Forums | Site Map

Home

Rachel's Foster Story

Rachel's Foster Adoption Story from Pre-Adoptive Parent and Adoptive Parent Support Adopt: Assistance Information Support Rachel's Foster Story
Rachel

Hello!! My name is Rachel. My husband and I have four children, all adopted through the foster care system. We also currently have four foster children that keep us pretty busy!

Let me tell you our story. We became foster parents the end of June 1996. Within three weeks we got our first call. This call would literally change our lives in an instant. Within two hours we had in our home twin boys who had just turned three and were so beautiful. This was not a typical placement as we knew from the very beginning that these children were going to be able to be adopted. And we did that in October of 1997. Andrew and Anthony are now 7 and the joys of our lives. In April of 1998, we had a placement that lasted ten days of a nine month old little boy. The twins knew right up front that we were taking care of this little one while his mommy and daddy got some things straightened out. They loved caring for Baby Christian but were OK when he left. 3 weeks later we got another call. This placement would eventually end up with adopting our son Evan but it was a rough process. Evan was 3 when he came to us and was a harder placement. Evan was eventually diagnosed with ADHD and is now on medication that has helped tremendously. We did twice weekly visitation with his birthparents and his three other siblings until October of that year when they all went back to their birthparents. It was hard to say good-bye after 5 months but we were all OK. We went on a mini family vacation and just celebrated being a family.

This so called reunion lasted two weeks. Things didn't go as planned by the agency and within two weeks we got a phone call from Children's Services which resulted in not only welcoming Evan home but also his then 9 month old sister, our Emma. The trip from November 98 to May 99 when rights were terminated and we started the adoption process were tough. The birthparents fought for their kids but couldn't or were not willing to do what had to be done to get them back. We never knew up until we got the phone call in May whether they would be our children or not. Thankfully they were and in January 2000 we finalized the adoption of now 6 year old Evan and 2 1/2 year old Emma.

Our lives have been so enriched and changed in the past four years and we are sooo grateful for the path our lives eventually took. Our children are our lives and we feel so blessed. We are still doing foster care and will continue to do so. We don't think we are done adopting but will wait and see what the future holds!!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Come visit JJ and friends in Chat
on Wednesdays at 9:00 Eastern time
We're just a group of adoptive Moms who would like to offer help and support to anyone trying to adopt. For many of us, we didn't know anyone who had adopted before when we started our journeys, although we wish we did. There are so many decisions to be made, frustrations, etc., that many of us wish we had had others to "talk" to about adoption. Back to Adoptive Parent Support Back to Adopt Main Index