What Adoption Has Meant to My Family

December 04, 2008

Dawn Curtis
Fayetteville, Arkansas

Twenty two years ago, Dawn Curtis and her husband – parents to two biological sons – became interested in adding a little girl to their family. “It was November and we were shopping at a Wal-Mart, and DHS had a display set up with information about adoption to commemorate National Adoption Month,” Dawn recalled. She and her husband didn’t know much about adoption through the foster care system, so they studied the information available, and determined that they would pursue this route.

The Curtis’ learned what they needed to do to go through training, and began looking at the binders of photographs of children available for adoption. “My husband kept going back to one picture of a little girl with curly hair and a beautiful smile,” Dawn said. “But there was one concern – the little girl had three brothers! I wasn’t at all convinced that I was prepared to become a mother of six children.”

But they did. Because of the adoption assistance they received, Dawn and her husband were able to adopt Tasha and her three brothers – Brad, Dustin and Levi. They were IV-E eligible, otherwise, financially, Dawn says, “There was no way we could have afforded to go from being parents of two children to parents of six. At the time, only my husband was working; without adoption assistance there would have been no way for us to adopt these children and allow me to stay home with the children and get everyone settled in.”

After several years passed, Dawn and her husband adopted John, who was ten at the time. Just about a year and a half later, they agreed to adopt two little girls, Shammy and DeDe, ages three and four. Eight months later, they added Shammy and DeDe’s little brother Sha-Ron, age 2, to the family.  Approximately three years later they adopted a sibling group comprised of one brother, Tyrone, and, a year and a half later, his sister Tammy.

When they first started adopting, the Curtis family lived in a four bedroom log cabin. As their family expanded, they undertook construction on a larger, eight bedroom home. “We got a construction loan, and with the help of the community, friends and family, did it ourselves,” Dawn said. The brothers and sisters welcomed new members of the family by agreeing to share rooms. “Everyone sacrificed for the sake of the new family members – it’s a big deal to ask a teenager to share their room,” Dawn said. “But everyone pitched in and we are a big, happy family.”

Today, the Curtis children are happy and healthy. Cheyene is 32, Austin is 27, Brad is 29, Dustin is 27, Tasha in 26, Levi is 25, John is 21, Tammy is 18, Tyrone is 15, Shammy is 14, DeDe is 13 and Sha’Ron is 11.

“The older children have either graduated from college or are currently in college. All are pursuing degrees that will allow them to give back – teaching, counseling. They have so much, and want to help other children and young people in whatever way they can,” Dawn said. She currently works as an Adoptions Specialist for DHS in Arkansas, which means she helps children across the state find loving, permanent homes like hers.