Alisha In Pennsylvania

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Hi! My name is Alisha. I am a mom to a two year old Julian whom I am adopting from foster care. I danced from the time I was three years old until I graduated high school. When I was 15, I started teaching the little ballerinas that were just starting. I fell in love with the littles and knew from that experience I wanted to help kids in some way when I was older and had my own home.

Not knowing if I wanted to be a mom, I became a licensed foster parent. After my first placement in foster care, I knew I wanted to start my own family. I got the call for Julian when he was three days old and I picked him up from the hospital and he’s been with me ever since. In August, the Judge changed the goal from reunification to adoption and we are just waiting for an official adoption date. I am now looking to close that chapter as foster care has many ups and downs and the goal is always reunification. My goal has changed to add another member to my family through adoption.

Aside from fostering, I enjoy dogs. I have five of them! It isn’t as crazy as it sounds though. They all get along and are all crate trained and they all do well with kids. Julian has been crawling over all of them since he was able to crawl and now, he gives them hugs and kisses. I also think the dogs are good for the kids in providing a built-in best friend.

I enjoy running. I ran in a few marathons when I was in college and shortly after. I still run just not as much as I used to while I was training. It is my way of decompressing and staying healthy. I also enjoy spending time with my family. My sister lives close and visits every Saturday and Sunday. She enjoys playing with Julian and spending time here. My mom lives about an hour and a half away and comes over about once a month or when I need someone to watch Julian. Julian is the only child in my family and my family is loving watching him grow!

I live in a single-family home in a suburb of Pittsburgh, PA. I am about twenty minutes away from the city and it is a quick, easy drive making it a perfect location. It is a ranch home with three bedrooms and two and a half baths. I have a large living room with a section of it dedicated to a play zone. There is a finished basement with another playroom too. There is a sliding door in my living room that leads to a large deck where I have a little pool as well as a sandbox. I have over an acre of land that I recently had cleared and leveled and seeded with grass for a fun play area. This Christmas I will be adding a swing set to the back yard.

I live on a dead-end road that is quiet and with minimal traffic. There are lots of young children on my road that are always out walking and biking. I live in a diverse neighborhood with the schools less than a mile away. There are numerous parks in the area for all ages too.

My family is my biggest support system and Julian loves spending time with his Grammy and his Aunt. Every weekend he is always looking for Auntie Ney to visit and he gets so excited if I tell him Grammy is coming over for the day. I send pictures to them every morning before Julian goes to school and then send them pictures of him in the evening of all the activities that he does. We are very close and they love all of the children that have come to live at my home in foster care. Julian is the only child in the family and my family love to spoil him.

From Renee, my sister:
"I have watched Alisha be a parent to several children throughout the past three years. Julian has been with her the longest and she loves him and he loves her so much. They are inseparable. Alisha dedicates all of her time outside of work to Julian and always keeps him busy with age appropriate activities. She has helped numerous children in foster care by providing a loving, stable home and taking the time to address all of their needs while also connecting with them and truly loving them as if they were her own. She is quick to think of solutions as there are always things that come up in foster care. She has always done what is in the best interest of the children that have been in her home. She is patient with the kids and always positive with them. She is a very hands on parent and is always down on the floor playing with the kids and encouraging them learn and grow."

From my Mom:
"I am so proud of the woman Alisha has grown into. She is caring, kind and has always made the children that have come through her home her top priority. She is very independent and has accomplished so much from getting her Doctorate in Pharmacy, to buying her own house, to now adopting Julian. He is such an amazing kid and she has done such an amazing job raising him. I’m so proud of her and can’t wait for her to add another child to her family.

My family consists of my mom who lives about an hour and a half away from me and my sister who lives about twenty minutes from me. My mom visits us about once a month or we go home to visit her and take advantage of the pool to swim. We celebrate all of the Christian holidays here at my house. Since Julian became a part of my family, our tradition is now for my mom and my sister to spend the night at my house before Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas so everyone can wake up and celebrate the entire day together. We cook the traditional holiday meals starting in the morning and get to enjoy the entire day together with good food and lots of family time.

I was a foster parent for several years and was able to adopt a child through foster care. He has brought me so much joy that I wanted to add another child to my family, and what better way to do so than through adoption.