Katlyn "If You Know the Story"
PHOTOGRAPHY BY RANDY BACON
It all started out when my birth mom lived in a trailer park in Illinois. My two older sisters were living with her, and people kept lying and told Division of Children and Family Services (DCFS), that mom was putting cigarettes out on my sister Brittany's body, which was all a lie because she never smoked cigarettes. After that incident happened, they took my sister Rosemary away. My mother did everything they asked her to do to get them back, but they just thought she wasn’t responsible enough.
My aunt Melinda introduced my birth mom, April, to my adopted parents, James and Lisa. DCFS came to the hospital right after I was born and took me from my birth mom. I felt like I never saw my mom again. When DCFS arrived, my now adopted parents, Lisa and James, had an attorney on stand by, then the judge ordered temporary custody.
My adopted parents fought DCFS in court, to have full custody of me. When they went to court, the judge had a good report from DCFS, and they took full responsibility as my parents. When they were in the courtroom the judge said “I see no reason for her to go from foster home to foster home when she has a good home to go to.” Then DCFS got my parents licensed as foster parents. When my birth mom was released from the hospital she went to a judge and told the judge that she wanted James and Lisa to have full custody of me. After that, when I was three-years-old,they finally finished the adoption.
When my adopted parents got full custody of me, DCFS did all the proper stuff. James and Lisa had to become licensed foster parents first, then they had to go to classes, watch movies and get home visits. They also made sure they could match me up with my siblings and family, so I would know who they are and meet them. DCFS had to make sure it was a good place to live where i would have food, shelter, clothes, shoes, a lot of things kids would need. Let’s just say when you adopt a child, you have to go through a lot, like paperwork. It also costs a lot of money!
My adopted parents have always kept me in contact with visits with my birth parents. Every year they would come and see me on my birthday, and on Christmas. The most they visited me was once or twice a month. As I got older, I only saw them once a month, because they didn't live close. When I finally turned 13, I got to go up to Wisconsin for a week to be with my birth mom and family. We'd spend lots of time together, and have fun, like, we went to the state fair!
Since I moved to Missouri, it was hard. Hard for me to see my birth parents, and hard for me to see my siblings, and my family. It is rough on me but, now I'm getting use to it. My birth mom can't come see me because she doesn't have enough money to make a road trip down here. She lives almost 10 hours away. It's complicated but at least I have FaceTime on my phone to FaceTime her. If I didn't have FaceTime I couldn't talk to her to where I can see her too.
The thing to know is being adopted isn't a bad thing. People will say it is, but it really is not. They will think your parent gave you up because they didn't care anymore. It's not like that. No one's story is the same. People get adopted either because there parent didn't want them or they couldn't take care of you or DCFS wouldn't allow your guardian keep you. So if anyone tells you you're adopted because your parent didn't want you, don't listen to them! If you know the story, you know it.
