So I already shared this on WeddingBee a few weeks ago since I am still more active over there (wedding in 5 weeks) but I wanted to share this here.

I am the oldest of 4 siblings, soon to be 5. My brothers and I are our parents' biological children, but my youngest sister is adopted - she is about to be 8, was adopted at 4.5. She's a special needs adoption (spina biffeda, neurofibromatosis) from another country.

My parents made the decision to adopt another child officially a few months ago. Then in December they got an email from their agency about a girl that was about to age out of foster care in her home country (same as my little sister). They age out at 14, she is currently 13. If she is not adopted by her 14th birthday, she will be put on the streets, and most likely go into some sort of, well, unsavory form of work?

So my parents decided that it was a good fit. My mom is one of the most equipped people I have ever known for adoption - she is adopted herself, she has worked in social work, has her PhD and is a school counselor. She also does foster/adoption work on the side (mainly writing the studies for potential placements.) She knows the system in and out, knows a lot about the adoption issues.

Another factor is that they really feel like my little sister could use another child closer to her own age, because I am SO much older (15 years basically) and my brothers are teenage boys, off in their own world, so essentially little sister is like my niece and is an "only child." They really feel like it would be best for her and I agree.

We are very realistic about this little girl's age and the expectations - my parents don't even care if she calls them Mom and Dad. If she doesn't want to, she doesn't have to. In essence, we know the very least we will do is save this little girl from the alternative and give her a means both financially and opportunity-wise to grow and prosper. HOPEFULLY we can be more than that and the fit will be easy and the transition smooth - but we all are realistic. We know that there is a huge mix of personalities in our family and that she may like some more than others. I am excited!

I feel like this would be great! She deserves the opportunity and safety and our family has the means and the love to do this. I just wanted to share our story on here and say that if anyone has any questions or interest about adoption, my parents had a blog for adopting my little sister and will re-open the blog when they get further into the adoption process this time. I will share it by PM, but I won't post it openly as I don't think they would like that. We have been told it could take anywhere from 3 to 10 months. (She turns 14 in December, on Christmas, so it has to be before then or she will be put on the streets.)

Thanks for reading our story. I'll update when I know more.