A Pittsburgh couple have adopted six brothers and sisters who spent 1,640 days in foster care.
Steve Anderson-McLean and Rob Anderson-McLean on May 23 officially adopted Carlos, 14, Guadalupe, 13, Maria, 12, Selena, 10, Nasa, 9, and Max, 7, reports Good Morning America.
“The judge asked, ‘Do you understand at this point forward they are your children? They are just as much as your biological children.’ Obviously we knew that, but when I looked up and saw all those eyes, it was very emotional,” Steve Anderson-McLean told GMA. “We never imagined we’d be lucky enough or blessed enough to have six.”
Steve and Rob Anderson-McLean have been together for 18 years, reports GMA. They were married in Maryland in 2013.
The pair had already raised two sons, Parker, 25 and Noah, 21, from a previous marriage, reports GMA. But they decided they “weren’t done” being parents and began exploring adoption, they told GMA.
Rob Anderson-McLean told GMA, “I’d say our kids have brought a great kind of crazy to our lives. It’s heartwarming and so exciting to see how they connect with us and our extended family and friends.”
The Anderson-McLeans found Carlos, Guadalupe, Maria, Selena, Nasa and Max on a website in Ohio, reports GMA. The children had been in the foster care system for almost five years.
“We instantly fell in love,” Steve Anderson-McLean told GMA. “They’re very easy to make smile.”
“We’ve known them for less than a year, but at the same time, it feels as if our emotional bonds were years in the making,” Rob Anderson-McLean told GMA. “There are no rules as to what can constitute a family, and the love that we share.”
Read the full story at Good Morning America.
