Tattnall County family adopts children, celebrates adoption month

Updated: Nov. 22, 2018 at 4:17 PM EST
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SAVANNAH, GA (WTOC) - November is National Adoption Month which is a time to raise awareness about the need for adoptive families. There are an estimated 7,600 foster care children in the State of Georgia, according to Georgia.gov.

Jana and Chris Reaves met and immediately began having children after they married. Their three children came along, but Jana felt that God had called her to do more. She began looking into adoption and her husband quickly began looking with her.

“He was really interested so we started looking and we looked at one child in particular," Jana said. "We were told we weren’t a match for this child. That was really hard for us at first, but we knew the Lord had other plans.”

They went through the training, the home evaluations, and were approved to be foster-to-adopt parents. This means the children would live with them for a period of time to make sure they are a right fit.

“The policy is four to six months before you can adopt them. They have to be in your home, get acclimated, make sure everything is working out you know, because there are children that will say, 'I just don’t want to live with those people and that does happen,” Jana said.

Once the process was complete, they were blessed with two children - a boy and a girl - who are siblings.

“At first, it was kind of weird, but I kind of went to placement to placement so I kind of got use to it, but you know, it’s always going to be weird going to someone’s house and living there,” says their adopted daughter, Karaleena.

The Reaves thought they were finished adopting kids, but one more little girl stepped into their family.

“It takes you definitely getting out of your comfort zone. It takes you giving up part of your life that you think is your life. You know, we think, 'I’ll have to give up these things when really you’re not giving up anything. You’re adding to the aspects of your life. You’re adding to your family. You’re adding to the blessings of your life,” Jana said.

Jana stays home and home schools the children, which gives them time to go on many field trips.

One of those trips allowed the family to be featured in a movie that was just released this month titled “Instant Family.” The movie is about a family who adopts a sibling group and the Reaves family got a small part in the movie. Chris says the movie shows the difficulties and the reward for adopting children.

“You come back down to reality and you realize it’s not about my comfort. It’s about the child,” Chris said. "You’re talking about a child who does not have a home and you’re giving the child one.

“We are just thankful that we are able to do this and the Lord put them in our lives,” Jana said.

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