Amy's Story: My adopted brother

Thank you to Amy for sharing her story with me and allowing me to share it with you.

My parents had talked about adoption for as long as I could remember. However, it wasn’t until I was 14 that they got serious about it. 

After some home studies, personal interviews, psychological examinations, fingerprinting, criminal history checks, and written essays, the paperwork was sent off.

It’s crazy how things work out. My parents wanted to adopt a sibling group of girls. They already had three girls and felt that more girls would be easiest. 

However, all my life I wanted a brother. My sisters don’t hike or wrestle or climb trees or watch the ‘cool’ movies and this was my only opportunity. I pleaded, begged, hinted, and prayed for a brother. 

The very day after our paperwork was posted, we received a phone call from the social worker (we went through a dozen or so of them during this adoption process, but I’m reasonably sure this one was a woman). 

She told us that she had a ‘medically fragile’ two month old baby boy for us at the hospital. My mum politely explained that the social worker must have the wrong paperwork, because we wanted a girl. 

Ultimately, my mum was convinced to go and meet him. 

“You don’t have to take him,” the social worker explained.

We’re talking about my mum now who has adopted half a dozen pets so they would have someone who loved them. 

Just like that, I had a brother! You’ve never met a happier girl.

When we met him, he was a scrawny thing!

At two months old he weighed about siz pounds. He’d been born several weeks early, had been resuscitated twice at birth, had multiple emergency surgeries, had a stroke and initially had been given very low odds of survival. His biological mum was a drug addict and had caused him a whole host of medical issues. 

But holy cow, was he was ever so cute! 

It was love at first sight for me!

I saw this tiny, stubborn, scrappy little man and from that moment forward, the sun rose and fell on his shoulders (and boy, does he know it!). 

They had a poor prognosis on him. They weren’t sure if he would talk, if his biological mums drug use would permanently affect him, or what his future looked like. 

Initially he was delayed. Eye contact was hard for him and typical motor control developed far later than it should for kids. But he’s never let anything hold him back for long.

You’d never know any of this by looking at him. As a six foot one, straight “A” student in high school, the young man has plans to be a mechanical engineer. 

He and I run races together in the summer. He loves backpacking, running track, snorkeling and climbing trees. Apart from my husband, he’s my best friend. 

It wasn’t easy. 

He wasn’t legally free to be adopted until he was four and there was always a risk that his mum may try to get him back. 

There were ups and downs and a lot of physical and speech therapy. Sometimes, he’s a ridiculous pain in the butt, though I hear that’s the case with all brothers, so that may not be unique to him! 

But was it worth it? 

Oh, absolutely! In fact, so much so that my husband and I plan to adopt in a few years. And my little brother is begging and praying for a nephew.