Parenting adult adoptees is a whole new level of ‘hard’ which is also something to consider when starting out. The pre 18 years were mostly wonderful with an occasional hard spot but now we are negotiating adult emotions and feelings it is extremely hard, as we get older, to come up against anger etc from our kids as the magnitude of being placed for adoption hits them hard.

I appreciate that you are a real person and don't sugar coat things! Before we did foster care we assumed it was for rich, perfect people, probably a mental health provider or teacher who have backgrounds in child psychology. But it's not. Once I saw people in our area that foster and do it well I realized it's for real people, that aren't perfect but care and try to be better and do better each day. Thank you for showing us we are doing okay and we got this 😃

I absolutely love when adoption is plan A for the adoptive parents! I’m proud of you for actively trying to, in some ways, give a voice to the voiceless. I’m sure so many children and parents have benefited from your determination and honesty. Thank you.

Thank you so much for every video! You’re an invaluable resource as my husband and I prayerfully walk towards adoption ❤

Ours is moving pretty quickly we was licensed May 31, 2023 inquired July 17 and matched October 26

Thank you for keeping it real!! ❤

Thank you for a great video Katie!

This is soooooo helpful! ❤ We’re looking forward to a new addition (our second child) by way of public domestic adoption this year.

We matched with a sibling set and after our first visit with them their current foster home decided they wanted to adopt them. Alot happened & I got disgusted with everything and decided to stop moving forward with the adoption. I'm still sick over it all after preparing my heart & home for these two children. 😢

When you get to the presentation portion, and you happen to say no after saying yes initially, does that hurt your chances for future matches? Thanks. Great info. :)

Katie - your content is so great! My husband and I adopted our son, who is now three years old, as an infant through private domestic infant adoption and we are now beginning the process to adopt an older “waiting” child from the foster care system. Did you find that it was harder or easier to adopt your second two kids (when you already had one) then it was to adopt your first in terms of the overall adjustment? And as a second question - how long did it take your older two to bond with your youngest in terms of developing a sibling-like dynamic? Is there anything that you would suggest in terms of helping them to form that bond?

What do they think if you have a preference on gender? We have a daughter and two sons; my daughter wants a sister real bad but I dont know what they think if we asked for a girl. This is not saying I favorite one over the other at all. I love my kids all the same, she just begs for a sister so I wasn't sure.

Thank you so much for the great information! How long after your first adoption did you start matching again? We plan to have more than one, so im just curious about other peoples timelines.