Charlotte’s Story – A Single Bio, Adoptive and Foster Mom to 12 Children

  

“A hundred years from now, it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove, but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.” – Forest Witcraft

Let’s take a look into my world, as I take you on my journey of Fostering into Adoption. My name is Charlotte, I’m a 43yr old single mother of twelve (12) children, five (5) biological and seven (7) adopted. I have four (4) beautiful daughters, a son and a granddaughter. After all my children graduated from High School and off to college, I just knew it was time for me to live my best life. I’m single, I have a job, and my own transportation but little did I know God had other plans for me. 

This brings me to my current living arrangements, as I take you on my journey of fostering into adoption. But before I do that, let me tell you a little bit about Charlotte’s Angels. Quesha my oldest is 28yrs old, Quan my only son is 26yrs old, my twins Te’Le & Me’Me are 25yrs old, my baby daughter Teci is 22yrs old and my granddaughter M is 2yrs old. As the ole saying goes, it takes a Village to raise a child, well let me tell you I had a village, an army, and the Power of The Lord to help mold my children into the hard working, focused, has their priorities in order young adults they are today.

My Journey of Fostering into Adoption began on November 9, 2016. The Fab Four that were placed in my care, the mother and I grew up across the street from each other. She and I wasn’t friends, in fact I’m way older than her but our families were close.  Due to some circumstances the mother encountered after giving birth to her 8th child a beautiful baby girl, her four youngest children was taken into custody by the State of Louisiana. I was already the God Mother to her 6th child a boy name Zye, when she asked me if she could give the State my name to become their Foster Mother. I said yes but to be honest I really just wanted to get Zye. 

My mind frame was focused on me sending my last child to College and not starting completely over with the Fab Four. All I could think about was me at the age of 41 with 3 small children and a baby, the word baby kept repeating in my head over and over again. She was able to request that I become their Foster Parent and since they wanted to keep all the children together because of their ages, I took the Fab Four into my home. By this time my 5th child was away at College and I had plenty of room. The Fab Four consist of Sha’terrance 9yrs, Zye 3yrs, Cailee 2yrs & A’myria 1 ½ month old.

Granted it had been over 20yrs since I had to change a diaper, warm a bottle or get up in the middle of the night with a baby. I thank The Lord for my family and friends who stepped in and helped out as much as they could. Working a full time job 8hrs a day, it took some time to adjust making sure I get enough rest for work while tending to my new babies the Fab Four. For the next several months we did visits with their mom, which was very hard every time because they wanted to go home with her but couldn’t. I would take them for ice cream or snow cones afterwards and just love on them to make them feel better. I would let the mother’s 4 oldest children come over and spend as much time with their siblings as much as they wanted to because I wanted them to keep a relationship with their siblings so they’ll always know where to find them. 

Once I received the call from the Social Worker that the Fab Four would be put up for adoption, it broke my heart, pierced my heart while all at the same time stressed me out, because now not only do I have to think about permanent/ forever if I chose to adopt, this was déjà vu to me. I had to break the news to my children and my family that the Fab Four would be a permanent addition to our family. I knew they would be acceptive because they too had grown to love the Fab Four and wanted to keep them together. 

Meanwhile, after I agreed to adopt, another Social Worker called wanting me to do Respite for a 12yr old boy name Chad for a couple of days until she found him a placement. I took Chad into my home because I had an extra room and I know the Lord put me in the position to be a Blessing to these children who wasn’t responsible for their current situations. People that knew me and my situation, would tell me, “ I don’t know how you do it, it’s time for you to live your life and for you to have raised your angels, get them out the house and then get five more.”  I would always say “It’s not me it’s the Lord, He put me in these children lives for a reason and I can’t turn my back on them.”

Trust me there were times I would ask myself, are you sure this is what you want to do and every time, the well being of these children kept over powering my thoughts. I had my twin sister and friends that are like sisters to me who stepped in and became my therapists, I could call on them any time of day or night and they would drop whatever, wake up/get up and be a listening ear for hours if need be. 

Chad came into my home and adjusted fine with the Fab Four, while he was only suppose to be with me for a couple of days it turned into him being with me for 4 months and the 4th month I received another call from the same Social Worker needing me to do Respite for Chad’s older sister Maya who was 13 at the time for a couple of days until a placement came available for her. Mind you I knew this would be challenging raising teenagers, but I told myself “you got this, you know what to do, you would be fine, look how your angels turned out.”  All the while during this time accepting Chad and Maya into my home, I received word that the mother of the Fab Four is pregnant with her 9th child. The day before our adoption date of July 31, 2018, she gave birth to a very handsome boy on July 30, 2018, name Ethen. 

The state called me and asked if I would take Ethen because I had his siblings and again they wanted to keep them together and although I had the max amount of six children in my home already that the State allowed, I was able to get Ethen because I already had his siblings and again keeping them together was the goal. After the adoption of  the Fab Four, accepting Chad, Maya and Ethen into my home, I now have the Soulful Seven. 

After the State couldn’t find a placement for Chad and Maya, I agreed to keep them until one became available. Meanwhile, we became 1 big happy family, adjusting to our new lives together. We would take 2 to 3 vacations a year, meeting other family members of mine and just enjoying life. I put five out of the Soulful Seven in modeling, we traveled to Atlanta, Dallas and Orlando to audition and do fashion shows. My daughter Te’Le, is a model and she started her own modeling school teaching walking techniques and putting on her own Fashion Show, to showcase what the children have learned. I must say, my daughters are bad when it comes to that runway, even the 3yr old A’myria. Chad was playing football/basketball and well Ethen was still a baby. 

Now during this time I had my ups and downs with the three oldest they began needing more attention than the other children, and although one had been adopted it became challenging and I wanted to give up so many times because I didn’t want to deal with their rants or disrespectfulness, it wasn’t sitting well with me. In my mindset I wasn’t going to put up a child who wants to be grown and not listen, especially if I didn’t have to. Every time I called the Social Worker to remove which ever one had pushed me to the limit at that time, my heart just wouldn’t let me let him/her go.  I had grown to love them, I knew it would take time for them to adjust and I just needed to be patient. 

After battling the  issues with 3 oldest of the Soulful Seven, the Social Worker contacted me to inform me that Chad and Maya’s mother rights had been terminated by the State and they too would be put up for adoption. Now mind you, I had to do some Praying, asked family and friends to Pray with me to make my decision about adopting Chad and Maya. This news affected me mentally, I went into a very deep emotional depression, crying for no reason all through out the day, having night sweats and hot flashes. I had to seek the help of a Psychologist and a Therapist making visits once a week. I want any and everyone to know this wasn’t easy especially when you’re in a one parent home but it can be done. 

I continued to keep my Faith in The Lord and Prayed he would see me through this, because the Soulful Seven needed me more than ever now. Losing focus, wasn’t an option and I had a Praying support team behind me.  Prayer worked, my sessions ended at the same time with a good report and on September 10, 2019, Chad and Maya were adopted and added to my family permanently. We still have our ups and downs with sibling rivalry, and girls vs boys, and I’m still taking it one day at a time, processing it each and everyday that I have six adopted children and waiting on Ethen’s court date to adopted him. 

It has been a long/amazing three years of getting to know each other, feeling comfortable with one another, and accepting each other’s love. My new edition children calls me God Momma, except A’myria and Ethen they call me momma, and I’m ok with that because they knew their biological mother before me but Ethen and A’myria didn’t. Once Ethen’s adoption is final, we’ll be starting a new journey together with a move to a new City and State, starting fresh Prayfully live happily ever after. 

Ok, wait, I forgot to mention while waiting on Ethen’s court date to adopt, the mother had her 10th child, September 2019,  a boy who my oldest daughter Quesha has followed in my footsteps to become a Foster Parent and get him to keep him with the family. Well as I come to the end of my story I now have 12 Charlotte’s Angels, a granddaughter and a grandson. We took some beautiful Fall pictures, I would like share a couple with you, but check out our facebook page Fostering Into Adoption( https://m.facebook.com/fosteringinto.adoption.7), it’s new but I’ll be posting more day by day. Also if you or someone you know is considering becoming Foster Parents and have questions, please feel free to email me at fosteringintoadoption@yahoo.com or message me on facebook. 

Whew!!!! Now that you’ve made it to finish, all I ask of you is for your continued prayers for me and all of Charlotte’s Angels. 

“In family life, love is the oil that eases friction, the cement that binds closer together, and the music that brings harmony.”

Charlotte

Follow her on Instagram @fosteringintoadoption