Pam Willis felt fated to see the Facebook post about the seven orphaned siblings.
After hearing the tale on Facebook in 2019, Pam couldn’t keep her eyes off the seven siblings’ responses. She realized it was time to take charge as their mother.
The vehicle tragedy that killed both parents left the children, ages 1 to 12, in foster care for nearly a year.
Pam and her 53-year-old husband, Gary Willis, split the item. Given that they were about to retire, she thought Gary would tell her she was crazy. The couple had been foster parents for years and had five adult children, but adoption was never discussed.
To her delight, Gary sided with her. It was what God had planned for us to accomplish,” Pam said.
They should have contacted the number listed at the report’s conclusion.
They were told they had had hundreds of calls from people interested in adopting the children. Adelino, 15. Ruby, 13, Aleecia, 9. Anthony, 8, Aubriella, 7, Leo, 5, and Xander were matched with Pam and Gary four months later.
Pam found some background information on the seven kids during the screening process. Their parents’ drug problems meant that they often moved around a lot.
Pam said, “It was easy to connect with the children.” They want predictability so much. The elder pair presented more incredible difficulty.
Because of their experiences, Pam is aware that the kids have difficulty trusting adults. They were anticipating their departure. Because Ruby was the second oldest kid and had to assume the role of mother to her younger siblings from a young age, she was never taught how to behave like a conventional youngster.
The kids had the most challenging time adjusting in the first six months since they had problems sleeping and frequent terrifying dreams.
Pam recalled how her son, then seven years old, “came into our room” one night. Inquiringly, “Did you have a bad dream?” I questioned. She said she was checking in to make sure anybody was still around.
Pam and Gary adopted all the kids in August to show they were staying. All of Pam and Garry’s biological children, ranging in age from 32 to 30, Andrew to 30, Alexa to 27, Sophia to 23, and Sam to 20, attended the wedding.
They set up a massive television in the park to keep Covid away while everyone watched the event. The addition of the youngsters to the Willis family has been met with universal joy.
Pam acknowledged that her family had been given a second shot at parenthood by adopting her and her husband. They’re what I like to call our Second Chance 7,” the narrator says.
