From Foster Care to Forever: Reflecting on Our National Adoption Day
This past Friday, on National Adoption Day November 21, 2025, our family experienced something I’m not sure I’ll ever fully find the words for. After years of uncertainty, waiting, advocating, hoping, and navigating a system that is both beautiful and heartbreaking, we officially became parents. Not foster parents. Parents.
If you have followed our journey in bits and pieces, you know that foster care is not something you walk into lightly. It’s layered. Complicated. Emotional. But on this day, surrounded by family, friends, and a judge who has been with us since the beginning, we stepped into a new chapter.
And I want to share a little of what that looked like, what it meant, and what happens now that our twins’ adoption is finalized.
A National Adoption Day Ceremony to Remember
Our adoption was scheduled on National Adoption Day, an annual celebration dedicated to raising awareness of the thousands of children in foster care waiting for permanent homes. Being part of that day felt bigger than ourselves. It felt symbolic. Sacred. It was also chaos - hundreds of people gathered with 40 children and 27 families experiencing the finality of their adoption day.
When our names were called, the judge invited us upfront as a family. We stood together, holding our twins, while many of our village filled the seats behind us. The ceremony was beautiful in its simplicity: a few affirming statements, a few legal formalities, a few tears (okay, more than a few), and then the words we had been waiting to hear:
“Your adoption is official.”
But what made the moment even more special was what happened immediately after, our boys rang their adoption bells - well actually they banged their dumb dumb suckers on them, but same thing right?!. We heard the cheers behind us but honestly for me, in that moment, all I could see were our babies. A moment we’ll replay in our minds forever.
The Meaning of Permanency
Adoption in the foster care world isn’t simply about “bringing children home.” They have already been home with us. Permanency is about something deeper:
Legal security
Emotional stability
Lifelong belonging
Knowing that no matter what happens next, we are a family, forever
For foster parents, permanency means something even more profound: the ability to finally exhale. To stop preparing your heart for goodbye. To move from parenting day-to-day to parenting for a lifetime.
Our twins will never again live under the label “foster child.”
We will never again be their “foster parents.”
We are simply, and proudly, their parents.
Choosing Their Names: Honoring Their Story
One of the most meaningful parts of adoption is the opportunity to give children their permanent names. Our twins did not have official names before entering foster care, so we carried that responsibility with the deepest respect.
We chose first names that felt right for them, names with strength, warmth, and identity.
But their middle names?
Those came from love.
We chose names that are connected to their biological family, something that honors where they come from and reflects the roots they will always have. Their story didn’t begin with us, and it was important that their names acknowledge that truth.
Names carry legacy.
And now theirs carries both connection and a new beginning.
Maintaining Family Connections
Adoption does not erase a child’s history. It does not erase the people who cared about them before we did. And it does not erase the relationships that continue to matter.
We are grateful to have a relationship with their grandmother, a woman who has shown love, support, and grace throughout this journey. She has become part of our story too, and her presence in their lives is something we value deeply.
Maintaining safe, healthy biological connections isn’t just “nice when possible.”
For adoptees, it can be grounding. Healing. Identity-shaping.
Our twins will grow up knowing they are loved not only by us, but by others who came before.
So… What Happens Now?
People often ask, “What changes after the adoption is finalized?”
In some ways, nothing.
In the most meaningful ways… everything.
What stays the same:
We keep loving them, just like we always have.
We keep showing up every day as their parents.
We keep advocating for their needs.
We keep honoring their story and supporting their development.
What changes:
No caseworkers or monthly visits
No court dates
No approvals needed for decisions
No underlying fear that one day they may leave
And perhaps the biggest change:
The mental and emotional freedom that comes with permanency.
We get to parent without a clock ticking or a system monitoring.
We get to dream about the future - school, holidays, birthdays, milestones—without holding our breath.
A Thanksgiving We Will Never Forget
This year, Thanksgiving feels different. Deeper. Fuller. Not because everything is easy now—parenting isn’t suddenly simple because the legal process is over—but because there is a new kind of peace in our home.
Our twins are safe.
They are loved.
They are ours.
And this chapter feels like the beginning of something truly beautiful.
As we move forward, I’ll continue sharing pieces of this journey - not because it’s perfect, but because it’s real. Foster care and adoption are complex, emotional, and often misunderstood paths. If our story can bring clarity, connection, or comfort to someone walking a similar road, then sharing it is worth it.
Thank you for being part of our village, whether you’ve been here since the beginning or just joined us. Your support has carried us in ways you probably don’t even realize.
Here’s to love, family, permanency, and the miracles that come from staying open—even when the journey breaks your heart along the way.
