Every so often you read a story about extremely large families, who by birth or adoption have more than a dozen children. I myself remember reading The Family Nobody Wanted when I was in second grade. I think I was moving toward adoption even then.
The Seattle Times recently published a long article by a reporter from the Tri-City Herald about a family in Richland, Washington who has adopted fourteen children. They also have six biological children, one of whom still lives at home. That makes for a household of seventeen people.
Mike and Julee Feder say that originally they planned to retire early and travel. When they only had one biological child still at home, they decided to adopt a baby girl from
China. They were afraid, they said, of getting a child with significant medical issues. However, about halfway through the process they had a change of heart, thinking that they would adopt children others might not. So they requested a special needs child and received Anna, who had an amputated limb.
Their family now includes two more children with amputations, two six-year-olds with cerebral palsy, one child with spina bifida, one who lost an eye to a cancerous tumor,
and two children with Down syndrome (one of whom also has severe aplastic anemia and may require a bone marrow transplant). The children were adopted from China, South Africa, Ethiopia and Vietnam as well as here in Washington State. Julee believes that God chose every one of them for her family.
Julee Feder says the family manages with an “average-sized income” from her husband’s job at Washington Group International, supplemented with medical coupons for some of the children’s needs and occasional help from charities such as the Make-a-Wish Foundation, which helped provide Christmas presents this year.
Julee says she avoids extra laundry by giving each person only one towel, embroidered with his or her name. Their dinner table is tables set end-to-end reaching well into the living room. A schedule on the bulletin board lays out times for each family member to shower, nap, do chores, pray, and relax.
Mike and Julee are happy with their decision to forego early retirement and travel. “We never knew what was in store for us was much better,” says Mike.
Please see these related blogs:
How Many Children Should You Adopt
Frugal Living for Large Families
How Much Should Siblings Have to Share?
Additional resources:
Families.com has a forum devoted to those with large families, which you can reach by clicking here.
Our sister site Adoption.com has a blog devoted to large adoptive families, which you can reach by clicking here.