A woman from Wisconsin who grew up in foster care has legally adopted six boys as a single mom.
At 12 years old, Jessica Benzakein saw her life suddenly change dramatically. She told TODAY Parents:
"My caseworker, his name was Ron, sat me and down and said, 'Your mother has terminated her parental rights. What's your plan B?'"
"He said, 'If adoption is your plan A, you are too old'. And he wasn't saying it to be mean. I got it. His point was, if your plan A is to be adopted, you don't fit what people are looking for. By 12, they figure you are deeply damaged and horribly troubled and there's no reversing it. Between the ages of 2 and 5, your chances of adoption drop substantially."
Jessica had to then spend six years in foster care until entering college at 18.
Since then, she had felt a huge gap in her life, that of not having her own family. The time she felt it the most was during the holidays and especially during Christmas, which she had to spend alone.
She said:
"You're expected to leave, but I didn't have anywhere to go. So, I paid to stay in a room the size of a guest closet."
Jessica strongly felt for separated siblings in foster care, escpecially she had herself been separated from her own brother. She notes:
"In Wisconsin alone, we have over 7,000 foster kids. The number of sibling sets is crazy high, and they're often broken up."
This longing for family union motivated her to adopt six brothers: Will, 17, Carter, 14, Sidney, 13, and Buddy, 8, and brothers Kendrich, 6, and T.J., 4. The six boys developed a great connection with Jessica's own children Eli, 14, and Brenna, 9.
She revealed:
"Everybody tells me how lucky these kids are and what a good thing I did. But … I'm going to cry … they grounded me. I went through my 20s thinking I didn't really need a family. But I did. They give me purpose."
[Based on reporting by: Positive Outlooks]
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