Naomi and Todd Holloman and their children Angela and Samuel are a new forever family.
The Hollomans: A new forever family
Did you know that there are 129,000 children in
foster care waiting to find permanent, loving families? Todd and
Naomi Holloman knew that there was a need for adoptive parents for
foster children, and in 2008, they decided to foster to adopt two
of them. Naomi recalls, "We were not able to have children and
wanted to adopt, but not necessarily a baby. We wanted to
take children who needed a good home out of the system."
Through some friends at church who were foster
parents, the Hollomans learned of two foster children who would
become adoptable. Todd and Naomi knew in their hearts that
these were the kids God had for them. They contacted
FaithBridge Foster Care, attended training, completed a home study
and became approved foster parents less than two months later.
As their desire to be parents became reality,
they faced many of the challenges and anxieties that all first-time
parents face: Am I going to be a good mom? Can I handle this? The
Hollomans are the first to admit that adding two children to their
lives was a big change. However, one year later, they are
also the first to say that just as their family grew, so did their
hearts and their faith. Both Naomi and Todd agree that they have
"grown by leaps and bounds." Watch the video clip at the left
to hear, in their own words, how they have matured, personally and
spiritually.
Over the next ten months, the Hollomans
invested themselves into the lives and well-being of their
children. They felt it was important to treat the children as
their own from the beginning, although it was not yet
official. As Todd and Naomi helped the children through
struggles with anxiety, grief and loss, they explained to them
repeatedly that they would take care of them and love them
forever.
"We're your forever mommy and daddy," they kept
telling them. It never clicked though. Both children, but
especially their daughter, had experienced so much anxiety and loss
throughout their lives. She associated any court with pain,
so Todd and Naomi explained that on the day of the adoption
finalization, the judge would tell them that she could live there
forever. However, it still did not seem to sink in.
Nearly one year after the official foster
placement, the two children signed their name changes into effect
at the pre-adoptive signing. In September, the adoption was
finalized, and the Holloman family grew to include "Angela," age
six, and "Samuel," age four.
The day after the adoption finalization is the
one they will always remember as the day Angela understood. Naomi
recalls, "The next day at school, she showed her adoption
certificate to her teacher and said 'I'm adopted. That means I
don't ever have to leave my mommy and daddy again. I don't ever
have to leave.'"
This new forever family celebrated the adoption
with a church dedication service and their daughter's baptism. Todd
describes this as an amazing experience that was the perfect ending
to the past year. "It made it final," he says. "It made us
realize, 'These kids are [ours], [ours] to teach and [ours] to
lead.'"