Keith and Katherine Hamm, in Their Late 60s, Have Adopted Three Children From Foster Care in Calabash, N.C., Years After Losing Their Son and Daughter-in-Law

In 2016, over a span of 18 months, Keith and Katherine Hamm of Calabash, North Carolina, lost their son and their daughter-in-law and lost contact with their granddaughter. Now, in their late 60s, the Brunswick County couple have adopted three children out of foster care. WECT told the family’s story on Nov. 4, 2026, during National Adoption Month, in a report titled “Grace for the Kids.”

The Hamms went through Boys and Girls Homes of North Carolina, the agency they had already fostered with for years.

The Eighteen Months That Left the Hamms in a “Dark, Deep Hole”

The losses began in 2016 and came one after another, according to WECT. By the end of that stretch, the Hamms had lost not only their son and daughter-in-law but also contact with their granddaughter.

Katherine Hamm described that period to the station as a “dark, deep hole” that the couple had to climb out of.

Keith Hamm told WECT that he cannot stand the thought of a child being in the world with absolutely nobody. The couple have fostered many children over the years through Boys and Girls Homes, WECT reported.

Three Adoptions, Including a 13-Year-Old Named Kelly

All three of the Hamms’ adopted children came through foster care. WECT gives the age of only one: Kelly, 13, the eldest. She spent three years in foster care before coming to live with the Hamms.

Kelly wrote a letter that her new mother read aloud for the station. In it, the girl described finally feeling safe, happy and loved. The report does not name the other two children or give their ages.

State rules set only minimum ages. North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services says on its page for who can foster or adopt that applicants must be at least 18 to adopt and 21 to foster, and that single, partnered, married, divorced and widowed people are all eligible. Applicants do not need to own a home, and no specific income level is required, the state says. What agencies look for instead is stability: a family the child can count on through good and difficult times.

What the Adoption Director Says the Process Looks Like

Ophelia Anderson, adoption director at Boys and Girls Homes of North Carolina, has guided families through adoption for more than two decades, according to WECT. She told the station that the journey is not that easy and not always cute, but that it is a blessing at the end.

WECT reported the steps Anderson described. Prospective parents must complete a 12-week training course, pass background checks and undergo an in-depth home assessment to become state-licensed. Adoption usually takes about a year from the start of foster care. Reunification with biological parents is always the primary goal, she said, and adoption happens only when a child cannot safely return home.

The agency is a 70-year-old child welfare nonprofit based in Lake Waccamaw that provides group home care, foster care, adoption, therapy and child advocacy, according to the Columbus County News. In that 2025 report, the agency said it had 102 foster homes in 26 counties caring for 79 foster children, with staff caseloads capped at 15 foster children per social worker.

The agency also reported that it had 98 foster care discharges to family reunification, adoption, guardianship or relative placement in its most recent year, and that 87 percent of those were successful. It uses the Teaching Family Model, an evidence-based training and care approach, and requires foster parents to be trained and licensed through the state. Workers visit foster families at least twice a month, and weekly for therapeutic foster families.

Foster care and adoption are separate approvals in the state. The NCDHHS how-to page notes that North Carolina does not have dual licensure, though some agencies combine the steps. Adoption requires a Pre-Placement Assessment, which is the adoptive home study, and the final step is a legal decree.

Where North Carolina Families Can Start, and What National Adoption Month Is

National Adoption Month is a campaign run by the Children’s Bureau, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to promote safe, loving, permanent families for children in foster care, with recent emphasis on older youth. The Child Welfare Information Gateway says it began as National Adoption Week in 1984, and lists the 2026 theme as “A Home for Every Child.”

In Brunswick County, where the Hamms live, the county’s foster care page says roughly 150 children are in foster care at any time. Every adult who will care for a foster child must complete the 30-hour MAPP Foundations training, offered in spring and fall sessions that typically meet one night a week for ten weeks, and must agree to criminal background checks and fingerprinting. Applicants must be at least 21 and may be single or married.

Families who want to explore adoption statewide can use NC Kids, which features waiting children and keeps a database of children available for adoption and interested families. The network says it is not an adoption or foster care agency and does not make placement decisions. It lists children with special needs, sibling groups, teenagers and minority children, especially African American males, among those waiting. The hotline is 877-625-4371.

Other families have adopted recently through relatives and foster care, including Brittany and Jeffrey Peters, who adopted their nephew Dayton, and Chris and Latricia Coburn, who adopted their niece Meadow in a Texas courtroom.

For the Hamms, the account WECT aired runs from the losses of 2016 to three adoptions through foster care in Calabash.

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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.

Image: NCDOTcommunications – CC BY 2.0/Wikimedia Commons