Meet Families
Using TV to Connect
Connecting Kids with Families
Bay Area Homes for Kids uses television to recruit adoptive and foster families for Bay Area children. For over a decade, CBS 5 Eyewitness News featured Brian’s Kids, a program which profiled foster children in need of homes. Brian Sussman, an adoptive parent himself, was the host and one of the producers of the program. In every story, Brian brought out the unique qualities of each child. During this time, over 250 children were placed into adoptive homes. The program put faces on children in need and educated Bay Area viewers about how they could help.
Brian Sussman left CBS 5in December 2000 after 11 years of devoting himself to the Brian’s Kids program. CBS 5 was committed to continuing to support the organization’s goal of connecting families with children. They chose to sponsor a new program, “Bay Area Homes for Kids,” which aired on Evening Magazine for three years. In the fall of 2005, Evening Magazine was replaced with a new locally- produced show, Eye on the Bay. In long-standing tradition, CBS 5 continues it’s support of our program with new segments produced for Eye on Bay. To visit CBS 5, go to cbs5.com
Today’s Program
“Bay Area Homes for Kids” picks up where Brian’s Kids left off. Today’s segments feature children in need of homes and highlights stories of families whose lives have been touched by taking kids into their homes. All types of parents are featured: two-partner couples, single parents, gay and lesbian parents, parents of different ethnic backgrounds, and older parents. The stories show how to become a foster and/or adoptive parent and how children have enriched the lives of their foster and adoptive families. The program communicates many different ways to help kids and highlights the diversity of Bay Area parents who decide to change a child’s life.
If you would like more information about “Bay Area Homes for Kids” or to be updated on upcoming airings, please contact 415-392-KIDS (5437) or e-mail us at info@bakids.org.