People have different reasons for why they choose to adopt. Some do it because they canot have children of their own while others do it because they want to offer a loving family to a child that needs it. For The Chaney family in Calvert County, they adopted their two children because they love kids.
“We…want to help the community. When you get them in your home and watch them change…it feels like you are doing something for them,” the couple explained in a recent interview after winning the Calvert County Foster Parents of the Year award from the county’s social seervices department. In both of their adoptions the children were kids they had fostered when they were younger.
Their eldest son was only seven years old when he came to live with the Cheneys and was adopted two years later. It was a similar situation with their now 10-year-old daughter who was also in foster care for two years before being adopted by the couple.
After the adoption of their daughter, the Department of Social Services in Maryland asked the Chaneys if they wanted to stay activated as foster parents. It was possibly one of the easiest ‘yeses’ they have ever had to make and are currently fostering an additional four children at present time.
The Chaneys say that their son and daughter are not only important parts of the family now but can offer a first-hand experience to the new foster children in the home. “They are very helpful to our family,” their mother explains.
Like fostering, the adoption process can carry with it its own set of difficulties as well. But if parents are serious about the process and see it to the end, the addition of a child to their family would certainly be worth the challenge.
Source: The Washington Post, “‘My favorite part is, I love kids’,” Bethanne Monaco, June 5, 2013