Herbie Newell President of Lifeline Children’s Services

Herbie Newell President of Lifeline Children’s Services explains why adoption is beneficial not just to the child or family but to our society as a whole. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's December, and although National Adoption Month was technically last month,
this is also a great month to talk about this
important topic because when you think about the Advent story,
Joseph was very much an adoptive or earthly father of Jesus. Hello,
I'm John Mounts and this week on Viewpoint, Alabama, I'm
joined by Herbie Nole. He is the president and executive
director of Lifeline Child's Children's Services, a leading Christian organization

(00:23):
dedicated to defending the fabulous and vulnerable children worldwide. Herbie,
Welcome to view Point.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
John, Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
There is no more noble cause than taking the challenge
of adopting and raising a child that's not your own.
But as challenging as it is, it can also be rewarding.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Why is that, Yeah, I think because we're doing something
for someone else, right, And I think so much of
our culture is about how can I earn more? What
can I do for myself? How can I approve my
own status and setting? But even as you talk about you,
look at what Joseph did in the Advent season. He
laid down his rights, he laid down his reputation in
order to care for his betrothed who was with and

(01:00):
in the same way as Americans and as Alabamians, when
we reach out and take care of the vulnerable, it's
doing something outside of ourselves for the greater cause of humanity,
and as an organization committed to God's word, Lifeline would say,
it's also doing a God given call of caring for others.

Speaker 1 (01:16):
And as noble as it is, there's a lot of
it's not just as simple as I think I'd like
a kid. There's a lot of things that you have
to do to prepare to be a father or a
mother who's going to adopt a child, and rightly so,
because you don't want people. This isn't a decision you
just kind of wake up going, I think I'll adopt
a kid. You have to really think about it, pray
about it, to decide if it's right for you, if

(01:37):
it's right for your family. And that's one of the
reasons I guess there are so many barriers. But once
you decide that it is right for you, that's kind
of what your organization does is to sort of get
those parents perspective, parents connected with prospective adoptees.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
That's right. You know what we always say, is it
takes the right parent at the right time, with the
right qualifications to be able to bring a child into
their home. And so our part is to find that
child that needs a family, but also to take that
family through the process to see, you know, what type
of child, with what type of needs from where what
system is best for your family? Is going to make

(02:12):
sure that we're not just stewarding the life of the
child well in placing that child with a family, but
we're also steward in that family well to make sure
that we don't inadvertently place a child in their home
that's not going to be a good fit, that maybe
upsets the dynamic of their home in a way that's
neither good for that family or for that child.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
Many of the children that you place are they often
are they newborns or are they you know, five ten,
all across the map? How does it usually land?

Speaker 2 (02:40):
Yeah, So each program that we have through adoption and
foster care different. So typically in foster care, we're going
to see older children ages five and up, sometimes even
sibling groups. Through inter country adoption, we're going to see
sibling groups, older children, children maybe with some special needs.
And then domestically, typically our domestic adopt program is going

(03:01):
to be younger children, even newborns and infants, and so
the spectrum ranges from newborns to teenagers with all types
of needs and challenges that they might have. And certainly
the longer a child has been in care, either foster
care or the care of an orphanage, it's just the
amount of needs that they have they're going to increase
incrementally by the number of years that they were in care.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
And that's why it's probably good to get them adopted
into a stafe and safe and stable environment as soon
as possible. I've heard reports for people who have adopted
children internationally, especially from countries like China, that a lot
of times these children they are developmentally delayed just because
they've not received any significant human interaction for the first
year or two of their life. So you might adopt

(03:44):
someone who is chronologically four, but they might have more
the social skills of an eighteen month old.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
Yeah, and if you think about it, you know, even
the way that God has ordained birth to happen and
a mom to take care of a child. When a
child is they're held a lot, they get a lot
of eye contact, they're held close to the skin, and
all of those things scientists will now tell you really
start with the brain development, with social development, with social cues.

(04:12):
When a child is not being held regularly by a
mom or a dad, they lose that sensory integration that
they need. And there's actually, if if anybody really is
interested in more information, there's a there's a training called
TBRI I Trust based Relational Intervention, and it came out
of Texas Christian University where they actually explored children and
they said children who had the touch, that had the senses,

(04:35):
that were really cared for, did well cognitive much well more,
much much better cognitively than those children who were not.
Now what I would tell any family that's listening saying, well,
never will I adopt a child that's older than an infant.
There's so many things we've learned now though, to help
those kids catch up cognitively. So even those kids you
were mentioning, they're coming home from China, we're seeing them

(04:56):
function well, We're seeing them do well cognitively because they're
there's tools, there's therapies and other things we can do
to help them catch up.

Speaker 1 (05:04):
And I've actually heard of I know some of these
families personally who have done the adoption, and like I said,
the scenario was that they were behind when they got here,
but within only maybe six months, a year or whatever,
they were right back where all their peer groups were,
maybe even a little ahead because they got some additional
love and attention, even more so sometimes than there are

(05:24):
peer groups that were not in the same situation, so
they can catch right back up. It's not like it's
an insurmountable challenge that they're faced with.

Speaker 2 (05:31):
Yeah, that's right. I mean, there's a lot of different markers,
and what we would say is their brain development markers
that even science is catching up with that says, Okay,
around four and five, there's a brain development marker. Obviously
around ten to twelve, there's a brain development marker sixteen
to eighteen. But what we would tell any family is
the preformal cortex doesn't really completely form until the very

(05:53):
early twenties. And not to take us on a hard
left turn, but that's why we need to really care
for these kids that are aging out of foster care
as well, because they're aging out without ever having that touch,
that care and that concern, and they're getting into their
twenties and by that point we're losing a whole generation
of adults that have grown up in foster care and
aged out of foster care.

Speaker 1 (06:13):
This is your point Alabama on the Alabama Radio Network.
My name is John mountsin and speaking with Herbie Noal
from the Lifeline Children's Services. He's the president and executive director. Herbie,
let's talk about more about those older kids, because I
know that it creates a unique challenge because the kids,
they sometimes have come from bad backgrounds, but they can
necessarily sometimes they're the most rewarding because you're able to,

(06:35):
I guess, show them love and attention they might not
have received for the first you know, five, eight, ten
years of their life. Do they are they more of
a problem in terms of discipline or are there special
considerations when you when you adopt someone like that.

Speaker 2 (06:50):
Yeah, I think whenever a child comes into your home
that's older, that potentially has been deficient on some of
that love and that care and that can assistant concern,
there's going to be a lot of different issues. Right,
Trust is the number one issue. Now, Trust, the lack
of a trust from a child can obviously come out

(07:11):
in lots of different ways. Discipline, behavior, It can come
out cognitively, it can also come acting out in other
different manners and forms. And so typically too, if we
talk about parents will sometimes say that their younger child
likes to copy them. It wants to wear what they wear,
brush their hair the way they brush their hair, do
the things that a mom or a dad does. Unfortunately,

(07:32):
sometimes children have been in horrible situations will start to
mimic the behavior that's been displayed for them. And so
what we try to do with these families adopting older
children is help them to understand the underlying need of that,
and it is they're mimicking what they've seen, and so
you've got to replace what they've seen with what's right.
But then they've also had the lack of trust, and

(07:53):
rebuilding trust is not as easy as it's lost. And
so we want to help really help families have the
tools to know how do we re build that trust
and how do we look beyond the behavior. And so
maybe they're having bad behavior that there's disrespectful, let's look
beyond that behavior. And you don't look at it the
same as your biological child, because this child has a
different experience and different pieces that they've been through and

(08:16):
we need to really retrain and retool their toolbox so
that they know how to handle stress and these moments
of lack of trust.

Speaker 1 (08:24):
And with these older adoptees, is there somewhat of an
I won't called a trial period, but maybe like like
say a foster to adopt situation where maybe they spend
time in your home to see if you because there
could be nothing wrong with you as a parent or
them as a child, but it could just be that
they are not a good fit. So is there a
kind of a period where it's you know, like you
usually date before you marry, right, so the equivalent of that, like,

(08:46):
you know, dating the child before you decide that this
is going to be a good permanent addition to my family.

Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yes, the closest to that would be a foster situation
where you fostered a child and then you come back
and you say, you know what, I think we would
be available to be a permanent home for the child.
I think what we want to try to do is
get as much information about that child to that family
before they ever decide to walk down that road. And
for any family that's considering adoption, what I would tell

(09:12):
you is listen to what the social workers, Listen to
what those are saying about the background of that child,
and really seek your heart to say, is this a
good match for us? Because what we would say is
every child that comes into a home has had a
lot of has had tremendous loss, probably has had a
lot of different back and forth between families, especially when
we're talking about foster care. The average child's had about

(09:34):
two and a half to three placements in foster care,
not to mention going back and forth between biological family
and orphanages. There have been anywhere from ten to fifteen caregivers.
What we don't want to do is do a trial
run with a family because it's just another loss. It's
just another disappointment in the life of that child. The
last thing we really want to do is set up
for a child a sense of rejection I went into

(09:56):
this home and they're rejecting me, or a sense of
they didn't think I was good enough, because that's just
adding to their profile of being able to make it
and to be able to grow up as a responsible
adult that's well adjusted and feels loved and can love
someone else.

Speaker 1 (10:09):
And Hervey, you brought up an interesting concept there the
idea of the blended family where the mother and father
maybe already have a child or two that are biologic
and now they are going back in and kind of
rounding out their family profile with an adoptee. Is that
more what you see or do you see a lot
of mothers and fathers who are not mothers and fathers
and they're looking to be first time parents with a
child they're adopting.

Speaker 2 (10:30):
I would think most first time parents, again as a majority,
most first time parents are looking for younger children, maybe
the newborn and the infants, the child under two. I
would say we have a lot of mature families who
are looking for the older children. They've raised their children,
maybe they have room for another child in their home.

Speaker 1 (10:49):
They don't want to change diapers, they don't want to
change diapers.

Speaker 2 (10:51):
They're open to saying, hey, I think we can make
a difference in the life of a child that's a
little bit older. So we see all across the spectrum.
I would say those first time parents really tend to
think more towards the younger children.

Speaker 1 (11:03):
Did you point Alabama? On the Alabama Radio Network, I'm
speaking with Herbie Norl from Lifeline Child's Services Herbie, tell
how many people do you usually see placed in a
year through your through lifeline? Is it in a number
of tens, hundreds, thousands in Alabama?

Speaker 2 (11:20):
Yeah, so we definitely see over one hundred just talking
about Alabama, see a hundred children that are placed through
our Alabama programs both domestically but also internationally and through
foster care. You know, what we see a lot in
Alabama is a lot of relative placements, so grandmother, grandfather, aunts,
and uncles adopting their relatives. Probably in any given year,

(11:42):
we have between three hundred and five hundred placements in
the state of Alabama that are non relative, meaning a
non relative family adopting either domestically or internationally.

Speaker 1 (11:52):
I was going to say, how common is it that
the child is already known to the adoptee versus the
adopter versus a situation of I'm looking for a child.
You guys get out the big book or the online
book and you start going through. Is it more the
case that it's a known child or is it more
the case that it's we're looking to see who is
a good fit based on profile, not necessarily based on

(12:14):
who you knew, or who's a family friend.

Speaker 2 (12:16):
Yeah, So typically if you're looking just at foster care,
and so in the state of Alabama we have about
nine thousand kids in foster care. When you're looking for
permanence through adopted families, for those kids in foster care,
the first check is always going to be with a
biological family. As a matter of fact, they're not going
to even look at a non relative adoption until they've
exhausted every potential relative, both in state and out of state,

(12:38):
that could bring permanence to that child. When you talk
about every other adoption, typically we're looking at non relative placements.
And so most of the time, when a woman is
making an adoption plan domestically, for instance, and she needs
another resource, she's already exhausted her familial resources and or
seen her familiar resources as unfit for whatever reason, and

(12:59):
so when she's looking, she's looking for a non relative.
I would say as well, Internationally, certainly we have helped
many families who have a relative that is living in
an orphanage overseas and they're trying to seek them. I
would still say the majority of those placements are non
relative placements.

Speaker 1 (13:16):
We alluded to this a little earlier, but talks in
more depth with regard to the cost for the adoptive parent.
Like I said, I know it is palpable, but one
of the reasons why is to prove that you have
some skin in the game, you really want to do this.
This isn't just like adopting a puppy. This is like
a very serious decision. So there are costs, but for
a lot of what would otherwise be a very stable

(13:36):
and loving family, the cost puts things out of reach.
What are some places people can turn to to, you know,
kind of defray that cost.

Speaker 2 (13:43):
Yes, the first thing is Alabama has a state tax
credit for those families that are adopting up to five
thousand dollars. A lot of families don't realize that, and
that's a credit that's very lucrative against your state taxes,
and I know most people are going to my state
tax bills never that high. There's also a federal adopts
adoption tax credit that's about fourteen thousand dollars. And then
what I would encourage every family is there are tons

(14:05):
of granting opportunities. If you go to Lifeline child dot
org and look at fund your Adoption, we list a
ton of places that will give grants and money to
families that are seeking to adopt. We've never had a
family that cost became the true burden of why they
didn't adopt. Cost can be defraid. As a matter of fact,
we have a lot of these granting organizations that are

(14:26):
calling us going send us more families. We have more
money than you're sending us family. So right now the
money is there for a family to adopt. We've just
got to match them with those resources. And it's really
becomes then more of a do I have the motivation,
Do I have the ability at home? And do I
have the space in my family to be able to adopt?

(14:46):
And then last, and I don't want to avoid the
rest of our conversation, do I understand the cost? The
non financial cost that's involved, The cost of needing to
be more intentional with this child, The cost of knowing
that this child is bringing in her and pain and
trauma and loss that I've got to be more intentional with.
Those are the costs I would hope a family would
count more than the financial cost. Because even though I

(15:08):
could I could sit here and give you all the
numbers and facts and figures, I can also easily tell
you all the organizations that will pay that cost for you.
The bigger thing is, are you as a family ready,
do you have the resources to raise that child? And
can you really manage the needs of that child in
your home?

Speaker 1 (15:25):
And I also know that a lot of faith based
organizations make it a priority to help children our parents
who are looking to adopt find ways to raise money
to be a fundraisers through the church. Sometimes the church
itself has a as a like a fun granting board
that says, you know, we had we put aside this
much money for adoption every year, and you know you
can apply and get grants from your from your church

(15:46):
as well.

Speaker 2 (15:46):
Yeah, even this last you know, last month in November,
I was able to travel to several churches in our
state and over and over I had families that came
up and said, yeah, my church help pay this. You know,
show Hope is a great organization. They help pay this
life soong help pay this. And then even some families
that said Lifeline helped us. We have our Hope Adoption
fund even at Lifeline to help dephrase some of the

(16:07):
costs for families. So again, getting those grants, getting that
support is not hard, especially in the State of Alabama.
The bigger thing is definitely going to be can I
maintain Can I bring a stable home to this child
for the long term?

Speaker 1 (16:21):
Herbie, I was just thinking about this. You know, there's
these things that are popping up all of the state
called baby boxes where parents can go, Usually a mother
can go and with no questions asked, drop an infant off.
Usually it's at a fire station or something like that.
I think there's four or five of them. Now, have
you guys been the recipient of any of these children
that have been surrendered at one of these baby boxes?

Speaker 2 (16:40):
So we have a couple we've seen what we would
call is a drop in adoption. Typically, what those those
boxes are doing is they're going through the state registry
and every licensed child placing agency. They're kind of a
rotating through those and so when we come up, we've
gotten the call and certainly we're going to find the
home for that child. You know, certainly, I would hope,
hope that any woman would know in the state of

(17:01):
Alabama that we are a completely open state. You don't
have to fear retribution if you don't feel like you
can parent. But I know that these boxes are as
safe haven for those women who, for whatever reason in
their life, they don't feel like they can trust, they
don't want to be persecuted, they don't want to be
accused of abandonment of their child, and so having those

(17:23):
places where it's safe, it's free, it's an opportunity that's
great for those women. I would just tell all of
your listeners if you know a woman who's walking through
that situation and thinks that they cannot parent their child
and adoption is the right option, I would just tell
anyone those boxes are great. We don't need them to
go away. At the same time, encourage those moms that
they're organizations that will care for her, love on her,

(17:44):
and help protect her rights long term. The adoption as well.

Speaker 1 (17:48):
How often does that become an issue where the adoptive mother,
you know, say maybe a couple of years down in
the road, she's cleaning sober, she changes her mind, she
wants to be a part of this child's life, and
then the adoptive parents go, well, I don't know if
we want to have that person be a part of
my child. So does that ever come up or is
that kind of dealt with in a case by case basis.

Speaker 2 (18:05):
It comes up, but it's really dealt with more in
a case by case basis, and what we would do
as an organization is have those conversations with that mom
up front so that the family knows what they would
be agreeing to today or even in the future. We
keep a record so if a family says, hey, if
she ever shows back up, as you say, clean sober
wants interaction, this is our line. We're not willing to

(18:25):
cross this line. That way, we can then counsel that
mom and say, hey, we've already talked to this family.
They might be willing to send you a picture, for instance,
or they may be willing to get on the phone
with you once a year, but this is all they're
going to do. So we want to make sure we
get capture as much of that at the time of
the placement, because we don't want disenfranchised ideas or unclear

(18:46):
concepts what the future hold, both for that mom but
also for that family. We don't want any surprises for
that family who's trying to maintain normalcy and trying to
raise that child. In the same way, we don't want
to overpromise and underdeliver to a mom.

Speaker 1 (18:58):
So it sounds like lifeline. Not only you don't just
to drop the kid with the parents say all right,
have a good life. You are kind of involved as
the journey continues to sort of help all along the way,
especially with situations like that.

Speaker 2 (19:10):
One hundred percent. We would tell any family that we're
here for you to help you raise your child, and
we would tell any mom we're there for you well
past the pregnancy. Our heart and our aim is to
see these children and these women and these families so
transformed that they're able to walk in wholeness and healing.
And so that means even with adoptive families that might
be listening, we have counseling, we have education services for

(19:31):
your child. We want to come alongside of you to
help you be able to get through any hurdles or
obstacles that might come. We have families that we worked
with in nineteen eighty one that we're still very much
in contact with. As a matter of fact, just had
a child adopted in nineteen eighty five that's come back
to adopt himself.

Speaker 1 (19:46):
That's what I was going to ask about, does that
ever happen We're an adopted child realize is how important
the adoption was, What a role it played in their life,
and so they opt to adopt themselves one.

Speaker 2 (19:54):
Hundred percent as a matter of fact, And you know,
not that we were practicing numerology, but it so happened
that the hundredth child that we placed, she and her
husband ended up adopting the fifteenth hundredth domestic adoption that
we had, and it just happened to work that way.
But yeah, we have a lot of kids that have
been adopted experienced adoption that will come back and say, hey,

(20:15):
this was such a gift to me. I want to
give that gift forward to another child. The other thing
we see a lot of is biological children and families
that adoption was a reality that are coming and say, hey,
my parents adopted. I wasn't maybe the adopted child. I
was a biological child, but I saw what a gift
it was to me as a sibling, what a gift
it was to that child and my family, and I
also want to adopt. So it really is something that

(20:37):
you see the families today have been touched by adoption
in a special way in a generation past, and there.

Speaker 1 (20:43):
Are so many stories of success. If you go back
famous people that you look into the background go oh,
I had no idea that they were adopted or that
they adopted someone Ronald. I'm trying to think all the
people who have adopted or been adopted over there the years.

Speaker 2 (20:56):
Herbert Hoover, the President, Ronald Reagan adopted Michael Reagan, and
most people when Michael Reagan started his talk show had
no idea until he came out and said he was adopted,
that he had been adopted. And so a lot of
you know, we could continue to go on with the
celebrities and the people that we know, but I think
most people would be surprised of just even in your
core relationships, your sphere of influence, how many people have

(21:17):
been touched by adoption that you would have no idea.
I have the opportunity right now even to teach a
class at Sanford University, and one of my students came
up several weeks ago, had no idea to share his
own story about adoption and his mom and just different
things about his story. I would have never known just
by looking at him obviously or being around him. He's

(21:40):
just a member of this class. And so what we
don't realize is there's so many of those around us,
and what I like to say is a lot of
times the newspaper media will say, well, this child was
adopted if they did something negatively, But we don't say
stuff about a star honor student, Well they were adopted
because they're just a student. And so I think a
lot of times inadequately and incorrectly label adoption as something

(22:05):
that's less than as opposed to seeing something that's really
life giving and very fulfilling to a child and a family.

Speaker 1 (22:11):
Herbie Nor with Lifeline Children's Services for people who are
interested in perhaps beginning this journey or maybe just even
going as far as to dip their toe in to
see what it's all about. Where can people turn.

Speaker 2 (22:21):
Yeah, so they can always visit our website at Lifeline
child dot org. I would tell any person in Alabama,
you know, don't be afraid of DHR, your County DHR.
Your County DHR is a great place to go, even
to say, hey, I'd like to be a respite family
and what does that mean. That means I'm just going
to take care of a foster child when the foster
parent needs to go on have a break or have
a date or have a night out. You know, we

(22:43):
can also get you to your county offices as well.
We can help you learn about inner country adoption, domestic adoption. Certainly,
we would love to talk to anyone at Lifeline Child
dot org. Our number here in Alabama is two five
nine six seven eight one one, and then we're on
every social media at Lifeline Child.

Speaker 1 (23:00):
And so one more time, because people a lot of
times they don't have a pencil in hand when you
give the number, so one more time, a little bit
more slowly. That number again is.

Speaker 2 (23:07):
Two O five nine six seven zero eight one one.
And then if you remember Lifeline Child, we're Lifeline Child
dot org and Lifeline Child on all social media platforms.

Speaker 1 (23:19):
Herbnoo from Lifeline Children's Services. Thank you so much for
joining me. Thank you so much, John, and you're listening
to Viewpoint Alabama on the Alabama Radio Network. From Adoption
to Christmas, it's the Christmas present that every office fan
has to have the night before Christmas at dunder Mifflin,
the Office All Holiday Storybook is just out in time
for the holidays. Joining me now is the man you

(23:40):
know as Kevin Malone, Mister Brian Bamgardner, and Ben Silverman. Guys,
welcome to the show.

Speaker 3 (23:45):
Thank you so much. I hope. I just got to
do a temperature check there for everybody in Alabama. How
is everybody doing hi in Alabama?

Speaker 1 (23:53):
Well, you know, it's starting to cool off now, finally
for a Christmas time. It's starting to get down into
the forties and thirties here, just in time for Christmas.

Speaker 3 (24:01):
Well, I met more about your football team, but I'll
take a weather report anytime.

Speaker 1 (24:06):
Bama's You know, this is the first season with a
new coach, and we're doing okay.

Speaker 2 (24:10):
We lost a couple.

Speaker 1 (24:11):
Games, but the Alabama did beat Auburn and the Iron
Bowl last week, and now the playoff hopes are back live,
so I guess that's a good thing for the team.

Speaker 3 (24:20):
Okay, good good.

Speaker 1 (24:22):
I know Brian that you're a pretty big fan of football,
so that's the reason why I guess you're bringing that up.

Speaker 4 (24:27):
Yes, exactly. And he is from Georgia. I hate to
tell all my beautiful Alabama and friends. I got to
go last year and watch Alabama beat LSU and it
was arguably the greatest sporting event I ever went to.
I could not believe how fun it was, how theatrical,

(24:47):
and I will say, as an exec producer of some
massive hit television shows, including the Office, that the production
value of that Alabama football game was extraordinary to me.
Every single second, something exciting and interesting was going on,
and I am wildly impressed with the brilliant and artistic

(25:11):
performance of the Alabama fans and that stadium. Whoever runs
that show does it better than anyone in sports.

Speaker 1 (25:19):
Well, Ben, and I will point out, I'm sorry to say, Brian,
but you know Bama did beat George already this year,
so I.

Speaker 3 (25:24):
Know I know they did. That's that's why I didn't
trash talk. I just was literally just trying to take
the temperature. Now, don't talk about Vandy runs from Alabama.
Don't talk about the Vandy game though, so but at
least what I want. But anyway, so we're here to
talk about the book. And it's so hard, Brian, for
me to talk to you and not see Kevin because

(25:46):
and I know it look a little like him.

Speaker 1 (25:48):
Do you actually make the chili ever?

Speaker 3 (25:51):
I do, Yes, I'm sure the weekend after Thanksgiving they'll
beat turkey chili in my house for sure. But look
the the the night before Christmas at dunder Mifflin. This
is really meant to be a gift UH for our fans.
We started hearing over the years that families getting together

(26:13):
over the holidays, UH that bene watching streaming UH the
Office Christmas episodes and watching it together is something that
people has become a holiday tradition for them, And so
we wanted to take iconic moments from those Christmas episodes
and and and iconic moments from the character as well
and put them together written in the spirit of the

(26:37):
original Night Before Christmas poem, UH, with all of our
friends that used to work at dunder Mifflin.

Speaker 1 (26:43):
Is it the same writing quality as Threat Level Midnight?

Speaker 3 (26:46):
Hopefully it's a little miss. But I guess I guess
you'll you'll call me and let me know what you think.

Speaker 1 (26:52):
So I've got to see is Michael Scott does he
make a little appearance in this in a in a
Santa suit.

Speaker 3 (26:58):
All the I think I think it's possible. I think
the images are out there. I think you may have
hit that one on the head.

Speaker 4 (27:07):
Ran.

Speaker 1 (27:07):
One of the things that always has kind of it
makes me smile because I'm a pretty big fan of
the show as well, is seeing all of the people
the characters that have been in the show have gone
on to do other things, and it's so funny to
see people like Phyllis as sadness or here I guess
as sadness inside out. All these characters have gone on
to do these other things from the book to everything else,

(27:27):
and I guess it's neat to see them kind of
go on to It's like The Office lives on in
all these other platforms.

Speaker 4 (27:33):
One thing I will say this has been the executive
producer of the show. This was a murderer's row of talent.
It was arguably one of the greatest casts in the
history of television and entertainment.

Speaker 1 (27:49):
Well, Ben, I'm curious because one of the things that
happened with COVID is the Office. The way people do
officing is radically changed since them. I've often wondered, has
there any talk about a reboot The Office post COVID,
because offices have changed so much since then. It's almost
like seeing into another time when you watch The Office.

Speaker 3 (28:06):
Now.

Speaker 4 (28:07):
Well, we actually are in production right now on a
series set within what we will call the Office universe.
It is not a reboot in that it's not the
same cast of characters set within the same Piper Company,
but it is a show that is connected to the
office stylistically and creatively, and we are absolutely working on

(28:33):
it now. We are actually in New York City talking
to you over the World Wide Web or whatever version
we get to communicate with each other for the radio.
And we have noticed there is a big return to
work here. We are seeing the office is filled, and
the streets filled, and the hot dog stands filled with

(28:54):
people in suits. And I don't think they're wearing their
suits just for their zooms, because I know those guys
don't wear pants. So I think we've watched as people
are returning to work. But during the pandemic, the show
absolutely exploded in popularity because people kind of crave that
comedy and the comfort that the characters gave them while

(29:16):
they were at home in that difficult time.

Speaker 1 (29:18):
Brian Bomgarner and Ben Silverman, thank you so much for
joining me and for everyone else. Be sure to pick
up your copy of The Night Before Christmas at dunder
Mifflin in stores right now. Perfect stocking stuffer for your
office fans, or even those people who aren't office fans,
maybe you should be. Guys. Thanks so much for joining
us today on Viewpoint Alabama. Thank you you've been listening
to Viewpoint Alabama, a public affairs program from the Alabama

(29:41):
Radio Network.

Speaker 3 (29:42):
The opinions expressed on Viewpoint Alabama are not necessarily those
of the staff, management, or advertisers of this station