Meet the Mitchell Family!
I’ve always had a heart for adoption. As one of six kids growing up, I always thought I would eventually adopt. Although, I can’t say I envisioned doing it as a single person, let alone adopting seven children!
It all really got started when a mission trip to Ethiopia changed my heart about a lot of things in life. Upon returning I saw the need for foster homes in my own city. At first, I had some of the usual common fears you hear about, that I would get "too attached" or that it might be too "scary" or intimidating. But in the end, I knew it was something I was called to do.
One phone call and around 9-10 weeks later in 2011, I was on my way. Since that time, I have fostered 60 children over the years, and then adopted my last and 7th child in 2016!
My oldest yet newest to the family is Miriam, age 17. Miriam is creative, artsy, and loves to write and draw. Bright and determined, she graduated a year early from high school and has already entered college! Miriam is remarkably resilient and has overcome so much.
Jacob, age 14, loves to laugh. He is the kind of kid who always has an interesting fact or piece of trivia to share. He adores video games and dreams of being a coder someday. For a long-term career, Jacob has decided he wants to design prosthetic limbs.
Rebekah, age 11, is incredibly joyful and loves to sing. She is someone who always finds the good in what’s in front of her. She creates and crafts anything out of anything. Rebekah transforms all the extra scraps of paper and fabric into beauty, and gives them away as gifts.
Our family’s competitive and skilled athlete is Silas, age 11. He loves to run cross country and play basketball, and is very good at both of them. Secretly, he may not always show it, but he is also quite tender-hearted. He is fond of younger kids, and makes anything into a game for them. It is neat to see them looking up to him.
Gifted and talented Luke, age 11, gets excited about learning and being challenged intellectually. Quarantine has been hard as he misses school so much! This straight A student can’t stop reading, even to sleep; he will read all night long if he can. Loving and sweet, he is often the first one to dole out hugs at bedtime.
Naomi, age 8, is a regular Dr. Doolittle. She loves every kind of animal, and stops to see and check in on every dog, bunny, kitty, etc. that we pass. She adores the outdoors. Naomi is a lovely combination of spunk and shy, with a super cute giggle that emerges when she opens up fully and is having fun.
And finally, Anna, also age 8, has never met a stranger. She is the most conversational, talkative child in the family by far. She is a big fan of school where there are so many people to talk to – yay! Anna is a particularly good and sweet friend, and always creates a special bond with the elderly in particular.
In the beginning of the adoption process, Helen Ross McNabb Center, our placing agency, was very helpful on the front end. Post adoption wise, Harmony Family Services has been a lifeline! We have utilized them for support groups, trainings, parent support, counseling, and in-home therapy services. We could not possibly do what we do now without them.
One of the hardest challenges we’ve faced is navigating public school with children who have complex trauma. My children have had so many teachers who generally care about them and work hard to help them learn. However, the classroom setting has been difficult for several of my kids. Peer interactions can be difficult. In times of dysregulation, it’s been my observation that many educational environments need more trauma-informed trainings so they can avoid misunderstandings and find creative alternatives for kids. I think our wish would be for Congress to really encourage and support more trauma training in the schools and systems everywhere.
When our family has periodically been in a season of crisis, sometimes we’ve also had to wait far too long to get a therapy or service that one or more of my children really needed. Families and children like ours don’t have time to wait for these essential services when we’re already knee-deep in a crisis. I think if I could go back and do anything I would get more trauma-informed training earlier on myself! It’s a myth that kids forget trauma or are too young to experience it. The training has been so valuable in helping me parent my kids and enable them to reach their full potential.
In general, adoption is definitely one of the hardest things you will ever do, but also one of the most rewarding. The process is so worth it, and the kids themselves are more than worth it. Most of my children have come to our family as older youth, and they remember life before adoption. They are keenly aware that kids shouldn’t have to worry about all the things that they had to worry about in the past. My children care about all the other children still out there, and they truly believe that every child should be wanted, loved and adored for who they are. They will even verbalize that every child deserves a family.
As a family, we no longer foster, but on rare occasions a few times a year we do still offer short term emergency placements. Each time the phone rings and we’re offered another placement, all the kids beg me, “please, please, please Mom say yes!”
It’s when I hear this joyful chorus in particular that I know I must be doing things right, or at least (wink, wink) right enough.
