In Bebés y Más we have published adoption stories on several occasions that have fascinated us and have touched our hearts for some special reason. Today we bring you one of those stories starring a brave, determined, dedicated woman capable of changing the world with her incredible generosity.
This is Katie Irlene, a single foster mother and adoptive mother who in less than five years has fostered 16 young children (several of them newborns) and has adopted two, one of her adoptions being that of a teenage girl who no longer expected to find a family.
A truly inspiring story that with Katie’s permission we share with you today.
More than 15 foster children and two adoptions in less than five years
Katie Holstein wanted to be a mother, and despite the fact that she was single, she decided to go through the legal process to become a foster mother. And that’s how in January 2015 he obtained the license, this precious adventure began.
The first children who came to her home for temporary foster care were three siblings: a newborn baby, a one-year-old boy and a two-year-old girl. From this moment on, and for the next five years, Katie has taken in 16 more children , and has witnessed a family reunification that gave her the strength to continue helping children and parents with problems.
This is how Katie described on her Instagram account what she felt when she became a foster mother for the first time:
“As I prepare for my girls to leave, I find myself often thinking about the babies who made me mom. They were my first everything. The first birthday party I had, the first visit to the emergency room late in the morning. night, my first experience with a trauma that I had only read about in the training manuals, the first time I was called ‘Mama Katie’, my first loves. “
“It has been 193 days since we parted and, although it has gotten easier, the pain is still present. A pain that I am sure will multiply with the next goodbye, and the next, and the next …”
” I don’t regret saying yes to any of my babies, even knowing that one day they would have to leave. I don’t regret any of the days we spent together or the piece of my heart they take with them, but damn if it doesn’t hurt like hell “- Katie reflected in a post on her Instagram account.
But in January 2019, a phone call changed her life , because this time they were not proposing to take in a child but to adopt him. It was about a premature baby named Thomas who remained admitted to the NICU of a hospital, but despite the harsh situation, after the final resignation of her biological parents, Katie began the adoption procedures.
The process was longer than expected, not only due to the legal difficulties she had to face as a single mother, but also due to the emergence of the COVID pandemic, which paralyzed the process for months. Finally, on June 18, Katie finally got parental rights and Thomas became her son .
But fate had a new surprise in store for her, and in parallel with Thomas’ foster care and subsequent adoption, Katie received the proposal to take in for a short period of time a teenage girl named Akyra.
Despite the fact that until now the woman had always taken in younger children, her relationship with Akyra was fantastic from the beginning, and the adolescent also felt very comfortable with the other children who at that time were sheltered in the house of Katie.
Over the next few months, Akyra returned to Katie’s home more times, but always during very short stays. The last foster care took place in March 2020 , when the teenager shared Katie’s home with six other children, one of them a newborn baby that the woman had just taken in.
And we say “last reception” because after that experience Katie also decided to adopt Akyra , and a few days after her 18th birthday, the teenager was able to celebrate her coming of age surrounded by a family, for the first time in her life.
Inspiring stories
Katie’s story is one of the many inspiring stories we’ve shared at Babies and More, and it teaches us an incredible lesson in generosity, love, and altruism .
On the one hand, it highlights the special strength of this woman who decides to face the double feeling of becoming a foster mother. Having the opportunity to help a child, raise it, care for it and educate it until it finds a permanent home should be one of the most beautiful and rewarding things that can be in life. But in turn, the moment of farewell must be especially painful.
Katie herself expresses it this way on her Instagram account in several publications, in which she remembers with special affection and nostalgia all the children who at different times have gone through her life, especially the three brothers who made her a mother for first time:
“Today five years ago I received an email from my social worker confirming that I had the license and offering to host these siblings. Overnight I went from being single and free to becoming a mother of a newborn, and two children of one and two years “
“It is crazy to imagine that after 16 children throughout this time, this will be the year of eternity. When I stop worrying about when they will come or leave I will install myself in a life of certainty.”
“I don’t know what this year will be like for us. Whether we will decide that our family is complete as it is, whether I will remain open to the very real possibility of future siblings or whether I will say yes again when the phone rings. I know whatever happens. , I’m excited for the opportunity to breathe freely for the first time in a long, long time. “
“One night after the kids went to sleep, I went through King’s stuff for the first time in six months. All of his favorite clothes and toys, the book I spent hours making, the school papers, and the pictures I organized in folders. .. A year and a half of memories carefully packaged in three large bags “.
“When he left I knew he would not return, but for months his things have occupied a corner of my house and, therefore, his absence never seemed entirely definitive to me. But tomorrow, all these things go with him to his new home. , with his amazing new family. Something that makes me wonderfully happy, even when my heart breaks.
“I am not a spiritual person, but it is better to believe that I filled those bags with love and prayers. There are good things ahead, of that I am sure.”
But above all this, Katie wants her foster and adoption story to be an inspiration to families who decide to embark on this journey. Also, remember that all children deserve a family; especially those who have grown so much as to think that they no longer need her, like the case of her daughter Akyra.
“I hope our story inspires more people to open their homes to raising other children. You don’t have to have it all, and you don’t have to wait for the right time. Sure there are kids in your community who need a safe place to grow up, and not They will care that you have a limited budget, a small house, that you are not married yet or that you do not know how to raise a child “- reflected this mother in a publication collected in Love What Matters.
Photograph and history reproduced with permission katie_irlene
