As a mother of four, Amanda Root found herself pulled to serve children. Having adopted kids herself, she knows the important role that people like her play in assisting children who are either in state custody or who would be without redirection.
As the founder and Executive Director of a private nonprofit called Hope’s Bridge of Middle Tennessee, Amanda provides an alternative to the foster care system by connecting families to children in need of temporary or permanent homes.
Amanda’s son, Colton, had severe special needs that ultimately took his life at the age of twelve. Before his passing, Amanda learned that his disability was due to a genetic mutation. With this information, she and her husband did not want to risk passing that gene to another child, yet they still wanted to expand their family. They decided to pursue adoption.
After waiting for a time when Colton was doing well, they conducted a home study with an agency. Two weeks later, they received a phone call not from their agency but from a friend working at a hospital. An infant born on drugs needed a safe place to go to avoid state custody.
“We found out he also had a twelve and a half month old sister,” Amanda reveals.
Since she’d done all the preliminary work, and she did not want to separate siblings, she took the infant and his sister home that same day.
Soon after this adoption, Amanda felt called to do something more on behalf of kids who need homes, so she founded Hope’s Bridge. She had no background in child services, but she felt so compelled that she chose to learn along the way. As a result, she has kept children out of state custody and connected them with families who want them.
Last year, Amanda got a call from the hospital about a mother who wanted to give her baby up for adoption. The child was conceived out of abuse, and this mother did not want to keep it. Amanda agreed to meet with the mother, and they arranged for the mother to meet a family. Their meeting went well, and the mother chose to work with Hope’s Bridge. Later, when Amanda called the mother, the mother said, “I want you to understand the reason that I chose you guys. Number one, you were the only person who brought a family for me to meet. Number two, you are not selling my baby.”
“That hit me to the core,” Amanda says.
It’s about the children. It’s about mothers. It’s about finding families that will provide care and happiness to kids so their birth mothers can rest easy knowing that their hard choices were handled properly.
Amanda clearly demonstrates a passion for servitude and lets love guide her purpose. Her story is fascinating and inspiring. Listen to her interview on our podcast.
