“We hadn’t had contact with her for weeks. We were basically waiting with our phones for the call. We booked a flight and moved forward, not knowing the outcome. When we arrived, we found a nurse. ‘Let’s go meet your baby!’”
’I want to reconsider keeping the baby.’ Then she changed her mind again. We booked a flight, not knowing the outcome.’: Couple recalls how disrupted adoptions led to son, ‘He is ours FOREVER’
‘When is dad coming home?’ I was 15 weeks pregnant. He hugged my daughter as if he knew he wasn’t coming back.’: Single mom left while pregnant with second child, ‘This pain has purpose’
“I hid her from it for as long as I could. I was 15 weeks pregnant when he abandoned us. He’d see her Friday. I couldn’t lie anymore. My heart shattered, and I had to force myself to hold back the tears.”
‘She’s carrying a real baby in there? And she can’t see?!’ I’m a woman with a guide dog and a chunky baby strapped to me.’: Blind mother urges ‘be kind with your words’
“I’ve been out today once and heard it all in the space of twenty minutes. Masks don’t muffle your voice as much as you think.”
‘You’re the parent who tries everything and gets nowhere, but still doesn’t give up.’: Woman pens ode to parents of children battling mental illness
“The waitlists for qualified providers are years long. Others who have no idea what it’s like to sit in an ER for days waiting for a psych bed to open insist your child’s symptoms of mental illness are a result of ‘bad parenting.’ Or worse, your child just being ‘bad.'”
I Don’t Wait For My Sister To Ask Before I Take Her Baby
“I tell her I’m taking him to the bedroom, turning on my favorite show, and he is mine for the next hour or two.”
‘They had better things to do than feed him.’ He was blue and resembled an alien. ‘OF COURSE, we’ll take him!’: Foster parents adopt shaken baby survivor
“’We have a 2-month-old baby boy, failure to thrive.’ I had never seen anything like him. My husband had tears in his eyes as the caseworker filled us in. They didn’t expect him to do much. That sweet baby boy had given up, but we were not giving up on him.”
‘A week from now marks 5 years since I married the father of my children, and the first wedding anniversary we are no longer a couple.’: Mom peacefully coparents with ex-husband, ‘I wish him everything good and more’
“I will acknowledge it as the day I married a man who is no longer my love, but who will always be in my life. And I will celebrate the 3 children we share. Till death do us part still stands, only in another form.”
‘I saw a 5-year-old being transferred to an institution. ‘We might not get him in time.’ He HAD to be ours.’: Couple adopts special-needs children, ‘Every heart needs a home’
“Our baby had his first open-heart surgery at 3 days old. The timing couldn’t have been worse for adopting someone else. We began the process shortly before heading back to the hospital. Every child deserves a chance.”
‘She’s sending me away. She says I’m a bad kid. Why doesn’t anybody love me?’ I held his little hand, crying hard. ‘Will you adopt me?’: Woman adopts boy from foster care, ‘He’s the missing piece we didn’t know we needed’
“It was a chilly fall night when Zack called. ‘My mom is out of control. I’m scared. I don’t know what to do.’ He was hiding in the driveway. I jumped into the car. ‘Nobody wants me bec—’ We quickly interjected, ‘Nope, it doesn’t matter what happened. We want you. We love you. And you always belong here, no matter what.’ In that moment, we knew he was ours.”
‘It would’ve been our 16th anniversary. ‘I miss the mess,’ is something you and I both never thought I’d say.’: Widow grieves loss of husband as anniversary approaches
“I couldn’t ever imagine a life without you, but here I am doing it. Living in spite of my dreams dying. And I miss it all.”