Meet the Culbertsons! Jessica and Larry Culbertson are a Coyote Hill foster family in Columbia. For Jessica and Larry, the path to fostering wasn’t just a calling—it was part of their family histories. Jessica grew up watching her missionary grandparents run numerous orphanages in Haiti and Mexico, instilling a deep compassion for children and a heart for foster care and adoption. Larry’s family had their own fostering and adoption experience and fostered for several years.
When Larry and Jessica were unable to get pregnant, they decided to pursue adoption through foster care. Though they were initially interested in fostering children younger than three years old, they were caught off guard when they saw a notification about two brothers who were entering foster care and needed a safe home.
On December 26, while celebrating Christmas with family, they saw a message about two brothers—ages 10 and 7—needing respite and long-term care, with the possibility of adoption.
Jessica immediately saved the notification and couldn’t get the boys out of her mind. When she shared the notification with Larry, his enthusiastic “Let’s go for it!” prompted them to reach out to Lorenzo, their Coyote Hill Family Advocate.
Lorenzo asked, “Are you interested in respite or long-term care?”
Jessica replied, “I think we want to adopt.”
Lorenzo responded, “Let’s start with respite.”
As they prepared for the boys to arrive, Jessica was calm and excited, while Larry felt apprehensive—emotions that completely switched once the children walked through their door. There was no honeymoon phase; the boys weren’t immediately happy in their new
environment.
“Sometimes it can feel really hopeless,” Jessica shared, describing the difficulty of connecting with her children. “The choice to let someone in is up to the child, and there are so many walls up because of past trauma, neglect, and abandonment. It’s justifiable for the child to keep their walls up.”
She added that some of the highlights of their foster care journey have been
watching those walls break down. “When you start to get glimpses of who they really are and see them daring to trust, their true selves shining through—the healing process starts to reveal itself.”
Since first welcoming their sons into their home in December 2022, the Culbertsons were able to adopt them in November.
We are so excited to see what God has in store for this beautiful family!
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