My husband and I met as teenagers working at a grocery store. After ten months of being coworkers, we started dating. From the beginning, we felt certain that marriage was in our future. After almost seven years together, we finally tied the knot. We were excited about the future and all it would bring especially starting a family.
We had talked about adoption a little before marriage. Back then, we thought if we ever did it, it would be international. Foster care wasn’t something we had really thought about. We were both unfamiliar with it and had no background in it but life took us in that direction anyway.
It all started when a friend of mine posted about her foster care journey on Facebook. She shared openly about the process and the children she was caring for. Through her, I realized there was a real need for families to foster young children. Around that same time, we heard a guest speaker at church who had adopted five kids through foster care. That night, my husband and I gave each other a look that said, “We could do this.”
We were 26, living in a big house, and had room in our hearts and lives to help a child who needed a temporary home. So, we signed up for foster care classes and began the process. The whole process wrapped up in roughly four months.
In May 2015, we got a call for a 3-year-old boy. His mom was homeless, and there was nowhere for him to go. We said yes, just like we had with other calls, but this time, they picked us. Thirty minutes later, he was in our arms.
He stayed with us for six months before going back to his mom. It hurt deeply, yet we truly felt joy for her. Thankfully, she wanted us to stay in his life. A year later, she asked if he could come live with us again. That stay turned into months, and eventually she asked if we’d co-parent with her. After a long court process, we were granted joint custody.
Over the next few years, we welcomed 14 more children into our home. Some were with us briefly, while others left a lasting impact. We eventually adopted four of them three through the foster system and one from another state. Each child came with their own story, struggles, and beauty. We’ve also built special bonds with their birth families and grandparents, something we truly treasure.
We never imagined this would be our life when we said “why not” to foster care. But that one decision brought us so much love and joy. If you’re wondering whether you can do it too maybe the answer isn’t “yes” just yet. But maybe, just maybe, it’s “why not?”
