{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/weekly-column/south-dakota-family-honored-for-work-assisting-families-interested-in-adoption", "South Dakota Family Honored for Work Assisting Families Interested in Adoption", "2018-09-14", "2018", "2018-09", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "Mike Rounds", "R000605", "www.rounds.senate.gov", "rounds", "https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "Countless children around the world and in the U.S. are in need of safe, permanent homes and the love and support of a family. Providing a child with a loving home is truly one of the greatest gifts anyone can give. I am a member of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI), which is a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness about the millions of children waiting to be adopted around the world. Each year, CCAI invites Members of Congress to nominate an outstanding family or organization from their state to receive an Angels in Adoption award. This year, I nominated Wes and Kimberly Roth of Summerset, SD.\n\nAfter getting married in 2009, they felt called to begin their family through adoption. In 2011, they made two trips to Ethiopia to bring home their son Kaleb. According to Kimberly, at that time, Ethiopian adoptions were running quite smoothly and the process was fairly reliable. When they decided to adopt a second child a few years later, the wait time for adoptions in Ethiopia was much longer than they expected. So in 2015, they decided to adopt their daughter Elsie from China, where the need for adoption is great, especially for special-needs children.\n\nWes has worked in the office of Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) since 2005 as a constituent services representative, where he has assisted many adoptive families with immigration applications and paperwork. Outside of work, he volunteers his time at adoption events at church and serves on the Board of Directors for Bethany Christian Services Rapid City branch. Kimberly volunteers at adoption events throughout the Black Hills and has helped raise money for families going through the adoption process. Kimberly also runs a Facebook group for adoptive families to give advice and answer questions about the complex process.\n\nWe asked the Roth\u2019s what advice they would share with other families thinking about adoption. Kimberly said, \u201cYou don't have to know it all and have it all in order to be 'ready to adopt\u2019. If you feel that nagging nudge that just won't go away, give the idea an honest discussion. The whole process won't be sunshine and rainbows. There will be worries, exhaustion, fears and uncertainties. But, that is what parenting is about.\u201d She also suggests joining a support group, either in person or online, to seek out community so it doesn\u2019t feel like you\u2019re going through the process alone.\n\nWes and Kimberly are very deserving of the Angels in Adoption award. I can\u2019t thank them enough for the work they do in our state to help couples realize their dreams of starting a family. Their commitment to building strong, healthy families through adoption is an inspiration to us all.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-06-27T23:06:18Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/weekly-column/south-dakota-family-honored-for-work-assisting-families-interested-in-adoption"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0720421560108662, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}