I love your story and thanks so much for sharing. I am curious what became of your biological mother and if you were still in touch with her, but I guess I have to read on for that. I'm glad to hear your story is a positive one. Unfortunately there are many, many negative stories too. My sister and 2 brothers from my dad's first marriage weren't so lucky. After my dad and their mom split up, he rang the social services to tell them she wasn't fit to raise them (she had a problem with prescription drugs which eventually killed her). They were taken into foster care, all separate. My brothers in a home, my sister in the other. They went from home to home and from family to family. All three were sexually, physically and mentally abused. My eldest brother is now a drug addict and I've never met him. My other brother and sister are ok now, but my sister has no self esteem, none. My brother isn't right either. Both of them always rejected my dad for calling the services. They always say: 'However bad our mother was, it was nothing compared to what came next!' And all of this happened in Holland, not even in the US. Here in Ireland, I know kids in foster care. Here foster parents get about $400,- per child per week! That alone is a great motivation for a lot of them to become a foster parent. But not the right one. My daughter had friends in foster care, it wasn't pretty. So I think you've been really lucky to have found a family that care so much. I am looking forward to reading more!