These are the happy faces of Teresa and Diego, full biological siblings who are 11 months apart. Each was adopted as a newborn into the same family. Now their biological mother is pregnant again, and she and the adoptive parents want the three kids to grow up together.
The brutal truth is this: adoption costs for the new baby are $45,000. 2K for a home study, 43K for adoption placement fees. Add the cost of 2 trips from Virginia to Florida and a two week stay for processing the adoption. A wealthy family struggles to adopt one baby. Here we have a middle-class couple trying to adopt THREE. Without help, this adoption cannot and will not happen. This baby will grow up separated from its siblings. Adoption can be difficult enough for kids without separating 3 children who could have each other from the start. As much as the adoptive couple want to adopt this third baby, they can’t do it on their own.
The adoptive Parents’ Story
Andres Flores from Honduras and Jenny Stallings from Virginia met while working in Comayagua, Honduras. She was there for two years with the Virginia based group, Missioners of Christ. Andres was a young Honduran man from a poor family who had joined the Missioners and worked with poor children in his city and in a nearby orphanage. He met Jenny who was teaching music to these same groups of children.
The couple married in Virginia in 2005. Andres learned English here and earned a bachelor’s degree from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond- a major accomplishment for a poor person from Honduras. Currently, Andres teaches Spanish in a Richmond public school. Jenny teaches Spanish part-time, music lessons, and plays violin with the Richmond symphony.
The Family Grows
In the fall of 2016, after years of trying to adopt internationally or within the US, Andres and Jenny received the long-awaited message–a couple in Florida had selected them to adopt their baby. She turned out to be Teresa Susanna Flores.
Teresa was a seven-month-old baby when Jenny and Andres received a second tear-inducing message–Teresa’s biological mother was pregnant with Teresa’s full sibling, and she wanted this baby to be adopted by Jenny and Andres as well.
So, Diego Leon Flores, (named for Jenny’s father who had died just six days before Diego’s birth) was welcomed to the family. Jenny and Andres, who had feared they would never have kids, have now been blessed with two biological siblings who are 11 months apart, Teresa (4) and Diego (3).
Welcoming Baby #3
Three times the message has come! Jenny and Andres have received word that in early August Teresa and Diego’s full biological sister will be born. The biological mother wants this baby girl in the Flores home with his or her older sister and brother and two loving parents who are thrilled to have another child.
Funding: Please- help us make this happen! Thank you in advance for your part in keeping these kids together.
