A woman who spent time in foster care as a teen has adopted the baby of her husband’s ex-wife in order to ensure he has a family.
Christie Werts (48) and her husband Wesley (45) met five years ago, and together they parent a blended family of five children. Christie has Megan, 21, and Vance, 15, from a previous relationship; Wesley has Austin, 14, and Dakota, 10, from his previous relationship.
When Wesley’s ex-wife, the mother of Austin and Dakota, died due to addiction just days after her son Levi was born, the couple stepped up to adopt the baby boy. They hadn’t even known that she had been pregnant.
“When I heard about Levi, without hesitation I said we should take him,” Christie told NeedToKnow.co.uk. “I was myself a foster kid and, although for the most part I had a great experience, I did not want him going to foster care.”
Christie went into the foster care system at age 15, and she wanted Levi to grow up with his half-siblings.
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Though the couple was not in contact with Levi’s biological mother’s family, they knew that he had been born on a Monday and his mother had died that Friday.
They uprooted their lives to care for the boy, selling their home in Ohio and renting a house in Texas so they could officially foster him. It took 16 months until they were finally able to legally adopt him.
Although she was initially worried about properly bonding with Levi, she said “he stole my heart” and she “felt this intense need to protect him.”
Christie explained, “We already felt like he was our son. But on paper, he was a child with no first name, no birth certificate, and was a ward of the state. Just to know he would have a birth certificate, a legal first name was very emotional. I had dreams about him before we even knew him. We prayed for him, so here was the moment we feel God had planned.”
Levi was officially adopted in January and just celebrated his second birthday Now finished with the process of fostering to adopt, the family is back to their usual routines.
Levi is thriving and is known as “the king of the house,” said Christie.
