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Walter & Dee are hopeful adoptive parents from Dist. of Columbia waiting to adopt a baby.

If you are pregnant and considering placing your child for adoption, please read the following Dear Birthmother Letter.

Our Story We’re Walter and Dee in Washington, DC and we are grateful to you for taking the time to read about us and to consider us as a potential adoptive family. We understand that this is a very challenging time for you. We respect your decision to choose adoption and hope that you find an adoptive family that gives you a sense of comfort. We hope that this letter gives you a glimpse into our lives and who we are, and perhaps we will be the family that you are looking for for your child.

We met through friends eight years ago and we've been married almost six years. We have loved the process of building a life together and we would love to add a child to that life. We have always felt that adoption would be a natural way to add to our family. When we started talking about adding a child to our lives, and giving that child the kind of loving home we each grew up in, for both of us the conversation almost immediately turned to adoption.

Time Together We both believe that one of the most important things we can give each other—and our child—is time: Time together and time with friends and family. While we both work hard at jobs we care about, each day we make a point of stopping to appreciate what we have, and especially to appreciate our time together. We believe that the greatest gifts we can give our child are a sense of love, a sense of excitement about all the possibilities that the world might offer, and a deep appreciation of what matters most in life—family, loved ones, and the importance of taking time to enjoy the many small, beautiful things in each day that make life precious.

Our home is a large 80-year old house on a big yard in a wonderful tree-lined neighborhood that has a real sense of community. It is close to several parks and playgrounds, a few blocks from a good elementary school, and a short walk to two very child-friendly libraries. Our home is filled with music, books, art, photographs—including many Dee’s taken—and much, much love. We love to open up our home and make it a welcoming place. We tell our friends that the door is always open. It is a wonderful neighborhood and home to rear a child in.

We spend our time at home tending a large vegetable garden that provides us lots of fresh food from spring through fall; cooking; reading to each other; listening to music; playing games; and, going on long walks or bike rides in the neighborhood, nearby parks, and to neighborhood farmers’ markets (there are several near our house).
These are all things we look forward to sharing with our child. We hope to give our child the joy of caring for some of the plants in the garden and watching the miracle of their growth; of being surrounded by music and literature (Dee loves to read to children and writes children's stories); and the joy of nature and being active, by walking with us through local parks and gardens.

Washington presents wonderful opportunities for a child to lean and explore—museums, cultural festivals, music and theater. We take advantage of those things now and look forward to sharing those experiences with our child. We’ve also been fortunate enough to take many trips together -- in the U.S., Europe, Mexico, and even to Asia. We enjoy traveling and it’s something we plan to continue doing with our child. Travel is a wonderful way for a child to learn to appreciate and respect different cultures and different ways to doing things, and to appreciate home, too. As a family, it will be a chance to for us to share experiences and to explore the world together.

About Us We feel very blessed to have found each other. We’re husband and wife, best friends, and we make each other laugh everyday. Growing up, family was important for both of us and we have strong family ties. Walter, who is from New York City, has a brother and lots of cousins who he is close to, including one cousin with a young adopted daughter. Dee, who is from Louisville, Kentucky, is close to her two much older brothers and to nieces and a nephew, who are closer to her age. Two nieces and her nephew have new babies. We also have many close friends from a range of backgrounds. One of our closest friends has two adopted children and one of Walter's cousins has an adopted child who is four years old.

We value education and learning—both of us have professional degrees; Walter is an attorney working for workers’ rights and Dee works on health care issues. We’re lucky to be financially secure and able to provide our child with the best education for him or her. But we also think that education is a lot more than just the schools a child attends or the grades they make. It includes helping a child to explore the world, to discover their own interests, talents, strengths and weaknesses, and to find the best way they can lead a happy life. We look forward to helping our child learn who he or she is, and how to make the most of his or her special potential.

We also think that one of the most lasting ways a parent can educate a child is by being a good example and we will work to be good examples for our child—examples in how we treat each other, in what we value in life, and in giving back to the community. We attend a local Unitarian church that has a strong tradition of community service, and recently went with them on a trip to New Orleans to help in the post-Katrina rebuilding. We plan to include our child in similar projects, both at home and when we travel.

A little about Dee (by Walter): Dee brings me joy every day. She is loving, gentle, sensitive, caring and smart. I have never felt so loved and cared for. She teaches me to appreciate all the beautiful things that I might be in too much of a rush to notice. She often talks of her memories of her own childhood, and when she does I can see in her face all the love that she felt for her parents and for the wonderful childhood that they gave her. She will be a wonderful mother, giving her own child these same gifts.

A little about Walter (by Dee): Walter’s the best friend I’ve ever had and the best person I’ve ever known. He’s kind, patient, funny (I love it when he sings Broadway show tunes to me), smart, and has the best values of anyone I know. When he talks about raising a child, what really comes through is how important it is to him to pass along those values and a sense of belonging and family traditions. I love watching him with friends’ and relatives’ children—he lights up and really connects with them. He’ll be a fantastic father.

Our Closing Thoughts Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and hopefully to get to know a little about us. We know that you are making a very difficult decision. We want to assure you that we will love and cherish our child, and make sure that he or she knows that you made the choice for adoption out of love. We will do everything that we can to give any child we welcome into our family a real sense of home—a place of comfort, belonging, laughter, and love. We’ll also do our best to give our child the opportunities to make the most of his or her unique talents.

It’s impossible in a few short paragraphs in a letter on a computer screen to really get across who we are, the kind of parents we would be, or how we would treasure our child. But we hope that this gives you a sense of us. We have been blessed with each other, with wonderful family and friends, and with personal and professional success. A child would be an additional, wonderful blessing. And we will love and devote ourselves to our child. We hope that you’ll consider us as adoptive parents and look forward to getting to know more about you.

Sincerely,

Walter and Dee