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Derek Clark’s life is one of resilience and redemption. As a child he suffered unthinkable child abuse, abandonment and emotional distress before being turned over to the psychiatric hospital at age five. His 13 years in the San Francisco bay area foster care system reflected an early life of humiliation, aggression, emotional distress, overwhelming anxiety and being wrongfully labeled. Eventually, with the help of loving foster parents and a fantastic social worker, he defied the artificial limitations imposed upon him. Derek knows first-hand how to cope with adversity and overcoming hardship. His past has never held him back from accomplishing what he set his heart and mind to. Derek is an inspiring speaker, author and has recently become a viral video sensation for his “Rapping Dad” videos which have had over 250 million views. He’s also been featured on CNN Headline News, The Steve Harvey TV Show and many other TV shows around the world. He is the author of seven books including “Disable the Label”, “Never Limit Your Life” and the “I Will Never Give Up” book series. His true-life trials and personal triumphs have inspired organizations with his message of hope and unwavering perseverance. He has turned his situation from a victim to a victor, equipping him with the wisdom and the will to never give up.
Derek Clark Urges Fostered and Adopted Teens to Never Give Up
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“Adopted and foster kids have every right to be angry. We are wounded beyond belief. We’ve judged by media and places of worship, misunderstood, labeled as losers, shamed, pitied, abused, misrepresented, ignored, shunned, marginalized, orphaned and sent away with our few belongings in a black trash bag.” Sherrie Eldridge What Is Anger? Anger is a […]
The Hot Potato of Adoptee Anger
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Adopted children have special needs that adoptive, first, and foster parents must learn in order to become their child’s #1 cheerleader. Use this list as needed and as age-appropriate for discussing special needs with your child. You might say, “An adopted person wrote a list of her special needs. Would you be interested in seeing […]
The Special Needs of Adopted Children
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What are we to do with this, friends? Can we educate ourselves about these topics and be willing to lunge forward into forgiveness? It would be scary, like standing on the high dive platform before deciding to jump in. But, oh, if we do, we will be washed clean from bitterness and healed from loss and grief.
What Feeds Adoptee Loss and Grief
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How I identify with the message of the framed print above my bedroom table named: “My Sandcastle.” It pictures blue skies, a sandy beach, and a four-year-old girl straddling a two- foot-tall sandcastle. Busy at work, she slaps handful upon handful of wet sand upon her creation, oblivious to the seagulls flying overhead or the […]
Sandcastles In Adoptee Hearts
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Just like the band’s drum major twirls a silver stick with two rubber ends, adoptive mamas must do much the same–always marching, moving forward, and directing. The two ends of her baton are adoptee self-worth and suicide, which in my adoptee mind, are untouchables. Mamas are ultra aware of this tension..in fact, hyper-vigilant. They hear about rising adoptee suicides and can’t imagine such pain coming upon their teen, or their family. Secretly, they may wonder if they were really meant to adopt. Was it a mistake?
What Shakes Adoptive Mamas To the Core
