Most adoption stories we know of involve a lot of searching and investigating for a parent to look for their child and vice versa. It starts with the need to be whole, which means searching for their biological ties.
Some searches end up with a happy ending, while others find themselves on a dead end. But there are some stories where both child and mother didn’t have to look far and wide for each other.
Giving Up Riley
Schauna Austin was only 20 years old and single when she got pregnant. At such a young age, she admitted she wasn’t ready to become a mother and take care of her baby. She made the difficult decision to put him up for adoption.
Schauna named him Riley. She held her baby in her arms and said it felt perfect. She held him for 72 straight hours making every minute count – until it was time to let go.
Adopting Steven
Jennifer and Chris Schoebinger were considering adopting a child and heard about Riley. They went through all the processes and finally adopted him. They also changed his name to Steven.
The arrangement the birth mother chose was a closed adoption. Like most closed adoptions, it felt like a wall was built between these two families. However, the Schoebingers thought that this arrangement was a mistake and that they should defy it.
Reaching Out to Schauna
Jennifer and Chris reached out to Schauna after a week. They decided they wanted to do the right thing; they wanted her to be part of the family. Schauna was grateful that her son’s adoptive parents didn’t want to cut her off from her son’s life.
The couple complied pictures and details of Steven’s milestones. They bound them in a book and sent it to Schauna every year. That way, she would feel like she was there witnessing her son’s precious moments growing up.
Jennifer and Chris kept doing this until Schauna and Steven were ready to meet each other and pick up where they had left off.
Reunited
Schauna and Steven first met when Steven was seven years old. At their reunion, they went on a fishing trip, and she taught her son how to fish. Since then, the two have been regularly seeing each other.
Steven enjoyed having the best of both worlds. His adoptive parents always provided for his every need, while his birth mother was also there to show him love and support.
A Tribute to Schauna
Steven grew into a responsible 26-year-old father. His wife just gave birth to a baby boy, which he named Riley – a tribute to the name his birth mother gave him. He said he felt like the name should stick around the family and that it brought his story full circle.
According to Chris, there is one lesson that everyone should learn from their story:
“I think the lesson we learned is that sometimes we create barriers where barriers don’t need to be. And when we pull down those barriers, we really find love on the other side,” he told CBS Evening News.
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