AdoptUSKids is sharing stories from youth who have experienced foster care and their adoptive families.
Through real-life experiences, challenges, and joys, these profiles highlight the heart of the adoptive journey. This month, Nuamey and Jonathan reflect on how trust and openness helped them connect and become a family.
Nuamey and Jonathan reflect on becoming family
“If I had never opened up and allowed Jonathan and Katie to help me grow, I wouldn’t be where I am now,” Nuamey recalled.
When he was 16, Nuamey found himself mostly on his own. His younger brother had tragically died, and his mother was no longer able to care for him. As he began to struggle, he sought a better path. He told his therapist that he was willing to try foster care, prompting her to reach out to Jonathan, someone she trusted to help Nuamey succeed.
“It was frightening, honestly,” Nuamey said. “I’d been mostly taking care of myself, and I thought foster care meant bouncing around from home to home, like I’d seen on TV.”
Instead, Jonathan and his wife, Katie, welcomed Nuamey into their family, which already included teens adopted from foster care. As they had with their other children, they did not judge Nuamey by his case file.
“My advice to any foster parent is to look past your child’s past,” Jonathan said. “Do not hold them to who they are on paper. I don’t think anyone would want to be judged by their worst moments.”
With Jonathan and Katie, Nuamey found the respect, patience, and firm boundaries that he needed.
“I was concerned that Jonathan and Katie would judge me,” Nuamey said. “They knew what I’d told my therapist. I thought their home might just be a safe, temporary place to lay my head. But it didn’t take long to realize Jonathan and Katie were my mom and dad, and the younger kids were looking at me like an older brother.”
Jonathan felt the shift, too.
“I can’t pinpoint exactly when,” he said, “but at some point, Nuamey became, in my heart, my son. He had aged out of care and was living with us when I told him, ‘We would adopt you in a heartbeat, if that’s what you want. But no matter what, you will always be part of our family.’”
In a quiet ceremony, Jonathan and Katie adopted Nuamey, formalizing the family they had already built.
Today, Nuamey often speaks on adoption panels. When asked about being adopted, he offers this advice to young people in foster care:
“Don’t be scared to open up and allow help. You never know what your life could turn into. I’m an example of that.”
Watch the full video featuring all three families
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Interested in taking the next step? Learn about becoming a foster parent or adopting from foster care.
Learn more about trauma-responsive parenting.