A Photographer's Photo Series Shows That Adopted Families Come in All Shapes and Sizes

"We are sure you all have heard that the road to adoption is not easy and with many bumps and that is all true, but we can assure you that once you get to the end of it is definitely worth it. When we decided to become foster parents we never imagined that we were going to learn how to be a parent and the many relationships that we were going to create in the process.

The process becomes a team effort and all [of a] sudden you have a chosen family working together to achieve a common goal, which makes it so much easier. You learn how to take care of another human being and you have the opportunity to make a difference in someone's life but the training does not teach you how to love them; that magic happens as soon as you hold them in your arms. When we first held Christopher and Jonathan it was definitely love at first sight. They were so beautiful and their eyes sparkled like stars on a dark night. They came into our lives to make them whole and full of purpose. We were their foster parents for a year and a half before having the opportunity to adopt them on August 15, 2017. For our family, the whole process has been life changing and we have seen the blessings since day one."

"After ageing out of the foster care system at 18 without having ever been adopted, there was no question that foster care would be a part of my story into adulthood too. We started fostering years ago after convincing my family the importance to support birth families. Learning to love others but letting them go when the time is right was not an easy lesson the first few times and I saw the pain of my stepchildren as we said our goodbyes, but they always learned to love our babies' birth families and found ways to help encourage them to keep fighting, because we wanted to change lives by supporting reunification.

Adoption was never the goal, but it found its way in our hearts with our baby girl who came to us fresh from the hospital with no family to follow through with. How do you support someone if they don't want to be found? So we prayed, and continue to pray that one day she will choose to be known. Adoption is a beautiful story in so many instances, and it is for us too, but in our journey we struggle balancing the happiness with the sadness that exists in the missing pieces of our baby's story. We love her wholeheartedly and she is everything we've ever dreamed of, but we also love her mother even though we have never met her, and hope one day we can sit together and share a love for our daughter with peace in our hearts. We have forever been changed and blessed by adoption and are grateful for the beautiful chaos this road brings."

"It's a horrible feeling to have when you want your body to do something that it is supposed to do yet won't — especially something that is supposed to be so 'natural' as having a baby. You feel inadequate and somehow 'less than.' We tried everything, and I mean everything, to have a baby. We longed and dreamed for a little family. We finally got pregnant with twins! But my body had a rare complication that required emergency surgery and though our babies were healthy, more sadly than I can ever properly recount, they were too young to survive.

We had wanted to adopt all along, but weren't educated in it and hadn't been ready to take the leap of faith. When we got the call that we had been chosen by our very brave birth mother, it was a TRUE MIRACLE. It was a magical Thanksgiving Eve when we brought our baby home. We pinch ourselves everyday and say, 'How lucky are we?!!' I can never fully express how amazing adoption is but we are the most grateful people in the world because we've been given the gift of adoption and, of course, our baby girl."

"After 14 years of marriage and helping family and friends raise lots of kids we knew there was something more for us. We always wanted to help kids so we decided we would foster and give kids an opportunity they needed. We completed the classes and started our journey. Maddie was the second child in our home. We thought we knew what we were getting ourselves into but little did we know she would change our lives forever. For the next 874 days we rode an emotional rollercoaster that will never be forgotten. It is so hard to explain how this journey was one of the hardest and most emotional things my husband and I have ever been through. We felt feelings we never knew we were capable of feeling.

What was happening was a lifelong bond was being built, but most of all our family was being built. In the beginning we supported her being reunified with her bio-parent but they failed her and us. So there was no question what we needed to do for her. She had touched us in a way we have never been touched. She taught us to love like we have never felt love before. Our hearts was truly bonding and becoming one. She is the missing piece we never knew was missing.

With lots of love, and support from family and friends, we are now one of the happiest and most complete families ever. She is perfect for us and we are perfect for her. She will always be loved and never have to wonder where she belongs. Thank you so much, Maddie, for making us complete, but most of all thank you for accepting us and allowing us to be your forever family. This little girl is exactly like us and has so much of us in her. You don't need blood to have a forever bond, you need a heart like this child and now we have the same heart."

"I always thought I would adopt, but never thought the time was right. It turns out my baby was just waiting for me and when she was ready, it happened fast. I decided to move forward as a single parent and had to hope a birth mom would pick a single mom! In November 2018, the adoption coordinator called and said a birth mom had picked me. Months went by and we didn't hear from the birth mom again. Finally, on Valentine's Day 2019, the birth mom called me with the adoption coordinator and told me she knew from the beginning I would be her baby's mom and hoped I was ready.

Three days later I got a call that she was in labour and I better get to the hospital. I arrived hours after my perfect baby girl was born and I got to spend two days with her in the nursery. We drove home in a freak Vegas blizzard and I was scared the whole way! She's 8 months old and her adoption was finalized in October 2019. I did not know I could love someone this much and everyday I love her more! I ask myself everyday how I got so lucky to have such a sweet, beautiful, perfect little girl. I think Valentine's Day will always be extra special now since it was the day I learned I was going to meet the love of my life!"

"Each of our adopted children came into our home in very specific and unique ways. The boys came to my husband and I independently when we were single parents. Skyler became ours jointly. Each of our children fits perfectly into our family. We find they were a missing piece we didn't know was there. Our family will continue to open our door because these kids, ALL kids, deserve unconditional, constant love within a safe and joyful home."

"I always knew that I would be an adoptive mom. I grew up in and around the adoptive community. My family included adopted kids. I planned on having two biological kids and adopting a third. After my oldest son was born, it never occurred to me that we would have trouble having another child. But after three years and four miscarriages, it was clear that we would not have another biological child.

We considered whether our family was complete. But I felt a deep sense of loss, like someone was missing. After considering different agencies and avenues, we decided to go with a private adoption through Catholic Charities. The vetting process took approximately six months. We were cleared and listed as eligible after Memorial Day 2015. We were told to be prepared to wait 18 months or more. But on July 17 at approximately 9 a.m., I was standing in line at a Starbucks and got the call. A woman had given birth, made her own plan, and chose us to be her child's parents.

We met our son's birth mother at noon and at 3 p.m. we were headed home from the hospital with our 3-day-old son. About six months after our youngest son came home, my oldest turned to me and said: 'Before he was born, you were sad. You aren't sad anymore.' We will always speak with love and respect for our son's birth mother. She has given us one of the greatest honours: the privilege of being his mother."

"I was adopted in 1967 in a closed adoption. My parents had been trying to adopt for years and received a referral to an attorney in Phoenix and received a call soon after about me. They had nothing ready and had just a day to get everything. In a letter my aunt shared with me when I was an adult, my mom wrote, 'We are going into a lot of debt, but I don't care, we'd go in twice as much if I had to.' I was the centre of my mom's life and had a wonderful childhood growing up in Northern Utah. However, I always wondered where I came from. When I was 24, I joined an adoption search support group and with their help I was able to find my biological mother. I found a half brother [and] sister too. I had a wonderful relationship with her until she passed in 2009. Through the years I have also been active in pushing for open birth certificates for adoptees and search and support groups.

I never thought I would also become an adoptive mother, but I met my husband in my late 30s and after two tries with IVF we decided to become foster parents. For those thinking about going through this process, it is very long and sometimes very frustrating. When we finally opened our licence, we got a call the next day. We missed that call but received another the following day for two children ages 1 and 2. Unfortunately, we only had one crib so we turned that placement down. I was worried we wouldn't get another call but the next day we received a call for two little girls ages 3 and 8 months. We decided to go for it.

It was a very rough year while they were still foster children. There were a ton of doctor appointments, therapists, visitation with the parents, the mom going in and out of their lives, and the heartbreak of watching two people who loved their children but could not get it together to regain custody. At one point, custody was approved to the paternal grandmother and we prepared to send them to another state, but then the judge said no, they were staying with us. Then the first termination of rights trial was cancelled because the judge who handles that part was indicted on something and removed from office. The trial was finally held [for the father] 13 months after we received them . . . and the judge terminated his rights. The mother gave them up voluntarily as she had not completed any of her program she was required to do. It was joyful and it was heartbreaking. My daughters were losing their family even though they were gaining a new one. We had final visits with the biological parents and their adoption was finalized three months later. This process tested our family and definitely our marriage like nothing else. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat!"

"Growing my family was never an easy feat. All my kids came to me in a different way. Two were adopted, and my rainbow baby I birthed 10 weeks early when my then-foster boys were only 9 months old. My oldest (by 18 days) was my short-term placement. My middle son came to me as an adoptive hopeful only to be taken away a day and a half later to be given to fictive kin. That did not work out and he was brought back into care. He came back to me by accident. (Well, are there really accidents when it comes to fate?) They cold-called me looking for a placement for him not realising I had already picked him up from the hospital two days prior. My daughter was not adopted but was round 4 of IVF and was born 10 weeks early. My middle son was adopted first after 728 days in foster care On National Adoption Day. My oldest son took a little longer, he had 986 days in care. I have had them both since birth (minus the day and a half without my middle son) and I couldn't be prouder to be their mom."

"My husband and I were together long before he had our kids. Our joke is, I let him have two kids for me and then I came back. Adam and I got back together when Arrah was 3 years old and Aiden was 2. We all went through many, many tough years going back and forward with our kids' biological mother and as they got older, they realised they couldn't ever be more important than her drugs, alcohol, and abusive relationships. They wanted out of the toxic world they were in, so they chose to end their biological maternal relationship with her.

Over time, I went from Jacky the stepmom to Queen . . . and then one day I was Mom. That day was absolutely one of the best days of my life. Then, they said they had realised I was the only mother they ever had and wanted and on Mother's Day/my birthday in 2016, they asked me to officially adopt them. Never had I ever expected that, but I said, 'Hell yeah!'

"They had my whole entire heart since day one, so it was simple to accept their offer. It took some time, lots of frustrations and patience legally, but after it was all said and done, on June 27, 2018, we had the best day of our lives. Gotcha Day was the best day ever and my husband said that this was exactly what he had always wanted for the kids he made and gave to me to share with him. I am the luckiest momma ever!"

"Grant finally came to our family after seven years, multiple failed placements, and a miscarriage. He was our miracle rainbow baby. Then 16 months later — after another failed placement — Rayann joined our family. When I think if how this all happened, I know it was meant to be."