Page 7 - Palm City Spotlight - March '21
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Good Works from page 6 captures his recovery and his life now as a husband and “I hope people will see me and think, ‘If he can do it,
father. I can do it,’ ” Norton said.
Norton, who spent thousands of hours preparing His children, adopted from Communities Connected It started with Whittley, a teenager Emily worked with
himself to walk, first across his graduation stage in 2015, for Kids’ system of care in Okeechobee and the Treasure when the couple still lived in Iowa. Whittley asked the
and then at his wedding in 2018, said his focus now is on Coast in 2019, are a large part of that story. He and Emily Nortons to foster her when she was 17 years old. Two years
being a dad and challenging others to foster and adopt. have been foster parents since 2016, and he hopes his story later she became the young couple’s adopted daughter.
A new documentary, 7 Yards: The Chris Norton Story, will inspire others to take the same journey. “Every child deserves to have a safe, loving,
encouraging environment to grow,” Norton said. “If we
had the chance to help her get going in the right direction,
that wasn’t something we could say no to.”
They adopted four little girls a few years later,
relocated to Wellington, and, to this day, have fostered 18
children from the Treasure Coast and Palm Beach areas.
“We fell in love with it,” he said.
The Nortons’ passion – their power to stand for their
children – has paid off. Whittley moved back to her home
state of Iowa and is a caregiver to people with autism.
Norton has come to see his injury as a source of strength,
one that gives him a unique perspective into the lives of
Chris in rehab Chris Norton and wife, Emily, at Chris’ college graduation his children and others like them who are still in the foster
care system.
“Children are in these situations not by their own
choices,” he said. “I get that. It sucks, because you didn’t
want this, but that’s what you have and now how are you
P ALM CITY 7 Yards, the Chris Norton Story will be released
going to respond?”
February 23 on Apple TV and Prime Video. For more
NURSING & REHAB CENTER
information on becoming a foster or adoptive parent,
please call (772) 873-7800 and ask for Jerra or visit
cckids.net.
If you are interested in learning more about Chris
Norton or his foundation, which provides resources to
people with neuromuscular injuries, visit chrisnorton.
org. For a link to the upcoming documentary, visit:
https://7yardsfilm.com/.
CCKids Is Top Of The Class
It’s hard to get excited about words like, “eligibility”
and “candidacy.” They are bits of jargon from the world
of child welfare. But it’s important to talk about them,
because they translate into things that matter: things
like stability for vulnerable children and better, more
successful programs that help people.
As of this month, Communities Connected for Kids
has met the statewide goal of licensing 40 percent of
children placed with relatives and non-relatives. That’s
called candidacy, a push to license non-foster-parent
caregivers in order to draw down federal funds. This is
essential in Florida and throughout the nation because of
new federal laws that significantly impact the way states
pay for child and family services.
Candidacy translates into a couple of very important
things. First, it means that more relatives can receive
the types of services that have been available to licensed
foster parents for years – services that build emotional and
financial support and create greater stability for children.
And second, it means that Communities Connected for
Kids is now eligible for more federal funding.
In fact, nearly 80 percent of all CCKids cases now are
eligible for federal dollars, freeing up limited state funds
and creating opportunities for more and better services
in our community – and ranking CCKids among the top
performers in the state.
This is especially important this year, when the impact
of COVID-19 will make tax-generated state funds less
available.
It’s one more example of how the Community Based
Care model is working in Okeechobee and the Treasure
Coast and how the people behind that model are working
hard to ensure the safety, permanency and well-being of
local children and families.
To learn more about CCKids call Christina Kaiser at
(772) 528-0362. To read about other successes in our
community of care visit http://www.cckids.net/ and click
on the 2020 Annual Report.
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