Today we are sharing the adoption journey of fathers Carl and Marion, and their daughter Olivia who joined their family recently. Carl’s and Marion’s adoption journey started years before coming to Adoption STAR, as they researched different options for gay couples to become fathers, before deciding on adoption.
“(Having children) was something in the back of our minds, but we didn’t know of an option,” Marion said. “Being gay, we didn’t take it seriously at the beginning because we didn’t know how plausible it would be.”
Carl said they both knew they wanted children and loved watching their nieces and nephews, so the couple began researching and educating themselves on the adoption process, and joined a support group at the LGBT Center in New York.
“We met with (Adoption STAR Founder and CEO) Michele at the support group, and until then we hadn’t had a warm feeling about the prospects of adoption, but we gained it from Michele and Zack (Fried.) That gave us the jumpstart,” Carl said.
Marion and Carl waited about nine months before being selected as adoptive parents and shortly afterward brought home Olivia. Marion said the biggest surprise since becoming a father has been how supportive all of their friends and family have been.
“We always knew that our family and friends were going to be supportive, but we didn’t (expect) how excited and supportive they really have been,” Marion said. “It feels so good when parents, family and friends are really really happy for you, more than you’d expect.”
Carl and Marion say that one way having Olivia has changed their lives is that they are now thinking of Olivia first, instead of each other.
“We get so excited about the smallest little things that she’s done,” Marion said. “We were a couple, and now we’re more of a family.”
Carl’s father is currently visiting from England and has spent the last month bonding with Olivia. Carl said one of the great pleasures has been seeing his father feed and burp Olivia. For Father’s day everyone will get together for a homemade dinner in honor of all of the fathers in the household.
“We’re going to make a nice four-course dinner to celebrate my father, and then I guess to celebrate each other in honor of Olivia,” Carl said.
Carl and Marion are an interracial couple, as Carl is Caucasian and was born in England and Marion was born in the Philippines, and Olivia is Caucasian. They said that they are excited to bring Olivia to their home countries “to see where her father’s were born” and also bring her back to Buffalo, where she was born.
“She will get a feel for all of the different parts of who she is,” Carl said. “It won’t just be one culture, and we’ll celebrate her on a day-to-day basis.”
Happy Father’s Day Carl and Marion!