersons finished the paperwork, and the Department of Social Services granted custody of Veronica to them.
During the year the Pattersons adopted Veronica, 1700 legally free children lived in foster homes in South Carolina. Legally free means the rights of the biological parents have been terminated, and paperwork is all that stands between the child and a new home.
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