Jessica Benzaklein spent six years of her life in foster care, so adopted six boys and made sure they have a family. She knows what it was like to grow up feeling like you don’t belong anywhere, so she wanted to give some kids a permanent home. Now, she’s a happy mother of eight.

When Benzakein was 12 years old, she was placed in foster care because her mother lost custody rights over her. When she entered the system, caseworkers were not optimistic about her chances of getting adopted. Older kids usually have more difficulty finding their new homes. She stayed in foster care until she was 18, then she went to college. She went on to have amazing experiences in life, but she still wished she had a family to share them with.

She lived through a tough time, so Benzakein wanted to make sure kids like her don’t go through the same thing. With that, the mom of two made the decision to bring in six more kids into her home. Five years ago, she adopted two sets of siblings—all of whom are considered “too old” to be adopted easily. She welcomed Will (17), Carter (14), and Sidney (13) into her home when they didn’t have anywhere else to go, and she added brothers Kendrich (6) and T.J. (4) as well.

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The kids instantly clicked with her two biological children, Eli (14) and Brenna (9). Last Friday, she officially adopted the six boys, and they’re now all legally her children. They’re all one big family, and none of adopted kids will have to go through life alone anymore. Benzakein grew up believing she didn’t need a family, but the kids changed her mindset. Now, she’s happy to finally have a big family of her own.

Currently, there are around 428,000 children who are in foster care in the United States, but only 135,000 get adopted every year. A significant portion of these kids will reach the age of 18 or 21 in foster care, so they never get to have another family. Benzakein’s kids are lucky they have a mom who sympathized with their situation, but many children across the country unfortunately don’t get such luck.

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