Crowe Family

I have always wanted to adopt. When I was older, I found out that I had a biological brother from my father. As a child, my father was able to get my brother but did not and that really tugged at my heartstrings and lead me even more into this direction.

In October of 2020, my husband and I found a set of sisters, ages 13 and 10, cute as a button. Come November 2020, we were finally chosen to do an interview for the siblings. After that interview, it was boom, boom, boom. It was an emergency situation. We did weekend overnights for 7 weeks and then on 12/26/2020 the girls were officially moving in! It was a whirlwind.

The following year went by with DCS visits monthly, quarterly team meetings, etc. The girls were settling in but it was definitely a power struggle in the beginning. The older sister was used to parenting the younger one and it took a very long time to get that habit broken.

Fast forward to the end of 2021. I went through a pretty lengthy divorce. My husband one day decided that this wasn’t the life for him and left. Of course, the girls have been through an abundance of trauma and I knew this would add to it which made my heart absolutely ache because I wasn’t here to add more trauma to their lives, but I knew what I had to do. These girls were mine and they were always going to be. I went through the DCS process again and redid my license by myself. I got all my ducks in a row. Come August 2022, the girls, ages 15 and 12, were officially adopted by me and solely me.

I want people to understand that they can do this. I was 28 years of age when the girls, 13 and 10, came into my life and I was 29 years of age when I adopted them, BY MYSELF. Yes, I have people give me the weirdest of looks because I was “14” when I gave birth to my oldest and yes, I go with it every single time because she is my child, and I am her mother.

It’s funny because everyone always gave me criticism for choosing teenagers to adopt. I even told one lady that “all children need love” after she said she would never adopt teenagers because they lie, steal, do drugs, and have sex. she must have forgotten what her own teenage years were like!

I want people to know our adoption story because it’s not a fairytale. It’s not out of a storybook. It is real. It has headaches and heartbreaks, but through perseverance, I was able to give these girls a forever home and for that, I will always be grateful.