“Bring justice to the fatherless”-Isaiah 1:17

My name is Kevin Riggs. My wife Kara and I have been foster parents to a sweet little 2 year old girl we are calling “B” in this writing. At 2 weeks old straight from the NICU, we were given temporary custody of B as her foster parents. Parental rights have been terminated, and B is now considered an orphan. That does not mean B will go uncared for. 

For more than 2 years now B has lived in our home, and is strongly bonded with myself, Kara and our whole family. She calls Kara, Mommy and me, Daddy (her first word). Our children she identifies as her sisters and brother. She has community here that supports her. We knew that once she became an orphan, adopting her was the right thing to do and it is on our hearts to do so. 

This past April we went before a committee that would decide if we would be able to

adopt B or not. We were denied the approval to adopt her because the

committee decided B should be placed with an extended relative who only

recently appeared. We do not believe that blood trumps bonds, and

certainly not through the eyes of a child. All B knows is that we are her family.

My wife and I feel strongly that this is to the detriment of this sweet little girl. We do not want her to experience any unnecessary trauma. Being removed from the only family she knows is traumatic, even more so than her first removal into foster care. 

My wife and I have hired a lawyer to help us fight for what is right for our little girl, and file an appeal of the decision of the committee and pursue an adoption petition to have a chance at keeping this sweet girl in her home.

We are applying the word of God as it says in Isaiah 1:17 ESV “Learn to do good. Seek justice. Correct oppression. Bring justice to the fatherless. Plead the widow’s cause.”

Here is where you can help us do good and seek justice. As you know, lawyers are very expensive and because we are going against DCF’s ruling we will have to pay a lot upfront and out of pocket. Our first goal is to raise $15,000 by June 30th, 2023 to get the appeal in process before the deadline. The second goal is to raise another $25,000 to cover all the legal fees within the adoption petition that will be spread out over the course of the coming months. This estimate is based from what we have spoken to lawyers about.  

In James 4:3 ESV it says “You do not have, because you do not ask.” To lessen this financial burden to our family we are asking that you prayerfully consider helping to fund this cause for this precious little girl of any amount. We are asking for support faithfully because we know our God is faithful to us as “Jehovah Jireh”, meaning “the Lord will provide.” For us, making a sacrifice for B is worth her no longer being labeled as an orphan, but having a permanent place to call home with our family. 

Thank you for taking time to hear our story and coming on this journey with us. We will keep you up to date regularly where we are on this journey of bringing justice to the fatherless, making a way for B to have myself, Kevin, to be her father and my wife, Kara, to be her mother as a permanent part of our family.