CBS4 Celebrates More Than 40 Years Of Wednesday's Child

DENVER (CBS4) – Every Wednesday, CBS4 profiles a child living in foster care who is hoping to make a permanent connection with a caring adult. The Wednesday's Child stories are part of a long, proud tradition at CBS4.

A look through the station's archives shows April was our first Wednesday's Child in October of 1981.

"Right now, April lives and goes to school at a residential treatment center, but she wants desperately, a home and family of her own," said the reporter as part of that story.

Before it was Wednesday's Child, the reports were called Sunday's Child and dates back to September of 1979. Reynelda Muse was the reporter then.

"Emmylou is a lively, energetic 8-year-old who wasted no time capturing the heart of this reporter," Muse reported in that earliest story.

Wednesday's Child was one of many innovative ideas that Dixie van de Flier Davis had in order to find homes for kids living in foster care.

"She approached this station decades ago with this concept of profiling a different child in foster care every week," explained Tim Wieland, Vice President & General Manager of CBS4.

From the very beginning, Wednesday's Child worked.

"We would profile these young kids or teenagers, and low and behold, you'd have families that would be calling up and saying I'm really interested in this particular child," said Elaine Gantz Berman, the first Board Chair at Rocky Mountain Adoption Exchange.

The mission was finding homes for older youth, sibling groups, and children with special needs, and Davis was bringing people together around that mission.

"So they literally had a notebook and in the notebook, they had the pictures of the kids who were available for adoption, and they'd show these books." Gantz Berman explained.

From there the Rocky Mountain Adoption Exchange was born.

It's been making kids' dreams of having a family come true ever since. Since 1983, Raise the Future, formerly The Adoption Exchange, has moved 10,460 children into loving relationships.

"To know that you're making that kind of difference in the life of a child, there's not much more gratifying that that to be honest," Wieland said.

"I think by all accounts, the exchange has been a huge success," Gantz Berman said.

LINK: For More Information on A Day for Wednesday's Child

You can help Raise the Future create more families like this by calling 303-755-3975 to make a donation or get more information. You can also give by texting "2022 DWC" to 71777.