SAVING A LIFE

By adopting Maurice, the Bone family will help him have a chance at a happy and healthy life.

Ruchala and Caleb Bone’s world changed with the birth of their first son who was diagnosed with a heart condition.

“We spent a lot of time at Vanderbilt,” Ruchala said. “He needed open heart surgery when he was three months old. We were thrust into the world of medically complex kids that way.”

While they were at the hospital at their son’s bedside, they saw other children with medical complexities at the hospital with no family present and learned that these children were in foster care. Upon hearing that, they knew they wanted to help kids in foster care with medical needs.

“Seeing those kids with no one broke our hearts, and we thought, we can do that. We can be there for them,” Ruchala said.

Caleb and Ruchala became certified foster parents in 2020 and opened their home to children with medical needs. Two of those children were Everitt and Maurice.

“Everitt was 11 weeks old and had epilepsy, cerebral palsy and seizures that they could not get control of,” remembered Ruchala. “Maurice was at the hospital as well, and he was the cutest, so he was very easy to fall in love with.”

Ruchala and Caleb Bone with their children, including their adopted son Maurice, at their home in Nashville.

The Bones ended up adopting both Everitt in 2021 and Maurice in 2022, giving them a forever home. Sadly, Everitt passed away due to his medical complexities, but the Bone family brought a photo of Everitt along to Maurice’s adoption.

“He is still part of our family,” said Caleb. “He was a huge blessing to all of us.”

“He always will be,” added Ruchala. “It was such a joy to welcome him into our home.”

Maurice’s adoption means he will be able to get on the kidney transplant list. When children are in custodial care, it makes it harder for them to receive an organ transplant because they lack a legal caregiver who can take responsibility over that child’s ongoing medical needs. In addition to getting Maurice on the list, Ruchala and Caleb have gone through testing to see if either one of them could donate a kidney.

“Both Caleb and I are a potential live donor match, so we’re working through the Vanderbilt Transplant Team to see if we’ll be able to give him a live donor kidney transplant that way,” said Ruchala.

Maurice is finally receiving the love and care he needs to have a chance at living a healthy life. Currently, there are between 20,000 to 40,000 children considered medically complex in foster care across the country each year. These children are typically harder to place in a foster home because of their ongoing medical needs. Ruchala and Caleb would encourage other families to consider fostering and provide the love and care these kids need and deserve, even if there are uncertainties.

“We are very ordinary people,” Ruchala continued. “It’s been the greatest experience of our life. It brought us two sons. I’m glad we said, ‘yes,’ even when it was a little scary and there were a lot of unknowns. It’s just the way we’ve chosen to live our life. When you know there’s a child that can go home and is just waiting for a family, it makes the decision easier.”

May is Foster Care Awareness Month and the perfect time to take the next steps for welcoming a child into your home.

Youth Villages trains, certifies and supports its own foster parents, and we can answer any questions you might have regarding the process. For more information call 1-888-MY-YV-KID or visit youthvillages.org/foster.