Adopting children is a conscious choice to give care to kids who need it. It’s not an easy process, but for the families who choose to do it, there is nothing but love. Two gay dads in Pennsylvania made the decision to adopt to expand their family. And they did something extra special … they adopted a family of siblings.
When siblings enter the system, there’s no guarantee they will get to stay together, but these dads knew that and made sure their kids would always get to grow up together.
The dads knew they weren’t finished raising kids.
Pittsburgh couple Steve Anderson-McLean and Rob Anderson-McLean, had raised two sons from a previous relationship, they told Good Morning America in 2019. But as their boys got older, they knew they weren’t finished with being dads. So they decided to adopt.
After seeing a story about another couple who adopted siblings, they knew that’s what they wanted to do. “Such a staggering amount of sibling groups are broken up and it broke our hearts,” Steve explained. That’s what led them to an adoption website for kids in Ohio.
There were six kids who had been in foster care for nearly five years.
The Anderson-McLeans learned about Carlos, Guadalupe, Maria, Selena, Nasa, and Max through that website. Their parents had their parental rights revoked in 2017. The kids had been in foster care for 1640 days — almost five years. In June 2018, the siblings were placed with the couple.
“We instantly fell in love,” Steve said. “They’re very easy to make smile.” The kids were moved in with the couple a month after placement, and they never left. “We’ve known them for less than a year, but at the same time, it feels as if our emotional bonds were years in the making,” Rob said at the time.
The adoption was official in 2019.
On May 23, 2019, the kids were officially adopted. “The judge asked, ‘Do you understand at this point forward they are your children? They are just as much as your biological children.’ Obviously we knew that, but when I looked up and saw all those eyes, it was very emotional,” Steve said.
“We never imagined we’d be lucky enough or blessed enough to have six.” The gay dads have been together for over 20 years. They legally married in 2013. But they couldn’t have anticipated this step for their family.
“I’d say our kids have brought a great kind of crazy to our lives. It’s heartwarming and so exciting to see how they connect with us and our extended family and friends,” Rob said. “There are no rules as to what can constitute a family, and the love that we share.”
