(WHDH) — In the time of social distancing, there is a bright spot of connection.
Janet and David Kelley welcomed 2-year-old “Little Bee,” as they call her, into their home through the foster system last fall. Now, she is officially their daughter.
“We fell in love with her right away,” Janet Labadie-Kelley said. “It was love at first sight.”
But, due to the pandemic, the adoption process didn’t go quite as planned.
“We put in our petition to adopt her and then like prayed that it wouldn’t be really delayed. And then we started to hear that the courts were trying to adjust to the new normal.”
The Kelleys had to wait and wait for the adoption to be official and instead of having a big ceremony at the courthouse like they had with their other daughter, the simply received a certificate in the mail.
“We were like, ‘yay’ and excited when we got it in the mail but then we were like, ‘what now, this is different, this is weird,” Janet said.
So, to mark the special occasion, the family sat for a photoshoot and managed to capture the biggest smile from “Little Bee.”
“We wanted her to be able to look back and go ‘oh my god, they made this day very special,” Janet said.
Janet works for the Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange and tried to make special days come true for other families too.
“All the matches are virtual, we do all our meetings virtually, every aspect of the process has turned virtual,” she explained.
She and David want other families who may be considering adoption to know that COVID-19 does not have to get in the way of those plans.
“Be open to an age range and knowing that there’s no cost,” David said.
“Hope is not lost, despite COVID. You have access to all these agencies that can still help you form the family that you want,” Janet added.
For anyone curious about what fostering or adopting a child might look like in these uncertain times click here.
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