Joe and Stephanie's Open Adoption Journey

Stephanie and Joseph

Merritt Island, FL

Our adoption journey is one that has been many, many years in the making and one that only God could have orchestrated. Stephanie's mom is adopted and she has always felt like adoption would be a part of how she grew her family someday. When she met Joe in 2014, while he had never before considered adoption, was quick to jump on board. We first reached out to an agency in the fall of 2017 in New Mexico. We were called to begin our homestudy process in February of 2019 but Stephanie had recently discovered she was pregnant and the adoption process was paused until our son, Elijah, was a year old. However, the agency had to close so in December 2020 we submitted our first paperwork with Adoption Assistance Agency in Texas. After becoming "home study ready" in spring of 2021, the agency merged with Nightlight Christian Adoptions in fall of 2021. We ended up moving to Florida for an incredible job opportunity for Joe in late spring of 2022. Finally, in February of 2023 we matched with a Florida expectant mother and baby boy S was placed into our home 4 days later. However, due to some very unique legal circumstances with birth mom, our adoption is yet to be finalized. These extra legal fees and additional post placement visits have put us well outside our expected adoption budget. Joe's work has a compensation program which has been incredibly helpful, but we have reached our limits with it and finalization and its extra fees are still on the horizon. We could really use the support as this adoption becomes finalized.and appreciate this platform to help us acomplish that goal. 

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