Price family grows through adoption

Before they were ever engaged or said their “I do’s,” Shaun and Scarlett Price knew they wanted to have a big family.

“We always knew we wanted to adopt,” Scarlett says. “We actually talked about it on our first date. Adoption was just part of how we viewed our family would grow. No different than someone who decides to have a baby.”

Growing up, both came from large families.

Shaun’s parents fostered many children and Scarlett is the oldest of six girls.

After having three biological children of their own, the Prices began looking into adoption.

Initially, the couple entertained the idea of adopting a child from overseas and decided they might want to adopt an infant. However, things change.

“We then realized there is such a great need here locally that we went through the process to become licensed foster parents,” Shaun explains. “And then we were eligible to be approved to adopt locally. And so that process took us a little over one year to get the approvals. And then once we were approved we thought we would adopt one or two children. We were approved for three. We never thought we would adopt five children.”

But that is exactly what happened.

Before fostering or adopting, there is a series of five classes one must take and the Prices began that process in 2015. Following the completion of a class there is paperwork and additional processes that must be completed before moving on to the next class.

Suffice to say, it is a long process, Scarlett says.

As the Prices were beginning the process, it was a family affair.

“When we found out about the girls it was a matter of weeks before they came to live with us,” 42-year-old Shaun says. “In the state of Indiana there is a waiting period to make sure it is a match and fit – so we had to wait six months before we could adopt.”

Throughout the process, which took about one year in all, there were several conversations between the Prices and their three biological sons, Alex, Samuel and Benjamin, about how the process would go and what they could expect.

“The conversation was really more about how that [adoption process] could look and that there would be a placement,” Shaun says. “We would have time to get to know any child that might be coming into our lives and they would come to visit and we would have a period of months before we had to make a final decision. The boys knew this was something we were looking to do as a family and they were very receptive to that.”

However, as is the nature of Life, things change.

What time the Price family thought they would have to prepare was drastically shortened.

“They arrived way faster than we were ever told they would, so it was a really fast process from the moment we read their profile and interviewed for them,” 41-year-old Scarlett says. “Typically it is six months between where you meet with them on weekends or start to have some overnights to adjust for them and us. They came two days after we found out they’d chosen us.”

When a foster family is approved and fully licensed to foster, a caseworker will send photos of children waiting for adoption, Shaun explains. When he and Scarlett saw a photo of the girls, they were pictured with a fourth sister, however, the Prices had only been approved to adopt three.

“We decided once we (had) seen the photo we thought we needed to submit even though we weren’t approved,” Shaun says. “Just because we both felt, at the same time, that this may be for us. So we went through an interview process with other families and we were chosen as a potential adoptive placement for the four girls.”

The Prices’ sons were staying at their grandparents’ home when Shaun and Scarlett received the call that they were going to prepare to go meet the girls before bringing them home, which is normally the natural progression of things.

However, there was a catch.

“We had one day to get the house ready and be able to take on the four girls,” Shaun recalls. “They came to us the next day and met the boys. It was a lot – for the next six months to a year – of adjusting and chaos.”

In November 2017, one year after they came to live with them, the Prices formally adopted and welcomed Katherine, Isabella, Jennifer and Sophia into their family.

The Prices say they maintained communication through social media with the children’s biological mother. Knowing they had adopted her girls, the mother reached out when she gave birth to a baby boy named Oliver. Six months later, Oliver would be adopted by the Prices and join his sisters.

Despite the unintended initial chaos and period of adjustment, the Prices say there is nothing they would do differently.

“It has been a wild ride and something where our family grew literally overnight,” Shaun says. “There was a lot of laughing and a lot of crying and I think it still continues to be that way with a big family. We are truly blessed. I think my wife would agree it has been a great joy in our life and brings us new challenges every day.”

If there is one thing this experience has taught Shaun, it is that biology doesn’t matter when it comes to love, he says.

“The amount of patience we’ve all had to have with one another is probably another big lesson,” he adds. “To be able to go with the flow and to be there for each other.”

Scarlett adds that the family has learned that they can do hard things.

“Everybody thinks we have done something great for them, but children teach you so much about yourself,” she says. “I’ve learned so much about myself and how much they show me love. How much the human spirit is resilient and how much we can overcome things from our past.”

Scarlett says her work in trauma and recovery has since become more important to her. Working with at-risk populations was one element, but she now has a new, more experiential appreciation for the diverse backgrounds from which people come.

“I think it has helped me realize not everyone comes from a family where there is love and support,” she says. “I think it has changed me to work harder for my community and the people in it.”

For those who may say the Prices are saints or have done something not many could do, the couple says unequivocally, “No.”

Shaun says he and Scarlett are simply a couple who were willing to say “Yes” and not act from a place of fear.

“That was our biggest hurdle at the beginning, there were a lot of fears about changing our family dynamic or bringing this many kids into our home,”

Shaun says. “There was a lot of apprehension and a lot of worry and we had to place that aside and I think the biggest thing I would tell people is we aren’t special, we aren’t super human we are just people who said, ‘Yes.’”