11/08/2024
I have to share this story because in my previous position, I had Jerren in the classroom and he was just the sweetest, smartest kid. Seeing this post on my timeline brought me to tears 🙏🏼 he always talked about his sisters and was so protective of them. This makes me so happy to see they finally have a loving family and got to stay together 🥹 adoption is so so beautiful 🧡
My husband and I started our adoption journey in August of 2022. From the beginning our plan was to adopt an infant. This quickly changed when we realized the growing number of children in foster care who are legally free for adoption and in need of a loving family.
It was early November 2022 when we came across the adoption video of Jerren, Jazmin and Juliette on the South Dakota Kids Belong website. Their video melted our hearts. They seemed so sweet and precious. From the adoption video we could tell that all three were very closely bonded to one another. I immediately sent in an inquiry to their case worker. I remember back to that Thanksgiving when I was showing our whole family their video. A part of me felt like they were already ours, but at the same time I was worried we wouldn’t be considered as an out of state family.
It was about seven months after our initial inquiry before we were chosen as their forever family. During that time I thought about them daily. Wondering what they were doing and what they were like. We prayed for God to give them the best family, even if that wasn’t us.
If you are considering adoption, I would encourage you to think about adopting from foster care. Like so many others, we went into this wanting to adopt an infant. Three kids was never our plan when we talked about building a family. Sibling bonds are often the strongest and most enduring relationships in a person's life and I’m so thankful we were able to preserve that for our kids. I see them all three playing with one another each day and it warms my heart to see how close they are and how they look out for one another.
We have been a family of five for ten months now. Justin and I went from zero kids to three overnight. We’ve had a lot of happy moments as a new family, but we’ve had some difficult ones too. I encourage anyone on this journey to give yourself grace and surround yourself with a support system you can lean on. We are blessed to have a wonderful family and friends who have stood by us and shown us so much love and support throughout this journey. Jerren, Jazmin and Juliette are all thriving. They have a big family of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins who all love them dearly!
As Jerren likes to say, “Our family is like a big puzzle and all the pieces fit together perfectly.”
Learn more about the kids waiting for a family here https://americaskidsbelong.org/project_state/south-dakota/