Tonight is the worldwide premiere of I Lived on Parker Avenue, the documentary about a young man’s journey to meet his parents and other family he didn’t know.
David Scotton grew up in Metairie, Louisiana, where Jimmy and Susan gave him a beautiful life of love, education and all the joys a child could want. As much as he loves them, he sometimes wondered why his biological parents gave him up for adoption. Suddenly when David was 19, the adoption agency informed the Scottons that David’s birth mother Melissa Cole wanted an update on her son. The Scottons are deeply grateful to her for David and believed she deserved to know.
Melissa grew up in Columbus, Ohio. Her high school boyfriend was Brian Nicholas and, like many American teenagers, they were afraid when they conceived a child at the age of 18. They were poor, unemployed and some days they couldn’t afford to eat. As Brian explains it: “Neither one of us was mature enough to take care of a child, and we made some mistakes, and we didn’t want the child to pay for it.”
Brian and Melissa took little unborn David to an abortion facility and her entry to that place was dramatic. As Melissa was alone on the operating table, she looked at the surgical instruments, pondered everything, realized she wasn’t really alone, and left with little David in her womb.
As David made the journey to meet his birth parents, they were anxious about how he would react to the fact that they almost aborted him. They also happily anticipated meeting their impressive son.
I Lived on Parker Avenue is cinematic, beautiful, and full of delightful surprises. This short half-hour feature is worth every minute of your time. As you will see, Melissa and Brian have peace and joy because they brought their son into the world, where he is free to live and do his part in making it better place for the whole human family.
Benjamin Clapper is executive producer on behalf of the charity Joie De Vivre Media, and Philip Braun III is director. Of course that is French for “the joy of life.” These video makers live in David’s hometown and they wanted to help David tell his inspiring story.
See the Movie
Benjamin and Philip invite you to join them on Facebook tonight at 7:45pm ET, where they will begin showing the documentary at 8pm. Tune-in at Facebook.com/ILivedOnParkerAve
The documentary is on their website for anyone and everyone who wants to watch it for free or buy the DVD: www.ILivedonParkerAve.com
You Are Not Alone
According to various adoption organizations, every year approximately 1 million couples in the USA want to adopt newborns. Tragically, every year more than 1 million babies are aborted. What a terrible irony that is when America has the great wealth of generous people and charities to help parents, whether they plan to raise their own children or place them in good homes via adoption.
Below are pregnancy and baby resources for parents who need help. In other words, you are not alone.
Heartbeat International’s Worldwide Directory of Pregnancy Help Centers and Maternity Homes
www.HeartbeatInternational.org/worldwide-directory
The Sisters of Life are a Catholic religious order who owns maternity homes and welcomes pregnant mothers in need
Contact form: www.SistersofLife.org/visitation-mission-pregnancy-help
Help lines: United States: 1 (877) 777-1277 / Canada: 1 (877) 543-3380
In Shifra’s Arms: Jewish Support for Pregnant Women
www.InShifrasArms.org
Phone: 1 (888) 360-5872
Text number: 646-632-8547
Email: jewishpregnancy@gmail.com
The National Council For Adoption provides plenty of information to know all your options and find good adoption agencies
225 N. Washington Street, Alexandria, Virginia 22314
www.AdoptionCouncil.org
Phone: (703) 299-6633
Email: ncfa@adoptioncouncil.org
Safe Havens
If you know a girl or woman who is about to give birth or already gave birth and she’s very afraid and thinking about leaving her baby somewhere, there is help for her too! Safe Haven Infant Protection Laws allow a person to give up a baby or babies anonymously with no questions asked.
Safe haven locations vary from state to state. They can include hospitals, emergency medical service providers, police stations, and fire stations. See the locations in your state on the National Safe Haven Alliance website
www.NationalSafeHavenAlliance.org/maps or call their confidential hotline:
1 (888) 510-BABY / 1 (888) 510-2229
There’s also the Safe Haven Baby Boxes confidential hotline
1 (866) 99BABY1 / 1 (866) 992-2291
Please see their video below
