Triplett does it for the kids.
Tour For Adoption aims to help foster kids get adopted.
by Dave Weissman, Columbus Wired

Each week, Kirk Triplett as part of his new sponsorship with the Dave Thomas Foundation, carries a photo of a foster child on his bag.

This week, during the Memorial Tournament in Dublin, it was for a young man named Sentral, a sixth grader from Crestview Middle School here in Columbus.

The Tour For Adoption program features a Foster child in each PGA city that Triplett plays in. He places a picture of the child on his bag that is seen by everyone during each weeks tournament providing a catalyst for adoption to people that are interested not only in Sentral, but other foster children as well. “The goal of the program is to create awareness that in your community there may be literally hundreds of children like Sentral in foster care that people need to consider (adoption),” Triplett said.

Triplett knows what he speaks. He has four children, two of whom are adopted to Kirk and his wife Kathy. They originally got involved in the cause for adoption four years ago in Minneapolis with a local Wendy’s franchisee, Mike Gibbons, and got to know his passion and commitment towards adoption.

“Kathy and I wanted to have more children and weren’t able to,” he said. “We’ve been able to increase our family through adoption. We think it’s been good for the kids. Eventually it’ll be great for a young man like Sentral to find a permanent, loving home.”

Kathy Triplett originally came up with the idea after seeing what Briny Baird does for the missing children. She was looking at the photo on Baird’s bag at the Tour Championship last year and asked Kirk why they don’t do the same thing for foster children. Since he had an open bag this year, he spoke with the people at Wendy’s and the Dave Thomas Foundation and made it happen very quickly.

Triplett knows that the media attention he gains as a pro golfer can only help these children. “We have the local news there (on tour). The come out, they talk to the kids and it’s just like getting a piece on the evening news each week.”

Foster care is a tremendous drain on community resources. “We need to move these kids through the system faster and find homes for them, and that’s what this is all about.

Triplett has gotten tremendous response from the people on the golf course. He started his program in January and has not had any of the kids he carries on his bag adopted, yet. “I’m told we’re very close (in getting a child adopted) in Phoenix. When that does happen, we’ll certainly make that known.”

He gets a ton of joy knowing that people are recognizing his desire to help the foster children. “It’s really neat to be out there and playing along. Someone will come up to me and say, hey, that’s near what you’re doing for the kids, or I’m adopted, or we have adoted children or my best friends are adopting a child. It makes me remember what’s important.”