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Hope and Joy at the End of an Adoption Rainbow
By Kerri Charette
r, Hope, wanted to maintain an open adoption, and one adoptive parent would have to fly to Washington state to bring the baby home. Yes and yes were our responses. 
Joy came home on April 4, 2003, at 7 months of age. The time was one o'clock in the morning when Brian walked through the door carrying our new baby with only a bag her foster family had put together for the trip. The feeling I experienced when my husband handed me our little girl was, appropriately, pure joy! She was immediately part of the special treasures that make up our family.
Our baby had been born in a hospital 15 minutes from our home and was to be adopted by a family living on the other side of the country. The first adoptive mother, who also had seven sons, traveled and brought Joy home. What no one knew, even the agency that completed the family's home study, was that this woman was a victim of domestic violence. When the baby was 6 months old, just before the adoption was to become legal in the courts, the father in the household was arrested and Joy placed in foster care.
Our agency, where Hope had terminated her parental rights just after the baby's birth, was asked to find a new home for Joy. Hope reviewed family albums of three families that had completed a home study and were registered for adoption with the agency. She met with each couple individually and made a decision about which family would parent her birth child on March 18, my birthday! I could not have asked for a better gift. Hope later told us she felt drawn to our family because we showed the most enthusiasm for keeping the pot that had held Joy involved in her future.
Brian and I had decided to fully embrace the spirit of open adoption the moment we met Hope! How could we not love the person who brought our child into the world? The decision to maintain an open adoption came easily for us, but friends and family voiced concerns. We knew others couldn't understand how strongly we felt about accepting Hope in our lives, but we were astonished at th
