Steen & Chantal South

are adopting a child from United States of America

After sincere time in prayer, we have felt called to adoption!

Over the last year, God has answered our prayers about growing our family by not only opening our hearts to adoption, but making us eager and thrilled for this path to grow our family.

As we step out in faith, we’re learning more about the practical needs of this journey. If you feel led to partner with us financially, we would be deeply grateful. We can’t wait for the day we get to hold our child and tell them how loved they were, even before they arrived.

-Our Backstory, written by Chantal-

Steen & I were married in May of 2020. We thought it best to wait a year before starting to grow our family in order to establish a good foundation. In September of 2021, I experienced what is called a “chemical pregnancy,” which is an extremely early miscarriage, in which my pregnancy hormones (HCG) never properly rose. In January of 2022, we got another positive pregnancy test, and after doing labs, were excited that my HCG was going up this time! However, in February 2022, during the first ultrasound, we found out that I was experiencing another type of miscarriage, in which the baby stopped forming early on and was absorbed into the gestational sac.

From 2022 to late 2024, we prayed to the LORD to help us be patient as we waited on His timing for children. In 2025, He opened our hearts to the prospect of foster and/or adoption, and we began talking seriously about it. Our prayer was that, if we pursued adoption, the LORD would give us a passion for it, and an excitement for it. In early 2026, we realized He had answered that prayer.

Now, in May of 2026, Steen and I feel directly called to begin the process! We feel that adoption is God’s plan for us, and are eager to walk in obedience on the path He has called us.

Adoption Status

Completing Paperwork

Updates

Update 1

Adoption Update #1
May 14, 2026

The Process So Far
If I was to break out this process into chapters, I would call the first chapter, "Where on earth do I even start?"

That chapter started in the beginning of April. Thank goodness for the many free resources that exist in podcasts, forums, and websites! God, in His mercy, put a woman in my path who has adopted, and she was willing to meet with me and help me sort out some of the questions I still had. That got us into the next phase, which was calling a home study provider and choosing an agency.

In my announcement letter, I already spoke a little bit on the topic of agency, so I won't go into too much detail here. I had a referall to a home study provider, Sandy, and I was so thrilled to find out she was still offering home study services when I called her! She has been doing home studies for over twenty years, and was more than happy to answer questions. She continues to re-iterate that she is always available for questions. Her and I are going to get along just fine!

In summary, over the last month, we have...
Researched
Chosen our hopeful agency
Started clearing a room for a nursery
Hired a home study provider
When you think of home study, you probably think of someone coming to your house, running a finger over the blinds to check for dust. That's what I was somewhat imagining, at first. However! Most of the actual home study process is paperwork! The state wants to make sure that you are a stable & safe place for a child. Some of the things they want you to gather together are simple, like copies of driver's licenses and birth certificates. Others take time or appointments (medical form signed off by primary care doctor, a written autobiography from each of us). Steen wasn't able to get into his primary care physician until June 9th, but we were told that the home study process typically takes 2 months, so we're technically slightly ahead of schedule if we can get everything else together by then.

What's Next
We are continuing to work through our home study paperwork, and hoping to be able to submit everything along with Steen's medical form after his appointment in June. Once we have an approved home study, I can start applying for grants to help with the cost. I have a couple of fundraising events in queue, and of course we are continuing to personally save.

We are planning a garage sale fundraiser on June 27th, so if you have anything in your Goodwill pile, please let me know, I'd be happy to take it off your hands! Or, you're welcome to come on June 27th and check out what we have! I'll probably have more information on that subject in future updates.

Thank you for your prayers and your support!
I am so overwhelmingly grateful. These updates will come weekly at minimum... and I'll try to keep them shorter than this one, though I make no promises ;)

-Chantal