JR and Melissa's Adoption
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JR and Melissa's Adoption Story...
I feel like all adoption stories are "we have always known we have wanted to adopt".... I can honestly say 100% we have always known we would adopt. Our plan was have a bunch of kids and adopt a few along the way. When we learned we couldn't biologically have children, we knew the adoption part would come sooner than later.
Our goal and love would be to adopt a child from the MN or WI kid waiting list. We both love and spend the majority of time with teens and would love to adopt an older child. As anyone who knows anything about us, you know that we love children.
The general thought for adopting from the waiting list is there is little to no cost for the adoption. We are finding that to not necessarily true. Since there are no agencies near where we live, we will be traveling to any and all of our meetings. A home study usually costs between $2,000-$3,000. There are also court fees and whatnot. All-in-all we are looking at several thousand dollars.
Here are some facts:
· There are 6,568 children in foster care in Wisconsin; 1,280 of these children are waiting for adoptive families.
· The children in care are from all cultural and socio-economic backgrounds.
· The children’s average ages are frequently school-aged, 5 to14 years old.
· Some children may be referred to as having “special needs” for reasons including:
o They are part of a sibling group and have sisters
and brothers who must be placed together.
o The child is older than 5 years of age.
I don't know if this is something everyone knows, it was a surprise when we first heard it too: a child over the age of 5 is considered "special needs". THAT IS CRAZY! Our goal would be to adopt a child over the age of 5.
JR is a pastor at Hope Community Church, volunteers as a chaplain for the City of Superior police department and is working part time at a hardware store. Melissa works at Maranatha Academy as the school secretary and spends dozen of hours a week working at church with JR.
We both know that God works in mysterious ways. We know His plans are always the same, but we sometimes need to change our perspective or opinion to follow Him. Life in ministry has taught us that He has a plan for us and our lives and we just need to do the "simple" thing and follow His guiding. We are following His guiding.
We are adopting!
I feel like all adoption stories are "we have always known we have wanted to adopt".... I can honestly say 100% we have always known we would adopt. Our plan was have a bunch of kids and adopt a few along the way. When we learned we couldn't biologically have children, we knew the adoption part would come sooner than later.
Our goal and love would be to adopt a child from the MN or WI kid waiting list. We both love and spend the majority of time with teens and would love to adopt an older child. As anyone who knows anything about us, you know that we love children.
The general thought for adopting from the waiting list is there is little to no cost for the adoption. We are finding that to not necessarily true. Since there are no agencies near where we live, we will be traveling to any and all of our meetings. A home study usually costs between $2,000-$3,000. There are also court fees and whatnot. All-in-all we are looking at several thousand dollars.
Here are some facts:
· There are 6,568 children in foster care in Wisconsin; 1,280 of these children are waiting for adoptive families.
· The children in care are from all cultural and socio-economic backgrounds.
· The children’s average ages are frequently school-aged, 5 to14 years old.
· Some children may be referred to as having “special needs” for reasons including:
o They are part of a sibling group and have sisters
and brothers who must be placed together.
o The child is older than 5 years of age.
I don't know if this is something everyone knows, it was a surprise when we first heard it too: a child over the age of 5 is considered "special needs". THAT IS CRAZY! Our goal would be to adopt a child over the age of 5.
JR is a pastor at Hope Community Church, volunteers as a chaplain for the City of Superior police department and is working part time at a hardware store. Melissa works at Maranatha Academy as the school secretary and spends dozen of hours a week working at church with JR.
We both know that God works in mysterious ways. We know His plans are always the same, but we sometimes need to change our perspective or opinion to follow Him. Life in ministry has taught us that He has a plan for us and our lives and we just need to do the "simple" thing and follow His guiding. We are following His guiding.
We are adopting!
Organizer
Melissa Rugg
Organizer
Superior, WI