Adoption Service's Website Crashes Due to Outpouring of Sympathy for Five Orphaned Siblings
The website of the Kansas Children's Service League crashed from the surge of online traffic due to the interest generated by five siblings who are in need of a loving home to take them in. The overwhelming interest was caused by a newspaper feature on the children.
The ruckus began on Saturday, March 11 when the Kansas City Star ran an article featuring five siblings up for adoption. Except for the kids' photo together, their first names, ages (2–11) and personalities, the newspaper didn't provide their last name or details of how they were orphaned.
The feature, which also appeared on the newspaper's website, triggered a national outpouring of interest as the post became viral. Netizens clicked on the Star's Family Wanted appeal more than four million times while readers' comments had reached 1,226 Thursday morning.
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The Kansas Children's Service League email was clogged with 1,500 messages. "In 13-plus years of working here I've seen nothing like this. Nothing," Corey Lada, who works at the non-profit agency, said. On Monday, the children's profile was removed from the Kansas adoption site but the traffic kept coming until the site crashed.
Brittany and Stephen Fleming, parents from Knox County, Ill., tried logging on to AdoptKSKids.org but it wouldn't respond. Brittany said the site kept on trying to process their registration information but was unresponsive. Christian Post tried accessing it early Thursday morning but the site wasn't available.
"That bond between siblings is the strongest thing they've got when parents are gone. My hope is that people expressing interest genuinely want to see these children kept together," said Joni Hiatt, Kansas director of program for another adoption service provider called Foster Adopt Connect.
This is not the first time a group of orphaned siblings appeared on the Star. In 2014, the newspaper featured six brothers and sisters who eventually found an adoptive home. "The response this time is at least two or three times stronger," Lada said in comparing public feedback for the two sets of children. "These kids need no more publicity."
