At 28 and 30 years old, my husband and I would never had expected to be raising 4 kids. Both of us come from very difficult circumstances where we had a tough family life and lived with poverty. We have risen from this adversity as strong and resilient people and, as we prepared to bring our first child into the world, I want to make sure he’d grow up better than I. Cosmos, my husband, wanted to ensure that our son wouldn’t have to worry about where his next meal came from while I wanted to give him the love and support that I needed as a child.

It has been an eventful 5 years since my son, Estevan, was born. This year has been especially eventful with our family doubling in size. Estevan has brought us so much joy. He is a bright and funny kid who loves to be around people. He is just a social butterfly and this was a sign for me that he wasn’t meant to be an only child. We wanted to give him a sibling however, this was medically challenging for me. Having a big family was important to us too but, it didn’t seem likely that I’d have another child naturally. Cosmos and I had options but, nothing felt quite right. In my heart, I knew that, instead of going through the pain of medical procedures, we wanted to look into adoption.

There are many kids in foster care who need a good home. We knew that adoption was going to be a long process. We took classes and we learned about all the struggles and emotional distress that kids in the system go through. Despite all the work, we knew this was something we were committed to  and we wanted to see it through.

The day came when we finally received our license. We really wanted a baby and, knowing that it’d be a while before we would get our first placement, we buckled in for the wait. Unexpectedly, we received a call the next day for a one-year-old boy. Cosmos and I were both excited and nervous not knowing what to expect but, when we held him in our arms the first time, we knew it was meant to be. And so our family was full now…so we thought.

In the following days, we learned about his history and that he had siblings, four to be exact. We immediately made it our personal goal to make sure they were reunited. That week, we started making arrangements with the other foster homes so that all the kids could come visit with their baby brother who was now in our care. Our goal was that they would know their brother was in good hands and with a good family. I can clearly remember that busy day. I was running late from the store and my husband was at home cleaning the house to prepare for the visit. I was anxiously rushing to get home to meet them. I remember being so nervous to meet an extension of our newest family member; wondering what they looked like, how they acted, how they spoke. Just seconds after I pulled up my driveway, I see is this teenage girl run outside of our home towards my car opening the door looking for her baby brother. It was a bitter sweet moment. I didn’t even get a chances to say hello or take the baby out before he was in great arms. She was hugging and loving him like there was no tomorrow. His other teen sister was inside and was so delighted to see her baby brother as well. My husband and I talked that night about how horrible it must feel to be separated from your siblings from one day to another.

Not much time passed by before the option of making these girls part of our family was brought to us. After much soul searching and family talks, we made the great decision to adopt all three. Our little family of 3 grew to a loving large family of 6, and we couldn’t be happier.

Maria

Foster Parent (soon-to-be adoptive parent)