Adoptive Parents Stories

Woodward Adoption Story

Clark and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary with our 24-day-old son Joseph Michael.

When we married, we were both still young and did not want to start a family. We loved to travel, so we ventured off to exotic places like Europe and Central America. By the time we approached 30 years of age, we agreed it was time to start a family.

Unfortunately, this was not going to happen. Basically, my 32-year old body was going through menopause early. After consulting fertility specialists, we decided to try egg donation. After (finally) finding a viable donor, we were saddened to learn she was a carrier of the cystic fibrosis gene. At this point, Mark and I considered not having children at all.

However, I began asking questions to colleagues, interviewing adoption attorneys and meeting with agencies. A woman I worked with knew someone who had recently adopted a child from Volunteers of America. I called. We quickly filled out our questionnaire and were thrilled to learn we were chosen for that year's adoptive pool.

Before adopting Joseph Michael, we were picked to be the parents of another beautiful baby. We got to spend four days with a precious baby girl whose birthparents changed their minds before signing the surrender papers. We were devastated. We believed this little girl was the child God intended us to keep forever.

However, when we met Joseph’s birthparents, we realized this was the child and family He intended for us. Mark and I have such a strong relationship with Joseph’s birthparents because we have similar interests and backgrounds. Our adoption is very open with e-mails, phone calls and visits from the birthparents and birth grandparents. In fact, when we were chosen, we had only picked out girls’ names. It never occurred to us to pick a boy’s name. When our birthmother said Joseph Michael is a family name, we informed her that we liked the name and we would be happy to keep it.

I don’t want to say that the path getting him was not rocky at times, with quite a few detours along the way. I now understand the love God intended us to share with a precious child. We are so grateful for the pitfalls because they led us to the most wonderful joy Mark and I could ever begin to experience.

Barrouquere Adoption Story

Before Jim and I married, we knew we would probably not have children the "natural way" because of the health risk to my body. Because we waited until we were over 30 years old to marry, we decided it would not be worth the risk to try to conceive a child given my medical circumstances.

We were not even aware that Volunteers of America's Adoption program existed or that anyone still did domestic adoptions until one of Jim's co-workers adopted a child.

We made the call to Volunteers of America and promptly completed all applications. We felt we were not quite ready for a baby (Jim was still in school) but we felt that it would be in our best interest to "get on the list." Neither of us expected to have a baby in 2000. In a few months we were informed we were about to be new adoptive parents. Our first thought was, "This is such bad timing." In fact, this turned out to be quite the opposite.

Anna came into this world, and our lives have not been the same since. We had no idea of the vast capacity for love we could have for another human being. The timing was actually perfect because Jim was able to come home during the day to be with her. I guess God knew what the best timing was for us!

We are grateful that everything happened so fast, but also feel a little guilty knowing that some couples wait a long time. We are also grateful to Volunteers of America for helping us with Anna.

When we tell others that we adopted a child, the first question usually is, "From what country?" We are impressed with the extent of counseling provided and that Volunteers of America takes care of the interests of adoptive parents and birthparents. We now believe that open adoption "makes sense" and fosters trust on both sides.