If you think your house is bustling, you should meet the Adams Family.
No, not that Adams family – Brian and Tonya Adams and their five to eight children. It really just depends on the day. Tonya has two daughters from a previous marriage, Hailey (20) and Kailey (18). Brian and Tonya have three children together: Isaiah (12), Kiana (11), and Olivia (5). And a year ago they received their first foster care placement.
Where It All Began
It all started at Mayland Community College when Brian had been checking out Tonya without her knowledge. He finally gave her his number and asked her when she was going to call. In her head, she thought, “Ha! Never,” but fate had a different plan. Tonya decided to give him a chance. They dated for five years, and just celebrated ten years of marriage.
Tonya has wanted to foster since she was a little girl. Even at ten years old, she was bringing children into her home who needed some extra TLC. When she was old enough to work, she’d use her salary to buy toys and clothes for children in need. Brian’s connection to fostering started at Crossnore. While in college, he was a cottage parent in one of our Avery cottages. The couple had always talked about fostering but didn’t even know where to start.
Finding Crossnore
Two years ago Brian and Tonya found out about Crossnore’s Cottage Sponsor program, and they were all in. They were highly involved with their cottage until COVID hit, and everything shut down. Then, about a year and a half ago, they were lying in bed talking about fostering. Again. And it hit them both. The time to do something was now. “I just thought, we need to look into this,” Tonya says, “We have to figure out how to help these kids.” Brian nods. “There were just signs that kept telling us it was time. And when God’s telling you something, you gotta listen.”
Tonya looked up information about licensing through Crossnore. They were able to quickly sign up for a training class, and the Adams’ fostering journey began. For weeks they drove an hour each way for training. “There were days in the process,” Tonya says, “that I would get so scared and overwhelmed, and I’d think, ‘We can’t do this.’ So I would just pray and ask God to lead and promised that we’d follow his plan for us.”