“I was at lunch with friends when my phone rang. I didn’t pull it out of my coat pocket. Soon, I got this overwhelming feeling to check it. My heart literally stopped. ‘It’s the adoption agency.’ I could barely get the words out. Both my friends yelled, ‘IS IT A BABY?!’ I rushed outside. There was a 2-pound baby born 3 months early. ‘He’s not breathing.’ We were presented a long list of medical issues. ‘Are we ready? Can we even do this?!’ We decided to let fate take over.”
‘Tell me about when you CAME OUT.’ We left the interviews feeling a sense of ‘otherness.’ ‘Why does that even matter?’: LGBT couple adopt medically-complex baby boy from NICU
‘She’s not pregnant. I’m sorry to be the one to tell you.’ She’d been scamming us.’: Lesbian couple catfished during fake adoption, ‘thankful for difficult journey that led us to our son’
“I had an odd feeling. ‘Hmm, maybe I should do a little detective work of my own.’ I entered the ‘birthmother’s’ phone number and was confused when it came back. I searched this name and found a profile for a girl who looked nothing like the photos we’d been sent. I dialed the phone. He fell silent.”
‘Someone at school told me you’re gay.’ I couldn’t keep this secret any longer. I poured my heart out to her. I thought I’d lost my friend. Until my phone pinged. ‘I like you, too.’
“We hid, for months. People started to suspect our relationship. We were pelted with rocks while waiting for the bus. We were spat on. Soon, her mom found out. They moved her 10 hours away. I barely had any contact with her. As the train arrived on the platform, she was waiting for me.”
‘I saw his tiny little head emerge. ‘Shirts off!!’ Baby was placed on Frank’s chest. I wrapped my arms around my husband and our son. She made our dreams come true.’
“We were instantly overwhelmed with love that we began crying! She gave us a family. It was the most powerful moments of our lives. There were a lot of revelations from this photo. ‘I didn’t like gay people before I saw your photo, and my mind is changed.’”
‘My wife sat me down. ‘We are going to adopt.’ l couldn’t bear letting her down. I wanted to yell out, ‘That’s not fair to the child.’ I had my first panic attack.’
“Despite my ‘advanced maternal age,’ everything looked great. We naively thought getting pregnant would be easy for us. I felt stuck in the middle of two worlds.”
‘My kids were born addicted to numerous street drugs. Their bio mom, then and now, has chosen addiction over them.’: Same-sex couple take in 3 ‘neglected’ children, long to become a ‘big, permanent part of 5’
“My boy was found by CPS unattended with a full, wet diaper and a bottle of curdled milk. His 4-year-old brother answered the door because their bio mom and her boyfriend were asleep with the door locked. My wife and I have been to every appointment, school function. We tuck them in every night, kiss every boo-too, and love them more every day. But we’re not yet their ‘parents,’ legally. This woman, who has a total of 6 kids, the most recent also born addicted to drugs is their ‘mother.’ We don’t ever plan on stopping until we have officially adopted our babies.”
