Maine mom shares her adoption story: ‘It makes me smile’

WATERVILLE, Maine (WABI) - More than 113,000 kids in the U.S. are waiting for a home.

TV5 spoke to one mom who feels she’s been called to adoption, so much so, it is taking up her home and work life.

Nicole Rancourt just jumped on board becoming the newest Family Adoption Social Worker for Maine Children’s Home, based in Waterville.

She’s joining a staff with decades of experience helping families through the adoption process.

She’s perfect for the role because she knows just how rewarding and challenging the adoption process can be after bringing home her daughter a decade ago.

“We started the process about 14 years ago, and we finalized it about ten years ago,” said Rancourt.

A four-year adoption process that was challenging for Nicole Rancourt and her husband.

Walking alongside them through the process were folks from Maine Children’s Home in Waterville.

Founded in 1899, their Family Adoption Program is the longest-operating program of its kind in Maine.

Nicole and her husband chose to adopt domestically.

Due to a lack of birth mothers, they connected with an outside agency.

“We were actually one of the first couples from Maine Children’s Home to do that - use the paperwork and all the in-state stuff through them and then connect with an agency who could find us a birth mother. When we went through that process because we went to a different state to get her, they did all our post-placement follow-ups,” she explained.

Getting that call that their daughter was born was a memorable one.

“I went to the grocery store Sunday morning to get groceries for a family barbecue that night, and the phone rang as I was coming up to the register. I was so flustered, I left the groceries on the register and said, ‘I must go. My child has been born, and we’re leaving.’ I just walked out,” she recalled.

Once a child goes home to their new family, the agency still follows up.

They are focused on modernizing and supporting all sides of the adoption triad - the birth parent, the adoptive family, and the adoptee.

“It’s a beautiful process that people should generally consider and not as a last resort but as something that they want to do,” said Family Adoption Program Director Brian McArthur.

McArthur and his wife are currently trying to adopt after helping raise three boys from Bolivia.

“It is something at least as beautiful as raising a biological child,” he said. “Rather than being a charity case, though, adoption has the opportunity and potential to really enrich our lives. I know I am a much better person for having adopted several kids.”

“Adoption is something that very much attracts me,” said Rancourt. “It makes me happy. It makes me smile because I know what it does for other families because I know what it did for our family.”

There are about 1,900 children in Maine Department of Health and Human Services custody.

Of those children, there are around 100 waiting for an adoptive family.

For more information on any of the adoption options at Maine Children’s Home that may be available to you, click here.

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