As the boy ran to her ex-husband, the judge looked at Jessica. She looked nervous and scared. He couldn’t quite figure why, but he knew she was keeping something from him.
The judge asked the kids if they wanted to be adopted by her and waited for their answer, but instead, another voice echoed from the sidelines. What he said rattled the court to its core.
Wisconsin mother, Jessica, gained fame when she decided to adopt six boys that she had been fostering. However, with two biological children of her own, and as a recent divorcee, people began to question her motives.
It didn’t take long before the cracks began to show and the upsetting truth finally began to seep out.
Jessica entered the courtroom with her chin held high. She was the talk of the town. Everyone knew of her mission to give these children a home, but not everybody understood it.
In fact, a few people questioned her motive. Six children, including her own two, were a lot of mouths to feed. Her character was under scrutiny, and for good reason.
Jessica looked slightly nervous as her two biological kids and six foster kids followed suit. They all sat in front of the judge.
The children she wanted to adopt were two sets of siblings. They came from difficult childhoods, something the state of Wisconsin was all too familiar with, adoption often happened here but never one like this.
There was something about Jessica that people just couldn’t relate to. She was quiet yet confident and self-assured, but she was also shrouded in mystery.
No one knew her story or where she came from, or why she wanted to adopt so many children alone. Something seemed off. There was definitely a lot more to Jessica than meets the eye.
As the hearing commenced, the judge announced that this was the first time he dealt with an adoption case as big as this, and with kids as old as they are.
Usually, adoptions occurred before the child was two and of course, with only one child. The judge had a lot of questions, and it wasn’t long before he asked Jessica about the absence of a father figure. But what she said next surprised him.
Jessica pointed to her ex-husband sitting in the corner of the courtroom and told him that just like her biological children, he was also their father. The judge, however, knew they were divorced and felt something was off.
After all, what ex-husband would want to help his ex-wife adopt six boys? Soon, the first crack began to show.
As the judge began to wonder if she was doing this just for fame, and hadn’t considered this adoption with serious thought, the youngest boy ran out of his chair, across the courtroom.
He was elated after suddenly seeing Jessica’s ex-husband. “Dada!”, he blurted out as he ran into his lap. It was all the judge needed to hear to understand what was happening here. Was the boy running to get away from her?
The judge looked at Jessica as the boy ran to her ex-husband. She looked nervous and scared. The judge couldn’t quite figure out what it meant, but one question still remained. Why did she want to adopt so many children?
And most importantly, did the children want to be adopted by her? After all, she had been fostering them for a while now.
The judge asked the kids if they wanted to be adopted by her but it looked as though they were too shy to speak up in front of the court. Instead, another voice echoed from the sidelines.
Jessica’s ex-husband spoke up, standing tall with one of the children in his arms. What he said rattled the court to its core.
He apologized for interfering but mentioned that he could sense Jessica and his kids were very nervous. Jessica looked with her eyes tearing as he continued to tell the judge why Jessica wanted to do this and why the kids equally wanted her to be their mom.
Jessica could no longer stare in silence, it was time for her to make her speech. Her heart pounded as she spoke to the judge.
With tearful eyes Jessica said, “Everybody tells me how lucky these kids are and what a good thing I did, but… I’m going to cry… they grounded me. I went through my 20’s thinking I didn’t really need a family. But I did. They give me purpose”.
Jessica continued to open up and tell the court the upsetting pieces of her life.
Jessica had a hard childhood growing up. Coming from a broken home, her mom lost custody of her when she was just 12 years old. And because of her old age, she was met with the realization that no one would ever adopt her.
She grew up moving from home to home, never feeling like she had a safe place. But there was something else.
Jessica also had a brother who got lost in foster care. She has no idea where he is now or how he’s doing. She didn’t want this to happen to any other child. In fact, it’s the reason she got into fostering herself.
She always knew she wanted to adopt, and now she couldn’t imagine a life without her big family. Her speech was enough to win the whole courtroom over.
Now, Jessica lives in the kind of stable, loving home she always dreamed of when she was younger, moving from family to family. She has a basketball hoop in the living room where the kids can play and every weekend they do family pizza and a movie night.
Jessica’s newly adopted sons are beyond grateful to be together, but she is even more grateful for them. What a heart of gold!
