Celebrate Adoption Awareness Month with Coyote Hill
Recently, a former Coyote Hill house parent, Brittany Mooneyham, shared a post on Facebook. She started by saying, Today was finally the day! After 1,908 days in foster care, today that chapter closed and the kids are officially OURS.
What does it mean for a child to find permanency after 1,908 days in foster care?
It means that a child can find comfort and stability in their forever home. For one of our foster and adoptive families, Tim and Stephanie Kreitner, it was a game-changer to show consistent love to their adoptive son through familiar rhythms and routines, like saying familiar daily affirmations like, “I am strong, I am bold, I am loved.” Their consistency also helped instill familiar strategies to calm down and regulate himself.
“It took a lot of hard work, but little by little, he showed us that if we can be steady, he can be steady,” Stephanie shared.
In the past year, 24 children in Coyote Hill homes have been adopted out of foster care. On average, these children spent 659 days in their foster home before adoption.
That means 659 days of uncertainty, changing case goals, and potential disruption. But throughout this process, we are confident that God had a plan for each of those days, for each of the children in a Coyote Hill home.
One of our adoptive foster parents, Erica Tittel, previously shared about the joy of seeing God at work in their adoption journey: “The best part of our adoptive story has been seeing God’s plan for our family unfold. At every challenge we have faced thus far, God has been faithful to pave our way. When things get hard, we still sleep well knowing we’re exactly where God wanted us to be.”
Garrett and Brittany Mooneyham moved into the Petersheim Home at our Harrisburg Foster Care Community in March of 2020. About a week after they arrived, everything shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After a few weeks of serving as relief staff for other homes, they welcomed five siblings into their home. Now, 1,908 days later, those five siblings have become a legally permanent part of their family.
In a 2021 blog, Brittany shared, “We firmly believe that God’s timing was perfect in all of this. We are so thankful for the support and love we have been shown in our time at Coyote Hill.”
After their adoption, Brittany concluded her Facebook post by saying, Now we celebrate! Here’s to forever! Join us in celebrating how God created a forever family in his perfect timing. We rejoice in the stability and permanency that all of our adoptive families have provided for their children!
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