"Like Sisters” — An Adoption Story Unlike Most

Danielle was 22 and unexpectedly pregnant. Learning she was carrying a baby, she realized quickly she was not ready to be a mom. “There was no time to digest the news,” she says.

Rachel was facing fertility issues, including four miscarriages. Being a mom was something she wanted “more than anything.”

They both found help — and each other — through Catholic Charities.

Danielle saw the positive impact adoption had on a young mother via the MTV show 16 and Pregnant. “If it could work for them,” she told herself, “I know it could work for me.” Adoption became the only option she truly considered.

Rachel and her husband Patrick applied for a waitlist to become adoptive parents. After a year of patience and prayer, they got the call.

“I remember the call perfectly,” says Patrick. They ended up scheduling a time to meet Danielle and the baby’s father, Ryan, at the Catholic Charities office in Elkhart. The baby was due two weeks later.

In a dramatic turn of events, Rachel and Patrick got a call the day before, saying the meeting was going to be moved to Elkhart General Hospital instead. The baby was coming early.

“We went from being on a year-long waitlist, to getting a phone call to be interviewed, to becoming parents in less than 24 hours,” says Rachel. “We didn’t even have time to call our families.”

With a head full of fluffy hair, Rachel and Patrick started to get to know their new daughter. “The nurse came in and put a wristband on her little foot, and then she had another wristband that said ‘mother’ that she put on my hand. That’s when it hit me,” says Rachel. “I was a mom.”

Danielle says she and Rachel have since become “like sisters,” she says. “We’re a family — we basically adopted each other.”

Catholic Charities, says Danielle “was so warm and welcoming when I first started the process.”

“They truly played a pivotal role in creating our family,” adds Rachel.