Three children are not enough for Sykesville?s Chris and Alaina Haerbig, and members of the community seem to agree.
“We felt sure that adopting again was something we should do,” Alaina, a teacher at Linton Springs Elementary, said of her family?s attempt to bring four more children ? three girls and a boy from out of state ? into the fold.
The Haerbigs, who live on Sherryl Avenue, have been a foster family for four years.
They have two biological sons in elementary school and one adopted teenage daughter who attends Carroll Community College. Chris Haerbig is a structural steel estimator in Frederick.
While plans are not yet final, the Haerbigs want to “experience the joys and challenges” of welcoming more children into their home, Alaina said.
However, expanding their “hearts and home for children who need to know they belong in a loving ?forever? family” does not come cheap, she said.
Faced with limited resources, Alaina wrote a letter to area businesses telling her family?s story, earned her electrician?s license to install the new electric system for an addition to her home, and even applied to the NBC game show “Deal or No Deal,” where contestants can win thousands of dollars.
While she has not heard from NBC, local businesses and individuals have begun donating everything from money to free labor to construct the addition. The Haerbigs say they are amazed and gratified at the community?s response.
“Former students, fellow teachers and friends have already scheduled a ?painting party,? ” Alaina said.
“My company is about five years old. I am finally in the position to do something for someone else,” Don Stilling, vice president of AJR Heating, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration in Arbutus, said of his decision to donate an HVAC system for the new addition after receiving Alaina?s letter in the mail.
In the United States alone, “there are over 118,000 kids in foster care who are available for adoption and need homes,” said Rebecca Jones Gaston, who works for Adoption Exchange Association, a White Marsh-based nonprofit that manages AdoptUsKids.org, the Web site the Haerbigs used to find children who would fit into their ever-growing family.
“The site is great ? you see the child?s face and learn about their likes and dislikes, so we can carefully select what our family can handle,” said Alaina, referring to the profiles of children on the site.
