“’She’s due in 3 weeks and has nowhere to go. Would you guys please take her?’ We can’t do this. On the other hand, how could I say no? This young girl was just desperate for a mom, her mom, and she was getting me instead.”
‘You’re asking me to take in a 15-year-old teenager who is about to give birth?’ This is not what we signed up for.’: Couple become grandparents at 35, ‘She made our life better’
‘You’re running out of time.’ I was 16, infertile and robbed of my childhood.’: After 17 years of endometriosis, infertility, couple adopts two children from China, ‘at that moment, I became a mom’
“‘She called, ‘He’s here!’ I hung up the phone and went to the bathroom. I looked down to see nothing but blood. My nephew entered the world as our IVF failed. I’d never carry a child. I’d never experience pregnancy or give birth. How could this happen at this moment? The pain was immeasurable.”
‘We attract attention in the checkout line. ‘Isn’t he infected?’ My dark-haired, dark-eyed son sticks out in our otherwise light-haired, blue-eyed family.’: Adoptive mom to boy from China urges for kindness during panic, ‘We’re better together’
“The questions used to range from ‘Where is your son from?’ to ‘Is he adopted?’ or ‘Is he really yours?’ I was always able to easily satisfy people’s curiosity about our beautifully mismatched family. Until now.”
‘Hey, Mrs. Norman. Can you take a 4lb premature baby? We really need a place for him to go.’ Newborn? Baby? Preemie? ‘Are you sure you’re asking the right family?!’: Woman unexpectedly gets call to foster preemie baby
“‘Is that a yes? We can meet at Walmart. Thanks so much.’ Meet at Walmart? With a 4lb preemie? In the middle of cold and flu season? I kept my children in isolation for 6 weeks and here was a newborn heading to his first outing in the middle of winter. It was all too much to take in. I had no idea what our future with him might hold, but I did know this: no baby deserves to be alone.”
‘She’d text us, ‘I need more money.’ She saw me not as a woman to love her unborn child, but as a target. Our hearts and wallets were drained.’: Couple suffers adoption scam, ‘She broke us’
“She would make comments about finding a new family for her son if we didn’t give her the extra money, dangling her baby boy in front of us like a carrot. I truly lost my faith in humanity. She pretended to be a lot of things, but a decent human being was, by far, her greatest act. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison.”
‘At 11, his adoptive parents abandoned him at a hospital, never to return. ‘Mr. Peter, can I call you my Dad?’ I began to cry uncontrollably.’: Single dad adopts 11-year-old boy from foster care after biological, adoptive family abandon him
“I received a call from my social worker. ‘Can you take in an 11-year-old boy, just for the weekend?’ His birth family abandoned him at 2 years old and now, his adoptive family of 9 years left him at a hospital like some disposable object, never to return. All their promises of a forever family were thrown out the window. Helplessly crying tears of anger, I asked, ‘Where will he go?’ There were no family members to contact, no foster homes available. ‘He’ll be placed in a group home.’ There was no way I could let that happen.”
‘I cannot follow you anymore. You seem hellbent on being negative, on grieving a man you divorced.’ I was at the gym when I got the message from a woman I barely know.’: Woman insists by living her truth she’s ‘hellbent on being honest’
“‘Dear Natalie, I have followed you for years. I adore your boys. I love seeing your beautiful face when it is joyful. But I owe it to you to let you know, I cannot follow you anymore. You seem to be hellbent on being negative when you so clearly have so much to be happy about. I cannot have all of your constant negativity in my feed anymore.’ I was at the gym when I listened to the full 3-minute message left in my Instagram Direct Messages, from a woman I only knew through her comments.”
‘Are you her nanny?’ ‘Did you kidnap her?’ I had a mom call me her Au Pair at gymnastics. We get stared down.’: Single black mom adopts 2 white siblings, is constantly judged by strangers but urges, ‘Love goes beyond skin color’
“When I tell them I’m her mom, they reply with, ‘Ohhhh. She must look like her dad then.’ In line at stores, I get stared down. I say out loud to Elizabeth, ‘Mommy loves you!’ And she replies, ‘I love you mommy.’ That makes the people so confused. You can see their brain cells burning with confusion. Whenever she misbehaves in public, people stare so hard to see how the ‘nanny’ is going to handle it. Sometimes I say, ‘You can stop looking. I’m her mother.’ Then, I was notified she had a brother. I thought my family was complete, but I was wrong.”
‘Wen, we’d like to adopt you.’ My body was burned and abandoned on a doorstep. I was given a second chance at life.’: Burn survivor adopted from foster care system, ‘I’m so lucky to be alive and in a loving family!’
“It all started with a fire. My biological parents had bills to pay. They gave me up, knowing they may never see me again. A family reached out. I had no idea what adoption was. They didn’t look like me or talk like me. Why were they handing me gifts? Why were my foster parents crying? I didn’t know what was happening. How could I? I was only 6. Soon, I was taken away. Little did I know that plane ride would change my life forever. I was halfway across the world.”
‘You are GOOD FOR NOTHING!’ I sat in the bathroom, crying, asking, ‘Please, send me a new dad. Please!’: Young man creates his own adopted ‘family’ after surviving traumatic childhood, ‘We may not have the same bloodline, but they gave me life’
“My dad was the disciplinarian at home. DO NOT MAKE DAD ANGRY. I don’t remember hearing ‘I love you.’ From my dad. Ever. He was brought up in the traditional ‘macho’ way. He’d constantly tell me, ‘I had it MUCH worse than you growing up!’ But then something really weird began to happen at school – it made me feel warm and fuzzy. I was validated and encouraged by teachers. Wait, what? A hurricane of hormones was wreaking havoc on me. I was an angry teen who needed to fill the hole in my heart.”
