Love Binds a Family: Meet Catholic Parents Blessed With Adoptive and Biological Children

Married couples share how grateful they are for the gift of all of their children.

The large Catholic family spilling out of the minivan is a staple of jokes and a lingering image for many young couples’ hopes and dreams. When those couples cannot conceive, adoption sometimes emerges as an alternate path. In rare cases, however, adoption proves to be only one development in a long-running story: when an adoptive couple has biological children.

For many families, the path to adoption begins in grief over infertility or miscarriage and ends in generosity; for some, adoption is on the table from Day One. That was the case with Anna Grace Shaffer and husband Owen.

Anna Shaffer’s desire to minister to children in need was fortified by her husband’s openness to adopting. But once the adoption process was underway, the Shaffers, who reside in the Diocese of Cleveland, began to recognize the complexity and gravity of adopting.

“Adoption is messy,” Shaffer observed. “It can be incredibly beautiful and redemptive, but it is only possible when something has gone terribly wrong,” which, Shaffer considers, always results in long-term trauma for the adopted child. For this reason, Shaffer recommends that couples prepare to support their adopted child by addressing their own vulnerabilities through spiritual direction, counseling and/or therapy.

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