Meet the Herrick-Stewart Family!
My husband (Kyle) and I (Jonathan) were getting ready for dinner the first week of January 2019. Then it came on the television—Austin’s Wednesday’s Child video. Kyle and I sat quietly and listened to the entire video. At one point, 16-year-old Austin said he just wanted a forever family. After the segment aired, Kyle looked at me and said, “I think you need to contact his caseworker.” I looked at Kyle and said, “I think you are right.” That is how our family’s story began.
We had recently let our foster license expire. I made many phone calls the following day—to the caseworker, Human Services for licensing—you name it I was calling. Luckily, our license had not been expired long enough and we were able to move the approval process along pretty fast. All the while, the caseworker had set up an initial meeting for us to be able to meet Austin.
Austin officially moved in on April 10 after many visits and weekend/week stays. We really struggled during the visiting phase. My husband and I would take Austin back to where he was living, and would come back home to a completely quiet house. The quiet was a reminder that someone was missing.
Our family had some roller coaster rides leading up to Austin’s adoption. However we kept at it and our adoption was final on January 23, 2020. The year went by in a flash. Austin’s case had many moving parts and many roadblocks.
Looking back now, we know my husband and I were supposed to see Austin’s video and the licensing and visits were supposed to happen at a quick pace (which is not the norm!). I was not willing to sit back and wait for something to happen. I kept pushing the roadblocks out of the way to get to where we needed to go, not letting any of the red tape slow us down.
Austin has now graduated high school and is attending college. He’s moving through school at a quick pace—he wants to get done with school and find a job that pays decently. Austin has said all along he didn’t want to make minimum wage. I truly believe he is going to meet that goal.
I can honestly say, the entire foster/adoption process has been a ride. Our family of three has come together and risen above all obstacles. We are a happy little family! Kyle and I would not have guessed 10 years ago we would be adopting a child. Gay marriage has only been allowed in Utah for 7 years! The world is changing, and hopefully it keeps changing for the better. We strongly recommend that policymakers enact laws that protect LGBTQ+ prospective parents from discrimination in the adoption and foster care process.
Another thing that would help the system improve is more funding for foster care and adoption services. Caseworkers are underpaid and this results in turnover. The children then get another new face, someone starting at the beginning of the case, another two steps back and one step forward. There are also needs to be urgency around adoptions—especially for older kids who are waiting. If I—a foster parent wanting to adopt this teen who pulled at our heartstrings and had already been in the system for a ridiculous amount of time—had not made all the daily phone calls and pushed people to cut through red tape and make a decision, we would still be waiting to adopt Austin.
Austin found his family after being in the foster care system for 5,449 days. We need federal support to help all the children in foster care—children who have moved around from place to place, only wanting a home to call their own—to get their forever families too.
