We'd like you to meet the first family our fund has helped to build their family after a disrupted adoption. Stephanie and Joseph have been married 14 years and have 2 beautiful girls through IVF. In November 2021, they adopted a baby boy (Rio). His biological father had not learned about him until after he was born, and later decided to parent. On March 26th, Joseph and Stephanie had to return Rio to his biological father who lives in another state. While incredibly difficult, they are not bitter towards him, and now consider him and his family as part of their own.
The night before returning their son, they heard about the Disruptive Hope Fund and 27 days later they met their son Finn for the first time. We know a successful adoption will never replace their son Rio, but we are blown away by their grace and willingness to try again. We are honored to have them be the first of many families who benefit from Disruptive Hope and can’t wait to see their journey continue to unfold! Please check out this note from Stephanie with their family's journey and what Disruptive Hope has meant to them.
To Friends of Disruptive Hope -
If we are being honest, this isn't what we thought our family would ever look like. When we got married 14 years ago, we had our plan in place of how and when we would have children. Quickly, that plan was shattered. Our journey began with 4.5 years of infertility and then continued with 6 years of IVF treatments and transfers. After bringing home 2 baby girls, we knew someone was still "missing" at our dinner table. Since our time of conception was coming to a close, we decided adoption was the route we were going to take. Our first match happened after 11 months of great anticipation. We waited for 3 months for our sweet boy to be born only to be met with a mom who changed her mind last minute and decided to parent. Through our grief, we celebrated her decision to be a mom. 6 months later, we were matched again with a stork drop! Our boy, whom we named Rio Wilder, was born the day prior and awaiting our arrival. We quickly traveled across state lines and picked him up. Joy flooded our hearts and family as we had the best Christmas season ever!
A new year brought new information. We had been the unfortunate victims of adoption fraud and learned that his biological mom had intentionally given inaccurate information as to who Rio's biological father was. The next 3 months brought unexpected litigation and heartache. We learned that Rio's biological father not only learned about him but desperately wanted to raise him. On March 26, 2022, the day before Rio turned 4 months old, we surrendered him over to his biological father and met his family. This day will forever be marked as one of deep grief, but also one of deep joy in that a father wanted to parent his son.
Back we went, into the adoption pool, to find that "missing" family member. A short 27 days later we were matched with our next son, Finn Fierro, who was also a stork drop awaiting our arrival. This time, excitement and joy were not words we would use to describe our match. Fear and anxiety were. Again, we traveled out of state to pick him up. And that's our current family. We have no idea what our family will look like months from now, but we are hopeful that he will become a permanent member of our family. Until then, we wait and love on this boy whom we are getting to know better with each day that passes.
To be honest, we had a financial plan in place from the onset of our adoption journey. When it didn't go as planned, we lost more than just the thought of our sons having our last name, we lost a lot of money. If it weren't for the Disruptive Hope Fund, we would have been struggling through our adoption process in bringing home our sweet Finn. We learned of this fund only the night before surrendering our Rio Wilder back to his biological family. It was an unexpected blessing that relieved the financial burden we had so that we could focus on the emotional burden we were walking through. However, we have received more than financial assistance through this fund. Our support system has grown immensely! We are able to candidly talk with others that have experienced, or are currently walking through this hard journey. To know we aren't alone gives us an added comfort and support that's like no other. We will forever be grateful to the Disruptive Hope Fund for helping relieve an unexpected burden as well as connecting us with others that are walking through a similar journey. We hope to someday financially partner with them and give back to other families that are where we have once been. Until then, we continue to be grateful for all the support they have given us through a season in which we were in great need.
With Love - Stephanie & Joseph
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