A Michigan Adoption Story

[Music] hello my name is k I am a foster adoptive parent and I have been a foster SL adoptive parent for 10 years hi my name is Christian I'm 20 years old my name is jevin I'm the youngest child and I'm 18 years old I became a foster parent and just helping the kids out was like my goal with what I've done the actual opportunity to become an adopted parent came with my first child they asked me hey do you want to keep this child and I was like well yeah he's a part of me so yeah I'm going to keep him here I am five kids later that I've been adopted [Music] so Looking Back Now were there any like fears going into to it that you think oh my gosh yeah there was a lot of fears um just taking in a a young one who has been through so much and to say okay I have a normal life for you and knowing that when I did this and the kids look at me like yeah but you have no idea what I've been through there would be times that that would frighten me I'd be like oh my gosh can I handle this can I handle this but taking it day by day talking with them communicating is a huge thing what I what is what I try to install on these kids a lot of the challenges especially with older children is that number one everything that they have seen in life to like reprogram them to say this is what I have to offer this is what's my you know this is what my family is about a lot of it is more give and take and you have to be able you have to be willing to give and you have to be able to take what comes and and work with it when you're dealing with a teenager I I really really have to push the fact that you need to listen you need to listen to them [Music] thanks they have taught me more about myself as far as being a a humanit Aran um where my compassion comes in where my understanding comes in they have taught me a lot about my strengths um as far as being an open person they have taught me a lot about my weaknesses which is patience You Know spoken by the true [Music] one they have really taught me that there's more to life out there than what I was how I was brought up there was a lot more to life that I just did not even know [Music] existed what have I learned from k um let's see when I came here I was what 16 so coming in here I had to learn and adapt to different surroundings because foster kids nowadays they go through so many foster care workers and they go through so many homes in a matter of a year so I've learned just yeah patience one you know having just like being able to talk to somebody and knowing my role in the family how about you Christi um alone to let things go I came in the house like I H everything in when I goty Hill did not talk to no one really like kept all my Mes in now he's just oh yeah [Music] we're what advice would you give to a family that is a about to taken be patient yeah got be patient because because if you're most most people want to adopt younger kids and that's because you know what's the saying their cup isn't full like they there's still stuff they haven't learned in life when you get older you're start you build on what you know so yes just got to be patient cuz it it comes in time once you get comfortable and they get acclimated to your systems so to all of oh there's a lot of benefits to this folks let me tell you built-in babysitter built-in Shenanigans when you're dealing with older ones the trust can be built a little bit quicker because they they already know right from wrong they know you know what's expected of them they know that they know their [Music] limits [Music] I've had 13 placements total so far and I say that so far because I'm not done yet but um they're like oh God you already know yeah so but I also find that especially dealing with multiple teens that they learn to work with themselves these two here you would never know that they've only known each other for a short amount of time you would think that these guys were like around since birth they' just just they found their common ground and they work with it and they keep working with [Music] it I think it's important to adopt teens because if they're coming into foster care at a teenager age they want out they don't they're not trying to be in this situation forever they want a family and the adoption once you're a teenager it's on you like it's nobody else's Choice anymore if you want to be adopted it's purely your choice and it's something that you have to be committed to when I when I talk to people about adoption cuz I get questioned about it all the time why adoption why are the older ones well a lot of it is if I feel that I have something that I can give them and as well as something they can give me you couldn't ask for anything more there is nothing else more that that's what a family is if you had told me 10 years ago this is where my life would have been I would have said no way there's no way um I have learned so much from them as much as they have learned from me that I feel we just have a it's just a strong bond oh oh now you want to be on the camera okay you want to be in okay welcome to my family oh yes

Channel: VideosbyMARE

Views: 327,525

Keywords: Mare, Michigan adoption, adoption, foster care, foster youth, older child, special needs, foster care adoption, special needs adoption, older child adoption, child adoption, adopt a child

Id: XlbFKhiBwDk

Length: 7min 28sec (448 seconds)

Published: Fri May 20 2016