The following blog post was written by Jerry Tucker, Sales Associate with our FM Highway 54 office in Durham. We don’t usually do this but today, we’re going to warn you – make sure you have tissue handy. This heartwarming story will bring a tear to your eye. Enjoy.
Jerry and Jodi Tucker and their extended family
Older Adoption – The Story of a Fonville Morisey Family
In 2006, the church that my wife Jodi and I attend – King’s Park International Church in Durham – adopted an initiative to buy and maintain a home to house the African Children’s Choir when they are touring in the United States. Although, the choir had been around for nearly 25 years, they had never before had a “base” when touring and depended entirely on host families and churches to take care of their housing needs. King’s Park purchased a house in Chatham County, but there was a great deal of work to be done.
“It was all just a good project… until the children arrived in early 2007”
The house had to be retrofitted to accommodate 20 to 25 children and chaperones. And, funds 
needed to be raised. Jodi, was instrumental in the fundraising…and I was heavily involved in the coordination of the renovation. It was all just a good project… until the children arrived in early 2007. When we met these children, who are all orphans, and experienced the love and joy that they expressed, we fell in love. Over time, we got more and more involved with the Choir. As a result, we became more and more aware of the vast size and complexity of the orphan crisis in Africa and worldwide. My wife began to devote a significant portion of her time and talent to fully understanding the orphan crisis and the initiatives attempting to address the crisis. And, we, primarily Jodi, got increasingly involved in working to do something about the crisis.
Understanding the Orphan Crisis Becomes Adoption
As our work with orphan and adoption focused organizations continued, not only did we find ways that we could contribute to the global effort, but we also felt that we were supposed to adopt children into our family. As we already have grown and nearly grown children, we did not feel driven to adopt babies. Instead, we started the process of adopting an older child or two. As it turns out…we adopted 3 siblings from Uganda. We came home in October 2010 with Agnes, Ruth, and Nathan. At the time, they were 14, 12, and 8, respectively.
Taking Older Adoption Advocacy to a New Level
While we were in the process of adopting, Jodi also worked hand-in-hand with many other families trying to get their children home from other countries. In a year’s time, she was instrumental in getting 18 families home with their children and assisted in many, many more. This required that she understand each situation and work with agencies, attorneys, and even governments to resolve serious issues. At one point, she traveled to Washington D.C. and helped alter State Department guidelines to make it easier to get children home from Africa.
Our personal journey has been nothing short of amazing. Our children bring us great joy…and we will continue to do everything we can to help as many children as we can to find homes. We believe every child deserves a loving family. On our journey, we noticed that there is considerable information and resources available for adopting babies. However, information for adopting older children is not as easily found.
“Fasten Your Sweet Belt: Ten Things You Need to Know About Older Child Adoption”
As a result of our observations of the process of adopting older children, along with numerous families with whom we have become great friends who have done the same, Jodi felt it was important to share our experiences and the experiences of others by putting together a book on the subject. Her book, “Fasten Your Sweet Belt: Ten Things You Need to Know about Older Child Adoption,” was published in November and can be purchased through Amazon.
So far, the book has been very well received by people across the country. It is light-hearted and fun, yet filled with wisdom regarding how to handle the situations that are unique to adoption of older children. Also…as a bonus…there is a section of the book written by our now 15 year-old daughter from Uganda, Agnes, giving her perspective on the adoption experience.
Our hope is that the book will encourage families who are considering adoption to consider adoption of an older child. We believe the information found in the book will be invaluable for making the process more enjoyable and understandable. As mentioned, the book can be found on Amazon. Or…if you want to learn more about the book, the authors, and our family, go to www.fastenyoursweetbelt.com.
Got questions about older adoption? Visit our blog too as we provide the answers our readers ask.
As the holiday season begins, we send special thanks to the Tucker family for sharing their story. Did it bring a tear to your eye as it did ours?
