We are an infertile couple who are high school sweethearts (together 25 years) have been given a chance to adopt our foster son who has been with us for 9+ months since he was 3 days old. Birth mother wants us to adopt and on top of this she even signed the affidavit forms and got a defense attorney. The problem is that we are foster parents "nonessential parties" and she met us after losing partial custody of her child. Child services are determined to send him to Texas to the family who has legal custody of our foster son’s half sister. However, they are NO kin to our foster son and have no intentions in keeping him connected to his biological family. Birth mom wishes are being ignored and she also wants us to adopt her unborn son (she is 7 months pregnant), but the county states that they will first get custody again and choose for her instead of her wishes.  

For 20 years my husband and I have been trying to get pregnant and were told that we have a 2% chance of even having a biological child. Unfortunately, we have experienced over 37 losses via reproductive procedures and multiple miscarriages. We’ve invested nearly $100,000 in treatments and tried everything you can google. Furthermore, there have been corrective surgeries done on both of us, nothing has worked. The dozen fertility specialists we have seen over the years are baffled by the lack of results of their treatments.  We finally gave up on the idea of having a child of our own and now have a chance to become permanent parents to our foster son.

We’ve also tried adoption and had (2) failed processes (both birth mothers changed their minds at last minute). That is why we are NOT backing down from this case since Birthmother WANTS us to adopt and the child has already attached to us.  To finally have someone say and give us the right to adopt a child we have fallen in love with has sent us over the moon; but it's heartbreaking to see the agency stand in the way. 

Birthmother has stepped up and shown up for TWO major meetings (Staff meeting on Nov 10th and Dec 15th the hearing with Magistrate); we are thankful for her efforts. We even reached out to the family in TX, shared with them our story, but they are determined to adopt our foster son. 

All we want is a PERMANENT FAMILY, a child we can raise from birth to adult. Is that too much to ask for? We are hoping your signature on this petition can help bring awareness to the Foster Care community and help show Children Services that foster parents ARE essential in the matters of custody of foster children, especially when the birth mother is choosing the family for her child!