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Couple Adopts 23-Year-Old Man Labeled “Unadoptable” as Child
Steve Bevelheimer was 64 years old when his foster parents finally adopted him. While his age makes his story unusual, it’s sadly not rare for foster children to age out of the foster care system at age 18 without being adopted. Some, like Bevelheimer, will remain a part of their foster parent’s lives forever. But for many, reaching the age of majority means being out on their own, often ill-prepared for adulthood.
That was the case John Ferraro-Hauck, who went into the foster care system at age 7 after years of abuse and neglect. Labeled “unadoptable,” John aged out of the system. At age 21, he was living with a school nurse who had taken him, struggling with the tasks of adulthood: keeping a job, managing his finances, renting an apartment. It was then that he met long-time couple Mark Hauck and Tim Ferraro — who’d been considering adoption for some time — and something just clicked.
Fast forward to two years later, and the trio are now a family. Hauck and Ferraro realized that there was someone right in front of them who needed parents, so rather than adopt a younger child as planned, they asked John to be a part of their family. He balked at first, afraid of the commitment they were asking of him, but eventually he showed up on their doorstep with his belongings in hand. The three went through the fairly simple (since he was already an adult) process of becoming a family.
According to CNN, older child adoption is on the rise, but 20,000 children age out of the system every year.
Photo: Kevin Davis, CNN.com
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15 Comments
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Hardcore Baby “Rocks” Himself to Sleep (VIDEO) | Strollerderby commented on Jan 08 10 at 12:01 pmImran commented on Dec 29 09 at 12:25 pmI am not in favour to adopt child in old age.
mary commented on Dec 31 09 at 1:26 amDon’t adopt one then.
Valerie Anne Klaassen commented on Jan 08 10 at 1:29 pmWhat I am looking for is a good family who can accept me as part of the family, because I am in need, and would like to be adopted. This is called “Adult Adoption.” I live in Virginia and the laws to adopt me as an adult is rather too strictl and I am so desparate in finding myself a new loving family who can adopt me. That’s all. My husband loves me very much, but we need a new family. The reason I am telling you this, because on Thanksgiving day when Al and I were staying with my Dad and Stepmother’s in Ann Arbor, Michigan, we ended up in so many big fights about my mother and stepfather, and that broke us up very deeply, and my husband had to block my father and stepmother along with my sister’s phone numbers, because they were too mentally mean, cruel and too abusive for us to stay with. I’m sorry, sirs and mams, but I am telling it like it is. This is why my husband and I are in desparate need of a new family who can adopt us. Thank you very much for letting me tell it like it is. God blesses you.
Cordially,
Valerie Anne Klaassen
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