By Katie Kerr

I’m not sure what year my parents decided, but from very early on they knew they wanted to have three kids and start a big family. It was their idea of an ideal family and they were going to do whatever it took. Unfortunately, they soon realized that they couldn’t conceive.

Their next option was adoption. In 1967 they adopted my brother, Andrew, and then again in 1969 they adopted my sister, Martha. When the time came for them to continue on their plan for a third, Children’s Aid Society had told them that they wouldn’t be able to adopt another white child.

It was uncommon for a family to adopt outside of their own background at the time, but they set up to adopt a First Nations child. In 1972, with most of the arrangements figured out, they found out they were pregnant with me. It was a pleasant surprise but they had to cancel the adoption.

As I heard in later years, it was quite a struggle, but they wanted to do anything they could to have the family they had always wanted. Years later when I met my wife, we shared in the similarity that she also had an adopted sibling.

Our loved ones both dealt with struggles but managed to pull through in the end to create the tight-knit families we have now. We also both decided that that is what we wanted to have when we grew up and here we are. #FamilyLove #FamilyStory #ChallengingSocialNorms