Be a 'Piece' of the Mitchell's Adoption Story

Hi! My name is Melissa Whitson and I'm fundraising for the Mitchell family.

My sister-in-law, Dayna Mitchell and her husband, Leonard adopted a beautiful baby girl named Maya in October 2021. They recently received some unexpected news: Maya’s birth mother is expecting another baby June 16th. This is family - Maya's full biological sibling. They have talked with her the birth mom about her hopes and dreams for the baby and she wants nothing more than for the siblings to grow up together. Dayna and Leonard feel so honored and blessed that she is choosing them again to be parents.

If you’re not familiar with private adoption, it is expensive. With two adoptions in less than two years comes immeasurable blessings but also a hefty financial strain. Private adoptions tend to be very costly and can range on average from $20,000 to $30,000 or even more depending on the circumstances of the adoption. At a minimum these expenses include but are not limited to attorney fees, social worker fees, the cost of a home study, court costs, birth mother expenses, and travel expenses (they will have to remain in the state baby is born in until their legal paperwork is finalized). As you can only imagine, their funds are exhausted from Maya’s adoption and now there are time constraints involved with adopting Maya’s sibling as it comes as a complete surprise. They have 12 weeks or less (Maya was born 6 weeks early) to pay legal fees, help support the birth mother, complete the home study and prepare for travel.

To help support the Mitchell’s, we want to do an adoption puzzle fundraiser – ‘Be a Piece of Our Adoption Story: Bring Maya’s Sibling Home’. Here’s how it works! We are in the process of purchasing a 500 piece puzzle. You can sponsor one piece or multiple pieces – one for yourself, one for each member of your family, or one in memory of someone special. Perhaps a small group or family wants to donate a few dollars each and purchase one puzzle piece together. Whatever works best for you! For every piece sponsored, we will write your name on the back of the puzzle piece(s). The cost of sponsoring a puzzle piece is $20. The goal is to get all 500 pieces sponsored so that the puzzle will be complete and the Mitchell’s will receive $10,000 to help complete the adoption. When the puzzle is all put together, it will be framed and hung in the Mitchell’s home. One day, when Maya and her sibling are old enough to understand, the Mitchell’s will tell the story of each person who helped ensure the children would grow up together.

We ask that you also please keep the baby, birth mother and the Mitchell’s wrapped in prayer. If you cannot provide financially, please pray that we may connect with those who are able to. Please consider sharing this page with family, friends and/or on social media.

We will update this page as their journey continues! Thank you for all the love, prayers and support!