In the past 47 years, the Wilsons can recall only one night without a child in the house.

Home of a Thousand Kids

Posted December 3, 2010

AS THE PARENTS of 11 adopted sons and the temporary parents of more than 1,000 children, George and Dee Wilson, of Jacksonville, Fla., live their lives in large numbers. But ultimately, completely, and unequivocally, they love large.

At a life stage when most people privately rejoice that their kids have moved on, the Wilsons, both at age 69, take in only teenage foster children, usually in sibling groups.  But Dee immediately emphasizes, “I don’t want my children to be pointed out as foster children. That’s a negative term. We love all our children as our children.”

Throughout the past 47 years, since the couple first signed on with a foster/adoption agency, Dee said she could recall only one night without at least one child in residence.  The usual amount has been four to ten children at a time.

Holidays are very crowded occasions in the Wilson house. Their son, Adam, says, “For Christmas, as many of us as can get home will get home,” where at least 16 stockings (for each remaining son and seven grandchildren) will hang on the mantel, plus one for every other child currently living in the house. “I’m kind of lapping them over,” Dee says. “We’ve had to rent chairs,” George adds.

Their current household includes four siblings from Mexico and Jorge, from Honduras. With fatherly pride, George points out, “that’s George in Spanish.” Their 34-year-old son is also living at home again, after making a career change and enrolling in his first year in medical school. And the Wilsons readily support and encourage.

They invite their children to stay with them for a while after they reach 18, until they decide on education and work paths, but the couple sets a standard of peace and acceptance from day one.

“You learn about the children within a few days, and that gives you joy to know they are going to settle in with you,” George says. He and his wife also understand the complex issues their children may have. He says, “I tell them, ‘if you want to leave, just let us know so we can make preparations,’ and so far, none of them have done that.”

To maintain that sense of security, the couple doesn’t even take brief vacations away from the children. “It makes the children fear they won’t be coming back,” Dee says.

Even before discovering their history, most people immediately experience the couple’s openness and warm understanding. Part of that is very natural and part of it they have honed through the child psychology courses they have taken over the years; they continue the pursuit of education with their children.

“You should always be trying to teach them something,” George says. They travel with their children, assist them with citizenship training, give them cooking lessons, take them to weekly church services, and encourage them to participate in their choices of extracurricular activities.

“We try to raise them in a manner they can improve on,” George says. “We learn from them as much as they learn from us. We get comfort out of all this, knowing we help people become productive citizens.” But ultimately, he says, “We teach them there are good people in the world; they’re not all bad. We teach them not to condemn their parents, so that if they encounter them, they don’t have ill feelings against them. We try to get families back together.”

After living in his very extended family, being raised by George and Dee, and watching how they raised the other children who came through their home, Adam gave his remarkable parents what they would consider the ultimate praise. “They taught me how to be a parent,” he says.

The Wilsons are members of the Florida State Foster Parent Association, where Dee is vice president, and of the Greater Jacksonville Foster/Adoptive Parent Association, where she is president. George is in auto sales in Jacksonville. They are Regions customers.

Everyone has a story.