Sheila and Andrew's Foster-to-Adoption Story

This is a special love story that goes beyond one couple. Sheila and Andrew worked together as young adults helping homeless teenagers. Later in life they met again and fell in love. Each of them had two children from previous marriages, and they soon had another child together.

But they still felt there was room for more.

Knowing how many Bay Area kids are in foster care, they became Foster Parents through A Better Way and opened their home and their hearts. Over the years they fostered and then adopted 6 children – five of them through A Better Way.

But their love did not stop there…

Sheila and Andrew understood that each of their adopted children carried a rich history of kin and community. Whatever family struggles may have led to the children being adopted, they knew that these lost relationships might be important to the fabric of their children’s lives and identities.

With mindfulness and care, they set out to build bridges. They located birth parents, siblings, aunts, & uncles. And with each new person they contacted, they opened their arms, and they helped to re-build bridges between child and kin. Many of the people they discovered are now integral parts of their family’s life.

Reconnecting with lost kin did not diminish their love for their children or their role as parents. Quite the opposite.

Their family grew into a village.

And as it did, they experienced what we all need and deserve: The warmth that comes from being wrapped by an intact fabric of community.

Together – we can keep children safe. We can offer them permanent forever families. And whether they live with their birth families or an adoptive family, we can wrap children in a warm blanket of kinship, kindness, and love.