We (Abbi and Joel Weaver) have 4 children- 3 adopted and 1 biological. We began looking into foster care when we moved to Baltimore in 2013 and learned how many children were in the system. Erick and Erica are twin 10- year- olds who love video games and art, and are excelling academically. Regina is almost 5 and enjoys playing outside and building with Legos. And Kaia is 3- she loves keeping up with her older siblings, playing with barbies, and riding her bike. They are an energetic bunch and we love them so much!

We started our adoption journey with Zelda in 2015. She was a safe haven baby and came to us at 2 days old. Dylan came next, 8 months later. He had spent a prolonged stay in the NICU, and came to us shortly after. They are only 5 months apart and not biologically related, but they are inseparable like twins. We are currently fostering a baby, Rosie, who was born prematurely at the beginning of the pandemic. We would love to adopt her if we are able. In addition, we have fostered other children who needed us. My advice to future foster/adoptive parents is to be PATIENT, PERSISTENT, and FLEXIBLE and enjoy those babies and children for as long as they are with you!
Karen, Chris, Zelda, Dylan, & Rosie

I, Gene Taylor, (along with my ex-wife Gwendolyn Taylor) am the father of two amazing young men. James Taylor, age 29 and Jalen Taylor age 22. The fact that they are not biologically mine is MOOT! They both came to us as infants 4 months and 2 months respectively. The oldest is a former Marine and newlywed. My youngest just graduated from college. I could not be prouder of either young man. The only complaint I ever had about my boys is that I never knew that anyone could eat so much!

My name is David Wright and I (along with my ex-wife Kear Wright) am the proud adoptive parent of two wonderful young men. I have worked for the Baltimore Police Department for almost 30 years. I was the foster parent for 2 at-risk children in 2006, Tony and Antwon. They were the youngest of 12 kids. They were officially adopted in August 2009 and  have grown to be wonderful young men that I’m so very proud of (Tony is 18, Antwon is 16). Tony graduated from Aberdeen high school with honors in the spring of 2020 and is now enrolled at Howard University in Washington DC. Antwon is currently an 11th grader at Aberdeen High School.

I, Tammy Davis was born in 1964. I am an adoring and caring mother for all the children that come to my home. Being a sweet and caring woman, I had to adopt. I help those in need and love to help the kids whose parents are struggling. 

Stephanie Bowman maternal aunt of Aaliyah Isaac. I took custody/guardianship of Aaliyah on October 5th, 2017. My journey to adopting her, which was finalized on September 16th of this year, was long (almost 3-years) and at times frustrating, but we are a family now and we could not be happier. We could not imagine our family not having her in it. If not for the hard work and support of the Workers and Lawyers who only saw what was in the best interest of the child, we would not be here today. Saying thank you just does not seem to be enough. We are eternally grateful.

We met Lilly September 13, 2019 and completely fell in love with this very sweet little girl. Lilly is special in so many ways. She is 5 years old and has cerebral palsy and a very rare genetic syndrome. Despite these challenges, Lilly always tries her hardest and does so with a huge smile. After several months in foster care with us, Lilly’s adoption finalized on August 26, 2020. We are so grateful to Lilly’s adoption team for all of their hard work to make this adoption possible. We gave Lilly the middle name Loretta after Katelyn’s late maternal grandma. We know Grandma Loretta is watching over little Lilly from heaven. Lilly is our living angel and we are overjoyed to call her our child.

I had two major dreams for my life. One to be an opera singer and the other to be a father. I always knew that I wanted to be an adoptive parent. In January of 2015, I decided to go to an information meeting at Adoptions Together. I received a lot of information and had a lot of praying to do. The next day, I decided to take the next step and fill out a preliminary application for consideration. Within 24 hours my application was accepted, and my journey began. Within 6 months after the completion of the home study process, I was officially accepted into the Domestic Infant Program. After a year-long wait, I received the call of a lifetime. There was a 2-week-old baby boy named Josiah who needed a daddy. I was overcome and I could not stop crying. My dream was coming true!! There was just one more thing to be done. His birth parents wanted to meet me. Meeting Josiah’s birth parents was amazing. I was instantly in love with these two individuals. We sat and talked for about an hour. We laughed and we cried and formed a bond that would never be broken. The last question Josiah’s birth mother tearfully asked me was, how will Josiah know how much I love him and how will he know that I never wanted to give him up? Reality set in for me that these parents were struggling with this decision. I did the only thing I knew to do, comfort. I held his birth mothers’ hand while she cried, and I told her I wasn’t going anywhere and if they weren’t going anywhere then we will do this together. I then pulled out a book for each of them. I bought us each a book titled, “Guess how much I love you.” This was our special book for Josiah. Daddy, Birth mommy and birth daddy love Josiah with everything in us and this book would be what each of us share to let him know just how much we love him. Ultimately, they wanted me to have the honor and privilege of parenting their baby whom they loved so much.

April 3, 2017 was the day my life changed forever. I held my 2-week-old baby boy in my arms for the first time. November 18, 2017 Josiah officially became a Marshall as we finalized his adoption. My son is now 3 years old. Adoption is a tremendous gift to children and parents. I am forever grateful to the incredible staff at Adoptions together for making my dream of fatherhood come true.