Meet the Neumann Family!
Imagine decorating a baby’s room with Parisian motif, and three months later receiving a phone call asking you to take in a baby girl named Paris! Nicole explains, “I didn’t even hit me until later that this precious girl named Paris was sleeping in our Paris-themed nursery. It felt it was God’s way of telling us she was supposed to be there with us.”
Nicole and Mark Neumann had already adopted a child before Baby Paris arrived. Their son Angelo came to them at age five months, and he was just two years old when Paris arrived. Angelo is now seven, and Paris is five. Each of these young children had a difficult start in life due to prenatal drug exposure and medical complications. Angelo had been a fairly healthy baby, but that changed dramatically after he turned two. At age three, an MRI revealed a structural brain injury. It was also discovered that Angelo was having toxic reactions to particular foods, such as gluten, casein, and artificial ingredients. When Paris arrived to the Neumanns she was a very ill four-month-old. A mysterious virus was preventing her from eating. Mom recalls, “The first week she was with us was one of the most heartbreaking and challenging times in our lives.”
Angelo and Paris have each made remarkable recovery and growth since those difficult earlier years. Angelo now functions well without any medications. Mom says of her children, “Angelo is a very sweet, bright, happy boy, and an incredible athlete. Paris has grown into a very smart, sweet, amazing girl.” An aspect of their histories that Angelo and Paris share is the length of time it took for their adoptions to be completed. Nicole recalls the long legal process before they could adopt Angelo. “His case was unique. His birth mom was in foster care herself living in another state. Even after he was adopted, his adoption was appealed in a higher court. Thankfully his adoption was upheld.” In the year and a half it took for Paris to become legally free for adoption, the Neumanns were able to develop a relationship with her birth mother. She relinquished her rights because she wanted Nicole and Mark to adopt Paris.
The Neumanns worked with Tacoma Youth for Christ and Antioch Adoptions in building their sweet family. They appreciate post adoption supports that enable them to access therapy and specialists as needed. Angelo has a yearly visit with a neurologist, and he receives Occupational and Speech Therapy. Paris has had Occupational Therapy to treat low muscle tone. The family has been able to obtain counseling when needed.
When asked about the challenges of adoption, the Neumanns write, “Getting a child legally free is one of the most heartbreaking experiences you can go through. There are court delays and unexpected challenges all the time. We would not have been able to walk through this process alone.”
The Neumanns thank members of Congress for The Federal Adoption Tax Credit, which they found “incredibly helpful.” They ask Congress to make sure adoptive families are supported and have access to all the services they need to help them meet the children’s extreme needs.
Summarizing their adoption journey, Nicole writes, “Adoption allowed my husband and me to be parents. It is the way God built our family. A lot of times, I honestly forget they are adopted. They may not have grown in my tummy, but they immediately grew into our hearts when they came to us.”
