Guest post by Janet Morana, Executive Director of Priests for Life
Barbara and Matt Kerrigan were the parents of four children under 11 when they started the process of adopting another child. Two years later, they were parents of six children, including two 2-year-old girls from Belarus.
Their decision to adopt was shaped by gratitude and a generosity of spirit. They are sharing their story as the nation observes National Adoption Awareness Month while continuing to grapple with election results sure to lead to more abortion in several states.
“The idea of adoption was actually many years in the planning stage,” Barbara told me recently. “We talked about it for a long time, that someday it would be a nice thing to do, to adopt a child, because we were always so appreciative of the blessing of our family. We were always pro-life, and it seemed like a good way to give thanks.”
Their children – Katherine, Mary, Sean and Kevin – were excited when, on the way to Mass one Sunday, their parents told them they were hoping to open their home to a child who needed a family.
“I was thrilled,” Mary said during a recent interview. “All of us were.”
The Kerrigans initially worked with an adoption agency that placed children from China and had completed an expensive and invasive home study when they learned the company had gone bankrupt and closed its doors.
They found another agency, God’s Family International, that was willing to accept their home study. The whole family met with the Christian couple who ran the agency and were told they likely would be looking at adopting a child from Eastern Europe.
“That was fine,” Barbara said. “We were doing this very prayerfully and wherever God led us, that’s where we were going.”
The day FedEx delivered a package containing a photo of a 2-year-old girl from Belarus is something the whole family remembers.
“We loved her right from the outset,” Barbara said.
As Barbara and Matt made plans to travel to Belarus, they received an email from the adoption agency, saying there was another 2-year-old girl who might be a better fit for the family.
“That put us in the position of saying no to a child who needed a home. That was not a position we wanted to be in,” Barbara said. “But right away, the kids – the two girls, especially, – said, ‘Please, can we have both?’”
Mary remembers it the same way.
“We wanted both, the kids wanted both. I remember begging Mom and Dad, ‘can we get both?’”
After some initial pushback from the agency, the double adoption was approved and Matt and Barbara traveled to Belarus to meet their new daughters, who were just nine months apart but had very different personalities.
“The younger one, Sarah, was a charmer,” Barbara said. “Teresa was a very wise little girl with these big knowing eyes. This was harder on her because she was a little older and more aware of what was going on.”
Mary remembers she and her siblings waiting up late one night when they knew their parents were headed home with their new sisters.
“I just remember scooping up Sarah,” she said. “It was the first time I held her.”
When they arrived home, Teresa became very close to 12-year-old Katherine, to the exclusion of the rest of the family, including Matt and Barbara.
“I didn’t expect everything to go smoothly,” Barbara said. “These babies had been in an orphanage for two years. I didn’t expect a perfect transition.” But in a few months’ time, Teresa came out of her shell and started learning to speak English.
More than 20 years later, the six siblings remain close to each other and to their parents.
“We’re a close family still,” Barbara said. “Everyone loves each other. It’s been good.”
Recently it has come to light that thousands of children adopted abroad by American parents are not considered citizens, and could be eligible for deportation. But since both Matt and Barbara were lawyers – though Barbara gave up her career to raise her family – they knew they had to officially adopt the girls in the U.S. to enable them to become American citizens.
Many nations have closed their doors to international adoption but there are still more than 100,000 children in the United States who are eligible for adoption. Go to ConsideringAdoption.com for information on how to get started.
Both Mary and Barbara Kerrigan offered encouragement to anyone who might be thinking of growing their families though adoption.
“If the Holy Spirit is speaking to you and it’s something you feel in your heart, that it’s something you are open to, I highly encourage it,” Mary said. “It was a huge blessing to our family. Nothing but blessing.”
“If you’re in any situation to do so, and if you’ve thought about it and are on the fence, I would say do it, go for it,” Barbara said. “If it’s in your heart to do it, definitely, do it.”
Janet Morana is the executive director of Priests for Life and the co-founder of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign.
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