It was like destiny made its way for Pam Willis to see the article posted on Facebook about the seven siblings needing a permanent home.
When Pam saw the story posted on Facebook in 2019, she couldn’t help but stare at the faces of the seven siblings. She knew in an instant that she needed to be their mom.
The children ranging from ages 1 to 12 had been in foster care for more than a year after losing their parents in a car accident.
Pam tagged her 53-year-old husband, Gary Willis, to see the article. At first, she thought Gary would tell her she was a wacko given the fact that they were ready to retire. The couple shared five adult children and had been fostering kids for years but never opened up about the topic of adoption.
To her shock, Gary felt the same way she did. “It was what God wanted us to do,” Pam said.
They waste no time as they immediately call the number listed at the bottom of the story. They were told they had received thousands of calls already wanting to foster the kids. But two months later, Pam and Gary were told they were a match for Adelino, 15, Ruby, 13, Aleecia, 9, Anthony, 8, Aubriella, 7, Leo, 5, and Xander, 4.
Pam learned during the screening process about the life of the seven children. Their parents struggled with addiction, and the family has no permanent home.
“It was easy to connect with the little ones. They were just desperately craving permanency,” Pam revealed. “The older two were a little trickier.”
Pam understands that the children have trouble trusting anybody because of the trauma they experienced. They thought that maybe they would go away. The second of the eldest children, Ruby, didn’t know how to be a kid as she had to be a mother figure at a very young age for her younger siblings.
The first six months were the most challenging time for the kids as they have struggled with sleep and often had bad dreams.
“One night, my then-7-year-old came into our room,” Pam recalled. “I asked her, ‘Did you have a bad dream?’ And she replied, ‘No, I just wanted to make sure that you were still here.'”
To prove that Pam and Gary aren’t going anyway, they adopted all of the kids last August. The ceremony was attended virtually by Pam and Garry’s biological children, Matthew, 32, Andrew, 30, Alexa, 27, Sophia, 23, and Sam, 20.
They brought a big TV screen to the park so everyone could watch the ceremony and still be safe from Covid. Everyone is happy that the kids are now officially a part of the Willis.
“They’ve given us a second chance at parenting, we’ve given them a second Mom and Dad,” Pam wrote. “They are our Second Chance 7.”