One Family's Story
March 2009

About fourteen years ago, a New Jersey couple flew home from Texas, devastated that their adoption plan had fallen through.  After six month of support, the birthmother left town, baby in tow.  The couple resolved to move on and forget about adoption.

Three weeks later, the couple received a phone call that would change their lives forever.  A baby had been born and his birthmother had terminated her legal rights; in looking through various portfolios, liked this couple from New Jersey.  They were older, as was she, liked rock music were independent thinkers, again, like she was.

The couple flew down again, only this time, the tears splashed were tears of joy over this beautiful baby boy.  Although they did not meet his birthmother, they did leave behind letters and photos, and continued to send them to the agency.

Two and a half years later, another life-changing phone call from the agency left them speechless.  Their son’s birthmother had returned to the agency to see the photos and read the letters, and she had a question: was this couple interested in adopting her unborn baby?  Of course the answer was yes, and almost three years later, a beautiful baby girl joined this family.  This time, the couple met their children’s birthmother and spent some precious hours laughing, crying, and getting to know one another.

The support of everyone at Adoption Services Associates was life-saving.  They’d warned us about the possible disruption and we refused to believe them. They were helpful and told us over and over that this was not meant to be our child, that the baby we were meant to be with just hadn’t been born yet.  ASA kept our file on their priority list, and they called us every few days just to check up on us and give us moral support.  They were simply wonderful with us and I can’t begin to imagine how wonderful they are to the birthmothers they counsel.

It’s hard to believe it’s been so long!  Our son is almost 14 and he has been quite an adventure!  He is brilliant, strong, tall, athletic, with a mind of his own.  He is kind and loving, sometimes stubborn, and very independent.  He does not take no for an answer and he can sometimes grind you down with his logic, but he knows what he wants and he works hard to achieve his many goals.

Our daughter is sweet, compassionate, with a heart of gold, a sense of humor, and an amazing ability to befriend everyone.  She is very intelligent, also very athletic, she is always happy, and knows how to get what she wants as well, only with charm, a bright smile, and a special way with people who simply love to be with her.

Our one regret in all this is that we lost contact with their birthmother.  I just want her to know that the children are amazing.  They are both A students, excellent competitive swimmers (both qualified for our state Junior Olympics), and are happy, well-adjusted and have many friends.  Both are involved with community service, and both are ambitious and have set goals for themselves.  Although we don’t talk about adoption as we once did, it’s still part of them, and their birthmother is never far from my thoughts.  If she were ever to read this, all I can say, is thank you for our family.  I hope we made you proud.