The Denmark Family Profile
We would like to adopt a child who is less than 5 years old.
We are open to a boy or girl.
We feel we can accommodate a sibling group of up to 2 kids.
We prefer to adopt a child of Caucasian, Hispanic or Native american ethnic background.
We do not mind having continuing contact with the child's former foster parents.
About Us
We are a fun-loving, adventurous, Christian family. My husband and I have been married for almost 14 years.
My name is Carrie and I am 35 years old. I am a sixth grade science teacher at our local elementary school. I have taught for 11 years now and have the unique pleasure of teaching at the same school where I went to elementary school. My Husband, Lance, is 36 years old and works full-time for Dynatest Consulting as an IT administrator . Our daughter, Arianna, is 4 years old and she is currently enrolled in Pre-K at the same school I teach at. We are a Christ centered family and are very active in our local Baptist church. My husband is the college and career teacher each Wednesday night. I am the Preschool Children's church Teacher during Sunday morning worship each week. Our daughter loves going to church. She enjoys all of her classes and really enjoys her Gopher Buddy class she attends each Wednesday night. We have a lot of hobbies. We enjoy biking and running on the local bike path. We live on 6 acres and enjoy just being outside, relaxing, or riding on the ATV or walking our dogs. We take day trips to surrounding towns, visiting museums, the zoo and doing many other activities. In the fall and winter Lance enjoys hunting and being in the woods so we go with him often. In the spring we spend time doing yard work, biking, and going on walks. Much of Summer is spent in the water. We have a friend with a pool and Lances parents live on a lake 5 minutes from our house. We enjoy boating, fishing and swimming along with all the water sports that go with living near a lake. |
Where we llive
We live in Keystone Heights, Florida, which is located 30 minutes North of Gainesville. We own a new single family home we just finished building last year on 6 acres in a Country/Rural neighborhood. We live in the same town that we grew up, so both sets of grandparents are within 10 minutes of us as well as aunts and uncles and cousins! The school where I teach and our daughter attends is only about 5 minutes from our house. Our parents are very active in our daughter's life and are looking forward to sharing their love with a new grandson or granddaughter.
We have two pet dogs, Shadow and Ryder. Parenting Experience
My husband and I have a 4 year old daughter. I also feel my experience working with children is beneficial in parenting. For the past 16 years I have been working with children. In college I worked in a day care as a 1 and 2 year old teacher. After that I worked in an after school program as a counselor. I am in my eleventh year of teaching. Throughout that time I also volunteered in church children ministries teaching and working with all ages from nursery to the teens.
The biggest strength in our family is the relationship between my husband and myself. We have been happily married almost 14 years. We have faced many life difficulties ranging from being laid off from work, working through college while being married, infertility struggles, and self imposed difficulties of remodeling homes and building our home (twice). In all that we have found our strength in our faith in God and one another. We strive to have each other's best interest at heart. We face all challenges together and love to the fullest we can.
We know that foster care adoption will come with many challenges. Anytime a member is added to your family there will be a shift in the family dynamics and adoption will have challenges all its own. We fortunately have a circle of family and friends who have adopted from foster care. We are going into it with our eyes wide open with realistic expectations. I have a very personal experience as my niece was adopted from a Russian Orphanage six years ago. I was able to witness and be a part of the transition of blending the family.
We have only attended the PRIDE Training. As an educator I have attended many in-services on teaching children who have had trauma in their lives.
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Support
We have an awesome support system. We have family and friends that have gone through adoption. We have a wonderful resource of a highly recommended counseling center only 45 minutes away in Orange Park that we will be using for any needs.
We have sources of support. As mentioned our family, friends, and our church. Also our agency, Kids First of Florida and their Post Adoption support.
Motivation to Adopt
We have a desire to have our family grow. We struggled with infertility for five years until we were able to have our daughter, Arianna. Since her we have not been able to have more kids. We love being parents and we know there are children who are in need of a forever family, which we want to provide. Our daughter really wants a sister or brother.
We are not entering this decision to adopt on a whim. This is a decision that we are fully committed to. These children deserve to have a stable and loving home and we want to provide this. The child or children who enter our homes are also entering our hearts. As a family, we will always be there for each other no matter what.
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