Feature Focus: Adoption Stories

FEATURE FOCUS | Adoption Stories Born in my heart

Local families share their adoption stories

By Julie Young | Photos provided After years of unsuccessful attempts to have a family, as well as a devastating miscarriage, Lauren and Andrew Lamping were convinced they would never be parents. Then they considered adoption. They talked to couples who had adopted, as well as the adoptees themselves, sought counsel from their priest, and met with several agencies before finally selecting one in August 2021.

Then the real work began. “The process is tedious,” Andrew said, describing the research, e-mails, phone calls, and paperwork involved, not to mention building their online profile, hiring an attorney, and being scrutinized for suitability across multiple states. However, it was all worth it when in February 2022, they received the phone call they had been waiting for. “We have a birth mother who is interested in learning more about you and Andrew,” the agency representative said. After meeting the birth mother by phone, the Lampings were officially chosen to be the adoptive parents of a baby girl they named Kennedy Josephine. Lauren and Andrew were present at the hospital when she was born and were able to bond immediately after she was delivered. They describe their arrangement as a semi-private adoption, and Lauren says they will always be grateful to the woman who helped them become “Mom” and “Dad.” They would certainly consider adoption again. “She blessed us with a child that I could not (and) I look forward to the day we will meet again. She’s such a great person, and we genuinely have so much love for her in our hearts,” Lauren said. Unexplained infertility plagued Jessica Glassburn, who longed to add a child to her family, which included her husband Chad and 12-year-old stepson, Noah. After doing some artificial/assisted fertility procedures, they were Andrew and Lauren Lamping with their daughter, Kennedy Joephine

Chad and Jessica Glassburn, with their son Breck.

Photo by Kate McCord

in the process of deciding what their next steps would be when they got the opportunity to adopt an infant. “A friend contacted me and said she knew a woman going into labor, and she heard about me and my husband and wanted to give us the baby,” Jessica recalled. “We hurried to Lutheran Hospital because she wanted me to be there for the birth.” Jessica met her son’s birth mother, stayed with her as she labored and delivered, and was the first person to hold Breck after he was born. She and Chad gave him his first bottle and stayed in the hospital until Breck was discharged 48 hours later. Technically, the adoption is open, and while she does send regular updates to Breck’s birth mom, contact has been spotty over the years. However, Breck does know that he was adopted, and Jessica shares whatever information she has about the family with her son so that he knows who he is and where he came from. Today, Jessica is pregnant with an adopted embryo from a couple whose own family is complete but who had more embryos than they could use. Once again, they have chosen to have an open arrangement with the family who they talk to once a week and who often send pictures of their boys saying “hi” to their soon-to-be-born “baby sister.” “I think if adults are committed to openness, it can only lead to a better life for the child with more folks to love them,” she said. Andrew said for those considering adoption, be super honest with everyone around you and be willing to ask the tough questions — even if they seem politically incorrect. “Make sure you work with an agency who is there to support you as well as the birth mom,” he said. “The whole process is a lot, and it can be overwhelming. We knew we wanted a family; we just never knew our journey would take us in this direction.” a

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