I never thought once in my entire life that in future I will become a mom of ten kids. For nine years, my husband and I tried many times to have a baby, but we faced a lot of sad miscarriages.. All we wanted was to be parents. I felt hopeless and often cried myself to sleep, asking God why this was happening to me.
We did not care how we became parents, we just wanted a child to love. When we found out that thousands of children in the U.S. foster system were already waiting for adoption, we knew that was our path. In 2009, after completing all the classes and inspections, we were officially licensed to adopt.
We applied to adopt many kids, but caseworkers kept turning us down because we had no parenting experience. It was discouraging, we could not become parents because we had not been parents yet. I felt so defeated. That Christmas, I cried, staring at our tree, wishing there were presents for a child under it.
Then everything changed. We received a call on January. A little redheaded boy named Alex from South Dakota was being placed with us; out of 200 families, they chose us. His caseworker noticed my red hair and how determined I was to adopt him. It took six months of paperwork before Alex could come home, and another 11 months before his adoption was finalized in July 2011.
Six days later, we found out the news that I was pragmatic. Despite the sickness, I was grateful that I knew it meant our baby girl was healthy. Zoey was born in April 2012. We were a family of four.
Then in 2013, our caseworker asked if we had consider adopting another redhead. A little 6 years old jams needs a family to love him. He moved in on April 26, and two weeks later, we learned I was pregnant again. James’ adoption was finalized in October, and Dash was born in January 2014. Suddenly, we had four kids in four years.
In 2015, while on a break from new placements, we were asked to care for twin baby boys for just five days. One had serious burns, and both had special needs. As I went to pick one up, I felt deep in my heart: this was my son. They never left. Over time, we adopted them, and in between, I gave birth to Bodhi in 2016 and Harlee in 2018. Due to health concerns, I had my tubes removed during my last C-section.
By 2018, we had 8 kids. But we still felt our family was not quite finished. In 2019, we met two siblings, Bree and Patrick, who were about to be separated because of past failed adoptions. We stepped in and adopted them too.
And that is how we became the Dougherty Dozen.
Life with 10 kids is busy, wild, and often chaotic. But it is also full of love, laughter, and purpose. We have had hard days, but we have always leaned on each other and our faith get through it. These 10 kids may not all share our DNA, but they are ours. They are Dougherty’s through and through.
