We're Jonathan, Thomas, Grace, and Charlotte. A multi-racial family and same-sex couple. We created our family with the help of a foster to adopt program. Our family motto is "Acceptance Through Visibility," as we believe that change can only happen when families like ours are as visible as possible. We share our lives on Instagram @daddyandpapa as a simple way to accomplish the change we all deserve. Learn more about us and how you can help grow our family through surrogacy at www.daddyandpapa.co.
Photography here is by one of our newest and most favorite photographers, Just Toby. Toby says " I hope you all enjoy my work and if you enjoy it, make sure to check me out on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or my website."
We met in 2005 and married in 2012 and knew relatively early on in our relationship that we wanted to have children, so in 2013 at a friend's wedding, we finally decided it was time to get the process started after seeing and being surrounded by so much love. At the time, Thomas was in the Army and Jonathan, to this day, is the CTO for a software company, so it wasn't until we arrived at our first duty station in Baltimore, MD (Fort Meade) that things really started rolling. We had suffered two failed adoptions before this, so it was with reluctance that we enrolled in the training program with the Baltimore City Department of Social Services to become foster parents with the hope of creating our family through adoption. It became clear, very early on, that we were the only same-sex couple taking this course and likely one of the few in their entire program.
A few months later we received a call asking if we could take in a newborn. 45 minutes later Grace came home for the first time. Three years ago on the 18th of September, just around 5:00 p.m., daddy, papa, and Grace were just sitting down to eat dinner. Little did we know our 2nd daughter, Charlotte, had just been born. It wasn't our intention to adopt twice, let alone two babies only 5-weeks apart, but later that night as we were all getting settled into bed our phone rang. It was relatively late on a Friday night, but we immediately recognized the number. It was someone from the Baltimore City Dept of Social Services. On the other end of the phone was the deputy director with a straightforward question. "We have a newborn who is immediately available for adoption. Would you like to adopt her?" I think we both said YES before she was even able to finish asking her question. Her next question was, "can you come to the hospital right now to meet your daughter?" It took us all but 15 minutes to get out of the house and on our way to meet her.
Visit daddyandpapa.co for great stuff and updates on the dads and daughters. Follow them on Instagram and check out their videos.
