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Every child deserves a loving, permanent home. Thanks to many "Angels in Adoption," many children are seeing this dream come true.

Smoky Mountain Children's Home in Sevierville was officially recognized by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute as one of over 1,600 Angels in Adoption. Shannon Campbell, program services supervisor, and Melody Jones, an adoption specialist, traveled to Washington, D.C., to accept the honor on behalf of the children's home. While there, they and other Angels participated in three days of events designed to train them in using their personal experience to affect change on behalf of children in need of homes and to celebrate their hard work and dedication to the issue.

Campbell explained that Smoky Mountain Children's Home, a ministry of the Church of God, is a nonprofit agency with a residential program as well as foster homes throughout East Tennessee.

"We became accredited this year -- it was about a two-year process -- and along with that, we had to start our own adoption program," she said. "We had to be able to do own adoptions because prior to that, we let the state do our adoptions. I was given the task of developing our adoption program, so I started the program about two, three years ago."

Campbell and Jones urge those who might not have considered becoming a foster parent to do so. Campbell said, "Many children out there deserve a home. It's a lot of hard work, but things like Angels in Adoption make you slow down and see how important it is. That experience helped me to just step back and realize the value of what we do. We are making an impact in a child's life."