My baby: “Here’s my sweet not so little newborn!” Kelli Higgins wrote on her Facebook page. “His name is Latrell and weighs 112 lbs.” Hey! It’s weird but also kind of cute! Not Latrell, the idea! Latrell’s cute too! I mean, what ever, get over it…
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Higgins and her husband adopted Latrell and his sister Chanya two years ago, welcoming the siblings to their home in Crestview, Fla. The family already had five biological children, with a sixth one on the way, but Higgins felt she had more love to give, especially to kids who would have a harder time finding a home because they were older. In the past decade, more older children have become available for adoption, experts say.
“These children, once they get past a certain age, they don’t find homes and they age out of foster care,” Higgins told TODAY.com.
“They have to figure out the world on their own and there’s no one to go back to as an adult. Where do you go for Christmas? It’s just horrible, it’s heartbreaking.”
Then one day, social services called: Latrell and Chanya, then 10 and 5, were looking for a family. “Let’s just go for it,” Higgins recalled her husband saying. A few days later, the kids moved in. The Higgins were the only ones to submit paperwork to adopt the pair, the family found out.
The siblings are growing up happily, but wounds from the past sometimes surface unexpectedly.
The family was sitting around the dinner table last month, when Higgins – a professional photographer – mentioned that she was preparing for an upcoming baby photo session. Latrell mentioned that he wished he had baby photos of himself.
Higgins’ 12-year-old daughter asked, why not “recreate” a newborn photo shoot just for Latrell? The family had a good laugh thinking about him in all the newborn poses.
“I thought it was funny and that it would be a good idea,” Latrell told TODAY.com. His mom found the notion bittersweet.
I think this was a fun idea, maybe not the best esteem builder, but still, fun and loving family activity.
