For nearly two years, we’ve been keeping a big secret on the blog. You may recall that back in the late summer/early fall of 2017 both Tiffany and Audrey welcomed baby boys into their families and the OAAM team. Well, those little guys weren’t the only newbies!
In fact, several weeks before their arrivals, my family welcomed a new baby girl. She came to us on a hot August afternoon, just two days old and with only about four hours notice. We had been chosen to be her foster family.
If you are like most of the people I’ve shared this story with, I’m sure you have lots of questions racing around in your mind about our baby girl, her birth family, our experience as foster parents, the foster care system in general, how we even decided to start this whole journey in the first place. I’m sure they are all great questions! And I could probably write a whole new blog just about foster care and adoption. But I’m going to keep it simple today.
Today, I’m just going to tell you that about three years ago my husband and I started the process of becoming licensed foster parents in Connecticut. We had home visits, and months of trainings, and more home visits. We filled out mountains of paperwork that detailed nearly every part of our personal, professional and financial histories. We got references. And more references. And background checks from every state that we have lived in.
And then we had some more home visits.
Finally, after over a year of working and waiting, we got our license.
And just a few short days later, we got a phone call.
The rest, as they say, is history. Almost two years later we have now officially adopted our daughter. And we can’t wait for you to meet her!
Because of confidentiality requirements for foster children, we couldn’t put pictures of her online, so obviously that meant no appearances on the blog. Of course, that doesn’t mean she wasn’t right there with us on all our blog outings!
She was there when we scoped out the new Jonathan’s Dream Playground.
We toted her with us when we visited The Children’s Museum in West Hartford.
She was chillin’ at the new Charter Oak Park Playground in Manchester and she hung out with us at Harry’s Place in Colchester.
She was tagging along at the Connecticut Trolley Museum.
She had her first ice cream at the Durham Dari Serv. She fed the animals at Manfredi Farms. She was a spectator at Hidden Valley Mini Golf (we wheeled her around the course in a stroller– that was an adventure all in itself! Haha!).
She picked apples at Dondero Orchards. She pet the baby goats at Southwick’s Zoo. She played at Northwest Park in Manchester. She explored the new playground at Bushnell Park.
She chowed down with us at the Chef’s Dog House and at Rita’s. She and I even tagged along on Audrey and Bean’s latest outing to the Connecticut Audubon Center.
We can hardly remember a time before this little girl was a part of our lives. We are so thrilled and proud and blessed to call her our daughter.
And our boys are equally excited to have a sister!
We can’t wait to share more adventures as an official party of five 🙂
If you have been thinking about becoming a foster/adoptive parent in Connecticut and have questions about foster care or adoption, please visit this website or call 1-888-KID-HERO to learn more. I would encourage anyone to attend one of the Open House sessions. It’s a great way to find out if foster or adoptive care is right for your family, and there’s no commitment.
Congratulations, she is adorable! We’ve adopted 4 kids through foster care and can completely relate to this story- not be able to share pictures and not wanting to talk publicly until you know for sure what the future holds, is so hard… yet, so worth it.
Thanks, Michelle! You are so right. Already all of the difficult memories are fading away and there is just joy 🙂
Am I reading this correctly? You became foster parents and a few weeks later biologically had your son?! (Apologies if I’m not using the correct terminology). Wow!! That’s just incredible!! What a wonderful gift for everyone!!
Hi Heather! Oops! I can see how that was confusing 🙂 That’s actually one of our other blogger’s (Audrey) sons in that picture. He was born just three weeks after we got our baby girl placed with us. Audrey and I hang out a lot so our babies have been very close! My two boys are older; they are (almost) 6 and 9 now, so they were 4 and 7 when baby girl was placed with us and such great helpers! I don’t know what I would have done without them 🙂
My husband and I finished our training and are in home study process as a foster to adopt family. Thank you for your story today! I worry about the process, pictures, my two boys….thank you for showing happy success!
That’s so amazing! Best of luck! It is a journey full of ups and downs, but ultimately so rewarding. The one thing I wish I had done differently was to stay in contact with the prospective foster parents who had been a part of my training group. Having the support of people who know what you are going through is invaluable. If you are in CT, you can also take advantage of CAFAF (CT Alliance for Foster and Adoptive Families) support groups that meet regularly. We should have done that more too! We finally went to one near the end of our foster journey and it was like a revelation to sit around a table with all other foster parents who immediately “got it.” So that’s my best advice. Find yourself a great support group. It will make everything easier! And please feel free to reach out to me (outandaboutmomshawna@gmail.com) if you’re ever in need of support. There are no crazy questions! I’m certainly not an expert, but foster families need to stick together 🙂
Congratulations!! What a beautiful story!
Thanks, Victoria!
Congratulations! We have added three to our original three through foster/adoption. We know the type of patience needed for the process. We have used your blog well to find outings for our crew. Thank you.
That makes me so happy to hear that! Thanks for sharing, Kayla!