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Note: All our Adoption Stories are published as we receive them.
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Adoption Story # 1
On February 21st 2006, we received 'the call' with the news that all prospective adoptive parents eagerly anticipate --- we had been chosen! We were going to have a baby boy!
We first learned about our son approximately 9 months after our adoption journey began. Our homestudy, police checks, reference letters and profile were complete and sent out to numerous Children's Aid Societies across Ontario. We also registered with a private adoption agency and spent a lot of time networking with anyone who might be able to help us find our child.
We were hoping, however, to adopt through the Children's Aid Society because I was adopted as an infant through the Halton office.
At the end of January, our Native Child and Family Services' (NCFS) Adoption Worker called us unexpectedly to see if we were still hoping to adopt. We had registered with NCFS because my heritage is part Native and we were hoping to adopt a child with a similar cultural background. Our worker told us about a beautiful, 7 month old baby boy who we may be able to adopt. We hoped and prayed he was our son but had to remain cautious as NCFS had to consider another couple as well.
After our initial contact, we invited our worker to our home to meet with our family. We were given several 'essay' questions to answer about how we would support our son's Native culture, our comfort with open adoption and would we consider adopting a sibling should the opportunity arise. We submitted our answers and the waiting began.
We'll never forget 'the call' and how the adoption worker relayed the good news by asking, "Are you ready to paint the nursery?" There are no words to describe how we felt that day --- tears of joy, excitement and relief were just a few of the many emotions we experienced. It was hard to imagine that in less than 24 hours, we were going to meet our baby boy! We quickly called our parents, extended family and friends to share our good news and then jumped in the car and headed over to "Babies R Us."
We could hardly sleep that night and stayed up late talking about the day ahead. The next morning, we quickly readied and drove down to Native Child and Family Service's office in Toronto. Ashleigh took us into a small meeting room at the back where we anxiously waited for our son to arrive with his foster family. There were many infants in the lobby that morning and we kept peeking through the blinds hoping to catch a glimpse of our son. Finally, the moment we had been waiting for arrived when Ashleigh entered the room carrying the most beautiful baby we had ever seen.
The worker placed this beautiful bundle of joy into my arms and he sat very quietly staring deeply into both of our eyes. He was eight months old on the day we met him. One of the first things we both noticed about him was his beautiful, dark brown hair and how much of it he had! We each took turns holding our baby while the other videotaped and captured memories we'll treasure for years to come.
In the days that followed, we spent many hours at his foster home bonding with him and learning his schedule. The foster family taught us how he liked to be rocked, fed, diapered and bathed. Neither of us had ever changed a diaper or had much experience with a baby so we were grateful for the foster family's expertise and care they had taken with our son.
Our son came home forever on March 3rd, 2006. To say that the past few months have been incredible would be an understatement. We love being parents to this little person and feel so grateful to have been chosen as his parents. He will always know that he was adopted and the great care and love so many people took in bringing him home to us. The Native culture and respecting traditions like not cutting his hair before his first birthday is something we have honoured and will continue to do so.
Looking back, it's hard to remember our lives without our son or having a conversation that doesn't revolve around him and what he's doing now and how cute his little voice is when he says 'Hi'. He is such a joy and proof that dreams really do come true.
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Adoption Story # 2
Over 2 years ago now we started our long adoption journey. We were very anxious to start our family so we jumped on the international adoption ban-wagon. We falsely believed that this would be the most predictable form of adoption with guarantees of placement within 18 months. After losing a year and a half of time and money, our international adoption plan fell through. We believe that everything happens for a reason and a perfect example of this was that on the same week that our first plan fell through, our social worker encouraged us to contact NCFS.
We filed our papers with them and within 3 months had a proposal for a 2 year old little girl. We were excited and terrified all at the same time. Having an infant was never important to us, especially since we were aware of all the toddlers currently in care, however we knew there were challenges with older children.
Upon meeting our daughter for the first time we were amazed with how intelligent she was. She was timid at first but with the help of Dora the Explorer stickers she let us both in, and so began the bonding experience. After a month of daily visits our daughter joined our family and our placement journey was complete. A new journey of adjustments and attachment began for the three of us.
Our daughter’s world changed completely, from environment to food, routine to lifestyle and yet she was so resilient. There was a definite honeymoon period that lasted for a couple of months followed by a period where she constantly pushed us to see how far she could get and to see how secure her place in our family was. She has had several fears of new things and some confidence issues but with love and encouragement she has managed to get passed them all and to be able to feel pride in her accomplishments.
We still can’t believe the changes in her over such a short period of time. She is a cuddly, loving, and attentive child who is always laughing and smiling. Of course there have been challenges as with any adoption but it has been wonderful to be able to sit down with her and be able to talk with her about her thoughts and her new life. The best part of our toddler adoption has been watching how quickly she is growing, learning, and adapting in her own way with her own personality. We love her dearly and are so happy that we had the courage to be open to a toddler adoption.
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