This month, for Adoption Awareness Month, we wanted to highlight a family who has recently adopted their first son: Josh and Carley McCoy!
How did you and your husband meet?
My husband, Josh, and I met online. We had a long-distance relationship for 2 years as he lived about 2 hours away. We would see each other on the weekends until he found a job closer to where I lived. Josh is a band/choir teacher for middle and high school. Since then, we got married on April 28, 2018. I previously worked for Children’s Division in the 12th Circuit (Audrain, Montgomery and Warren counties). In June 2021, I left the Children’s Division because we felt it was our time to continue fostering and growing our family. I now work at Coyote Hill Foster Care Ministries as a Family Advocate and Licensing Specialist!
When & how did you first meet your adopted son, Ayden?
We met Ayden on July 20, 2020. The text came through Coyote Hill Foster Care Ministries the week before that a 12-year-old boy was needing placement. We spent all weekend preparing and getting our house ready. He was dropped off at our house by a transport company. He didn’t have very much with him due to the situation he came from, so we worked on getting some clothes from a clothing closet and found some games to keep him entertained.
Ayden had been in care for about 5 years when he came to us. As a sibling of 8, he had always been with at least one of his siblings throughout those years. Being placed with us was all new for him. This was the first time he had been entirely separated from his siblings and with people he didn’t know.
What lead you all to adopt Ayden?
We considered adoption and fostering for many reasons. One was because both of us have adoption in our family. Josh was adopted as a baby and I have a relative that was adopted. We knew our families would be accepting of this decision. We also have health concerns that may prevent us from having children of our own. We have discussed many times how there are already so many children that need homes, and we have a home, why can’t our home be their home?
When it comes to Ayden, it was always the goal to adopt him from day one. His plan was adoption and that was what the whole team was working towards. There were definitely ups and downs along the way, but we never lost sight of the goal of adoption. Ayden is not one to express his thoughts or emotions much, but one thing was constant for him, this was his home.
What was the adoption process like?
A big part of the adoption process is having the child in your home for at least 6 months to see how things go. This ensures that, if there was a “honeymoon phase” we were able to make it through and keep going. With Ayden being over 5, he had to complete a full psychological evaluation. We were then given a list of attorneys that were approved by Children’s Division in the area so we could contact them to start getting the petition to adopt Ayden. With that, he was able to choose if he wanted to change any part of his name and we allowed him to make that decision himself. Once that was complete, they filed with the court and got it set for a hearing date which was October 6, 2021!
Can you see yourself adopting again in the future?
Yes, I feel like that is still the plan for our family.
If you are interested in learning more about fostering to adopt, visit coyotehill.org/foster-to-adopt.
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