AUGUSTA -- Chris is a foster child.

He has been in state foster care for four years.

At a National Adoption Awareness Month celebration on Tuesday in the Hall of Flags at the Statehouse, the 17-year-old talked about how the foster system has helped him succeed. His last name is kept confidential for privacy concerns.

The event to honor foster and adoptive families was sponsored by the Maine Department of Health & Human Services and A Family for ME, a statewide recruitment initiative for foster and adoptive families that works with the state Department of Health and Human Services.

Chris said he was in an alternative education program at a public high school with students who could not function in the general education system.

He said he was not challenged or stimulated to learn. Then he moved in with his new foster parents and they taught him that hard work pays off.

They encouraged him to learn and fought to get him into mainstream classes, where he excelled.

"I now go to a private school where I'm challenged to my limits," Chris said. "My foster parents gave me the power to succeed. I'm taking classes that would be impossible back in alternative ed. My foster parents are more family than any I've ever had. They've given me a fighting chance."

Muriel Littlefield, deputy commissioner of the Department of Health & Human Services' Integrated Access and Support, said there are 499 children in foster care waiting for a family of their own.

"These children are waiting to be a part of a family that can be theirs, where they know they belong," Littlefield said.

She said no child should be in limbo, unsure of their family status. In 1998, five percent of the children in foster care were adopted. It has now reached 17 percent.

"As we move to another year and in this celebration of adoption, my hope is that the progress we have made continues to increase," she said.

Up to 100 adoptive parents and children came to the party on Tuesday.

Grace Brace, executive director of A Family for ME, talked about The Heart Gallery. The photo gallery of foster children can be seen at various locations including Pizza Huts restaurants in Maine.

"This photo gallery of foster children has helped find adoptive families for 234 children since it began in 2003," Brace said.

She said there are more than 2,000 children in the Maine foster care system and about 1,200 in licensed foster homes.

Fred Saul, vice president of Capital Pizza Huts, and managers from Maine Pizza Hut restaurants were honored for their involvement with A Family for ME.

Pizza Huts over the past year have helped place 43 children from The Heart Gallery program with adoptive families by displaying the photographs.

"Pizza Hut involvement in A Family for ME has been the most rewarding, successful statewide program that we have ever had the opportunity to be a part of as a company," Saul said.

An Oxford man who attended the celebration is a adoptive parent with a sad story.

Phil Dubois and his wife Tammy adopted a child, Jamie, in 2006. While in North Carolina visiting family, they were involved in a car crash that took the lives of his wife, uncle and cousin. His two aunts, Jamie and Dubious were seriously injured.

Dubois said he suddenly found himself from being a husband of 18 years with no children, to being a single dad of a teenage boy.

"Jamie and I didn't get to see each other for several days after the accident, we were in different hospitals," Dubois said. "When we first saw each other, his first question was, 'Are you going to send me back to the state?' I could assure him that I am his dad and that will never change. Families take their commitments quite seriously and even though I didn't have many answers at that point, I knew that we were still family no matter what."

He wanted to be part of the celebration on Tuesday that honored families, like himself, who have taken on the challenges, but who are now reaping the rewards.

"There are no throwaway children," he said. "Every life is valuable, and each of these children has severe needs, but also tremendous potential and abilities that just need a chance."

Mechele Cooper -- 623-3811, Ext. 408

mcooper@centralmaine.com