Our adoption journey officially began in the summer of 2019, although adoption had been in our hearts and minds for years before that. We had two biological children at the time, both girls, and were looking to add a third little girl. We were looking to the adopt from foster care, but wanted to be careful since already having two children was a major factor in what would be the best fit for our family.
We first encountered the Children’s Home at an open house at their facility, where they had activities for our kids and the opportunity to meet with adoption experts. We had talked to a couple of other agencies prior to this, but none seemed to meet our needs. When we met Erika Schmitt that day, it didn’t take long for us to be convinced that the Children’s Home was the right choice. With Erika, we immediately sensed that what we were hearing was honest and real, and that our adoption goals were achievable through them.
We started training that fall, and it turned out that much of our training would be provided by Children’s Home workers despite many of the other families using other agencies. Both Erika and her colleague Lauren Kyle taught some of the classes that we attended, and we found the training to be interactive and useful. We finished our training in early 2020 and were assigned Lauren as our worker. Lauren helped us get the remaining certification requirements completed, including our home study. We were certified to foster-to-adopt shortly after that. Lauren was our worker when our matching process began, with Erika taking over when Lauren went on maternity leave.
The matching process was a challenging one for us, with COVID
restrictions being a major factor in finding the right match. We had narrow criteria in our search, as having two other kids already gave us pause about kids of certain ages and other attributes. We attended several matching events, most of them being virtual, and found that there were very few children that fit our criteria. The virtual nature of these events made things especially interesting, as we learned through chats, etc. that there were many other families in a similar situation to ours and standing out would be difficult.
After about a year of trying to find a match, Erika suggested a new idea: a Children’s Home virtual event that would showcase the waiting families rather than the available children. We participated in the event and learned the same day about a four-year-old girl, Adalay, who might be a good match for us. Shortly after that, Adalay’s workers interviewed us and another family who they were considering. We learned that we were picked two days before Christmas of 2021.
The next year was eventful: we first met Adalay in early January, she began living with us in February (shortly before her 5th birthday), and we officially adopted her in October of 2022. There were many challenges along the way, including adjusting to the transition of bringing Adalay into our family and working through the logistical hurdles of adoption, but we got the support we needed from Erika and the Children’s Home every step of the way.
The two years that we have had Adalay have enriched our lives in so many ways. We love to see her learn, grow, and giggle like crazy with her new sisters. We are so happy to have her, and feel that our family is finally complete.
