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A former teacher is candid about adopting four biological siblings as a single parent after raising a total of 56 children, saying they made her a “forever mother.”
Melissa Servetz, 45, from Florida, is mother to Jade, eight, Destiny, six, Matthew, four, and Emerson, two. She first adopted her daughters and took in their younger brothers right after they were born.
“I didn’t see myself as a single mother of four. I thought maybe two, you know,” she said Good morning America. “But there was no way I could let the boys go to someone else and stay away from their siblings. There is no way.’
Melissa Servetz, 45, from Florida, adopted four biological siblings — Jade, eight, Destiny, six, Matthew, four, and Emerson, two — as a single mother
The former teacher started volunteering at a children’s home before becoming a foster mother in 2015. She adopted Jade and Destiny in 2017, when they were two and 16 months respectively.
Servetz, who has worked in social services for the past five years, began volunteering at a children’s home before becoming a foster mother in 2015. She mainly cared for babies and young children aged five and under.
In 2017, she was working as a teacher in the Tampa Bay area when one of her former student’s parents told her that Jade and Destiny were living with a non-family member and needed a place because they were being evicted.
After calling the agency she worked with, she was told she could take care of the girls, who were then two and sixteen months old.
“About a week later, I picked up Jade in a parking lot with her case manager. And a week after that I switched to Destiny and it was like: [the] the most natural thing ever,’ she recalled.
“I remember those days like it was yesterday, picking them up and just wearing them.”
Servetz took both Matthew and Emerson home straight from the hospital after they were born and raised them all their lives
The mother noted that her children were all born with substance exposure and are in therapy to deal with the trauma they have experienced, but they are “well”
Servetz said her children have “overcome obstacles like there is no tomorrow” and that they all have “a very bright future”
Servetz took both Matthew and Emerson home straight from the hospital after they were born and raised them all their lives. She calls her children her “last four” because they were the last four children she raised.
“They still have a trauma that they’re going into therapy for, which they’ve worked a lot on,” she explained. “They are all born substance exposed.”
She noted that they’ve “overcame obstacles like there’s no tomorrow” and “are doing a great job,” saying that “the bond they have is unbreakable.”
The mother added that all her children have “a very bright future ahead.”
‘Jade is super smart, funny, outgoing, [and] Destiny [is] very foolish, lighthearted, likes to joke, loves her little brother,” she said of her daughters.
“The bond they have is unbreakable,” she said of the siblings, who all look out for each other
Servetz insisted that she would adopt her children from scratch if she could, because “the rewards and benefits absolutely outweigh anything”
“Matthew is the happiest kid you’ll ever meet. He was born happy. I’ve had him since he was three days old and he’s rarely upset,’ she continued.
“He likes dinosaurs and trucks and Paw Patrol… Emerson is right behind him. Happy. tricky. They’re all super fun and super active and just really fun to be around.”
Servetz admitted it’s “not easy” to take in or adopt a child, especially as a single parent, and says appointments, travel and case managers are constantly coming in from her home.
However, she insisted that she adopt her children all over again if she could, because “the rewards and benefits absolutely outweigh everything.”
“There are so many things that are great about being a mom, but… knowing that I’ve made a difference and given them a life they never would have had before is really the most rewarding thing,” she said.