Kid who was in foster care for 4 years finally finds a forever home: "Love doesn't have a color"
Dominique and Kevin Gill chose to open their home to a foster kid called Andrew in 2018. Their overwhelming and emotional story was expected and surprising. The child had been in state care since he was six and the parental rights of his birth parents had long since been revoked. Andrew had four siblings, all of whom had been adopted at a young age and he was about 10 years old when he entered the home of Gill. He had a long road of recovery ahead of him after four years of trauma, reports Goalcast.
Dominique spoke to TODAY about Andrew's first week with the family, "During his first week with us, he sat in his room with the door closed and looked at old pictures. He didn’t want to talk." However, Dominique's son Joc approached Andrew and asked if he wanted to play video games. The games and their common love of PopTarts brought the lads together. According to their mother, the boys have been best friends ever since. This doesn't imply that it was easy for Andrew to settle into the family. He was extremely distant from them and sometimes he would lock himself in his room. However, with the consistent efforts of the GIlls, he found a place he could really call home.
Gill spoke to WBIR Channel 10, "As the years went on, [Andrew and Joc] got pretty close. It’s good to see that bond they have grown over the years." The Gills' intention was never to adopt a child but to foster as many kids as possible and help them find stability. They already had two kids, Joc and a small girl named Kynnedi. Some families were interested in adopting Andrew, but two adoptions fell through till he was in seventh Grade, Dominique talked about how this was a sign, "Our mindset was we’d help him until he found his forever home. But after the second adoption didn’t work out, I realized God put Andrew in our lives for a reason." She added, "God made sure the adoption didn’t work out so he could come back to us."
The Gills couldn't just tell this wonderful little boy about their plans, they wanted to surprise him with the news of adoption. So they had Molly Parker, a Youth Villages Counsellor, ask Andrew if he wanted to go on a stroll with her. Andrew saw the whole Gills family along with all the family friends he had met while living in their home. He was taken aback at first by the balloons and placards. WBIR reported that Joc was wearing a T-shirt that read, "Will you be my brother?” Andrew agreed to the question with happiness and he was given a shirt that read, "Yes."
Dominique said, "From the beginning, Andrew has always said, ‘Thank you for accepting me,' Thank you for not giving up on me." She added, "People would read his file and get scared away. But I knew he was a good child who had experienced a lot of trauma.” Gill's family has four beautiful children now, Andrew, Joc, and Kynnedi, but they also have a new baby boy, KJ. She says, "Love doesn’t have a color. (Andrew) is our son just like Joc is our son. He’s a part of us."