Theirs was a happy home, back in 1981. Kathy and B. Wray Vaughan were raising their four active, healthy children in a quiet Boulder neighborhood and enjoying every minute of the Colorado lifestyle they loved so much.
Had anyone asked if something was missing, if some wish was going unfulfilled, the answer would have been “no.”
Then came the night that B. Wray saw a TV segment featuring a 2-year- old named Wayne. The youngster stole B. Wray’s heart.
“Even though we had four children of our own, we’d always wanted to adopt. Wayne just captured our hearts, and so we decided to go for it,” Kathy recalled.
Kathy wrote to the Adoption Exchange, expressing the interest she and her husband had in adopting Wayne, a failure-to-thrive baby with cystic fibrosis who weighed just 7 pounds on his first birthday.
The Adoption Exchange is a model organization with offices in Colorado and four other states, a board of directors made up of prominent business and civic leaders, and an annual budget of $4.5 million.
The agency has applied for funding through the Post-News Season to Share.
Eventually Wayne was allowed to visit. The Vaughan children warmed to him immediately, as he did to them, and on March 2, 1982, “we brought Wayne home for good,” Kathy said.
In addition to cystic fibrosis, Wayne had other problems. He couldn’t speak, had a hair-trigger gag reflex, was unable to swallow or consume solid food, and would suffer projectile vomiting as frequently as 10 times a day. Kathy had to liquefy all of his food. Emotional issues would cause him to become upset over minor things.
“What they’ve done with Wayne, and what he has done for himself, is nothing short of amazing,” said the agency’s executive director, Dixie van de Flier Davis. “The Vaughans have worked hard to mainstream him, and it shows. He has achieved what he wasn’t supposed to; and for lack of a better word, he’s so normal.”
Wayne has graduated from high school; works at a local Wendy’s, where he was twice voted Employee of the Month; is a Special Olympics athlete who favors downhill skiing and volleyball; and enjoys volunteer work.
Next up is college, possibly at the Roswell campus of Eastern New Mexico Community College.
“I’m excited about going away to school,” Wayne said. “Maybe I’ll be homesick the first night, but once I make new friends, it’ll be OK.”
The Adoption Exchange
Address: 14232 E. Evans Ave., Aurora
In operation since: 1982
Number served last year: 5,800 adoption professionals; 3,900 children and family members
Staff: The Adoption Exchange has offices in five states; in Colorado there are 24 staff members.
Yearly budget: $4.5 million
Percentage of funds directly to clients/services: 80 percent
Post-News Season to Share, a fund of the McCormick Tribune Foundation, gave $1.79 million to 62 agencies last year serving children, the hungry, homeless and those in need of medical care. Donations are matched at 50 cents for each dollar; 100 percent goes directly to the agencies. To make a donation, see the coupon in today’s paper, call 888-683-4483 or go to .
