There’s Something About Natasha

It doesn’t take long to fall in love. I remember meeting with our social worker in July of 2006 to sign final paperwork just before we would meet our daughter for the first time. William, my husband, asked about health concerns, and what our options were if there were anything inherited. We had been waiting years for this day and his question caught me off-guard. After further discussion and understanding this concern, we concluded the paperwork.

Read more

Trepp Family Adoption Journey: 50 Plus Years and Going Strong

After military service in Germany (1960–1963), I traveled from New York City to California with a stop in Chicago to visit relatives. It was while in Chicago that I met Marilyn, and three years later, in 1966, we were married in California in a non-denominational church, although Marilyn was Catholic and came from a large…

Read more

McKellar Family’s Adoption Story

For as long as we can remember, we – Megan and Joseph – have always wanted to be parents. For 8 years we worked on starting our family.  Years of failed fertility treatments, multiple rounds of IVF, even surrogacy, brought on a season of grief and loss for us.  We were feeling defeated, our hope…

Read more

The Power of Love!

By Lydia (Sid) Johnston Not flesh of my flesh, nor bone of my bone, but still miraculously my own. Never forget for a single minute, you didn’t grow under my heart but in it. Fleur Conkling Heyliger Julian and Jennie Sid were married after the war and in time learned they would not have biological…

Read more

Celebrating the Sisters of Social Service

Established in Hungary in May of 1923, the Sisters of Social Service, well known for their work in nursing, midwifery, and orphanage services, came to the United States later that year and founded the Sisters of Social Service in Los Angeles in 1926.   HFS and the Sisters of Social Service (the Sisters) have a three-decade-long…

Read more

My HFS Connection

My connection to adoption is lifelong. My older sister is adopted, and it was such a normal thing in our family’s life that as a child, I remember thinking every family must have an adopted child in it. After our first son was born, my husband and I worked with HFS to adopt our second son, who has grown into a wonderful, mature, kind, intelligent, athletic, empathetic 23-year-old young man. 

Read more

It’s a Team Effort: Creating Forever Families

Most of the adoption process is a private matter.  Adoptive parents make the choice to form a family through adoption, a birth parent makes the decision to choose adoption for their child, and the HFS social worker staff members shepherd everyone through a complex and exacting process. However, when it comes to the relinquishment and…

Read more

Finalizing Adoption

Have you ever wondered what happens during the Adoption finalization process? For those of us who aren’t familiar, the finalization of a child’s adoption marks the finish line of the adoptive parent and child’s journey. When a court issues a decree of adoption, your relationship as parent and child is permanently and legally bound. Finalization…

Read more