In an effort to keep a family together, a Pennsylvania couple is being praised for adopting 6 siblings after they spent 1,640 days in foster care.
Back in May of 2019, Pittsburgh couple, Steve and Rob Anderson-McLean, officially adopted six siblings, Carlos, 14, Guadalupe, 13, Maria, 12, Selena, 10, Nasa, 9, and Max, 7. They wanted to adopt all six of them to make sure they weren’t split up after leaving the foster system.
Steve and Rob have been together for 18 years. They had a commitment ceremony in 2006 and got legally married in Maryland in 2013. They have raised two sons together, Parker, 25, and Noah, 21, from a previous marriage before the adoption.
Despite having two sons, the couple said they “weren’t done” with growing their family and began exploring adoption. They were inspired to adopt after seeing a story on TV about another couple doing the same thing.
“Such a staggering amount of sibling groups are broken up and it broke our hearts,” Steve said after doing his own research.
While keeping an eye out for a good match, the couple found the six children in the very situation Steve had been researching. The kids had been in the foster care system for nearly five years. Steve and Rob ended up being matched with the kids in June 2018. The siblings went to live with the couple a month later and have not left since.
“We instantly fell in love,” Steve said. “They’re very easy to make smile.”
When the adoption ceremony began, it was an emotional event for all eight of the family members.
“The judge asked, ‘Do you understand that this point forward they are your children? They are just as much as your biological children.’ Obviously we knew that, but when I look up and saw all those eyes, it was very emotional,” he said. “We never imaged we’d be lucky enough or blessed enough to have six.”
After the ceremony was over, the siblings were so happy to finally have two doting fathers and a loving home to go to.
“I finally have a real family,” one of the brothers said following the adoption.
“I’m adopted,” one of the brothers, Max, said. “You can’t get unadopted right?”
All the siblings now live with their two new fathers and are very happy. Steve stays at home with the kids while Rob works as an engineer for Norfolk South Railway. According to Rob, he’s very happy to be a father of six.
“We’ve known them for less than a year, but at the same time, it feels as if our emotional bonds were years in the making,” he said. “There are no rules as to what can constitute a family, and the love that we share.”
We hope that more adopted children will find their way into sweet, loving homes such as Steve and Rob.
