Every single week, nearly 60,000 children in the United States are reported as abused or neglected, with more than half a million ending up in foster care every year. When children enter the foster care system, they generally end up waiting three years before being adopted or reunited with their family.
Within these three years, foster children will live in an average of three foster homes. But, as ABC News notes: “It is not uncommon to hear of children who have been in 20 or 30 different homes. Many have been separated not only from their parents but from their siblings.”
Last year, Jacob Smith, from Florida, was up late browsing the web when he came across a story about a group of siblings who needed a home— but their bond was so strong, they could not be separated.
The group consisted of eight siblings, ranging in age from toddler to 14 years old. The moment Jacob saw their picture, something immediately caught his eye. “Their photo pops up, and I’m like ‘Wow, what a beautiful family,'” he told Caters News.
Something inside Jacob felt compelled to help this group of children. When he showed his wife Peggy, the children’s story resonated with her, as well— but, unfortunately, due to the logistics of adopting eight children, the young couple didn’t think they were equipped to take on the challenge.
Around the same time, Jacob’s parents, Loryn and Thad, also came across the children’s story.
Loryn and Thad had fostered over 100 children, so while Jacob came across their story randomly, Loryn received an email about the family directly from the Promise Love Foundation. In a blog post, the mother explained:
“Several months ago, we were sent a picture of a sibling group of 8 with the messaged attached: ‘Will you consider this?'”
“We were done adopting because most of our children were grown and out of the house. We were looking forward to a new phase of life… “
“But after 4 or 5 similar messages about this group of siblings, we knew we HAD TO pray about this situation!”
Loryn and Thad spent countless hours praying and meditating on the situation. Despite their initial reservations, they felt that God was telling them to be open — but they, like Jacob and Peggy, didn’t think they would be able to care for the entire bunch.
One night, as Loryn and Thad were discussing the situation with Jacob and Peggy, the family came up with a solution.
Loryn and Thad would adopt the older children, while Jacob and Peggy would adopt the younger ones. “As they [Jacob and Peggy] said this, a peace settled over all of us,” Loryn recalled.
“We each knew we could do 4 children well while allowing them to grow up in the same family together.”
“We just knew we had a calling to them,” Jacob added.
At the time, the families were under the impression they would only be adopting eight children— but soon after their decision, they got an e-mail saying their mother had given birth to number nine. “So that’s when the ninth child came in,” Peggy explained. “Oh, my word! Okay God, I guess we’re going to have a baby— and he has just been a dream.”
In an interview with Caters News, Thad had an inspiring message: “As the body of Christ, as his pride, we’re called to a deeper purpose than going to Church on Sunday, going home and closing our doors.” Peggy also added:
“I do know that it is the hardest thing that you will probably ever do, but if God has this for you, he will bring you through it.”
Hear their story below!
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