Posted by chicagomedia.org on November 30, 2008 at 13:09:10:
Amy Freeze: Destined for big time
Amy Freeze has a keen appreciation for destiny. Her maiden name steered her toward a career in weather, wherein she rose to chief meteorologist for Fox News Chicago. Her desire for a big family led her in a less obvious direction, but it's a path she felt called to just the same.
Freeze and her husband, Gary Arbuckle, just adopted their fourth child, Will, who was born in October. He joins older sister Kate, 3, and brothers Jared, 7, and Tyler, 10. Kate, Jared and Will were all adopted at birth, and Tyler is the couple's biological son.
For all three adoptions, Freeze worked with LDS Adoption, a national agency affiliated with the Church of Latter-day Saints that helps birth mothers find families for their infants.
"It makes you feel good that someone thinks you're worthy enough to raise their baby," Freeze, 34, says.
At the tail end of National Adoption Month, we chatted with Freeze.
Q Was it difficult to decide whether to adopt domestically or internationally?
A One of the reasons we chose adoption was a story I did for a TV station in Denver at a local orphanage. It was around the holidays and when I got there, there were 300 children in this facility who didn't have families. I thought, "Geez, this is incredible." I thought that happened somewhere else. I'm sure it's the same right here in Chicago?hundreds, if not thousands, of children in foster care, orphanages, who don't have parents.
Q We tend to think of orphanages as a thing of the past.
A They can call them whatever they want, some of them are labeled homes, I guess. "Orphanage" does have a negative connotation, but the reality is they're living in really negative circumstances. No matter how nice the bed is and how good the food is, they still don't have a family.
Q Adoption is often portrayed as a years-long process with a number of hoops to jump through. Was that your experience?
A There's a lot of paperwork, different forms, background checks and all these things that have to be accomplished. Once you get all the paperwork done, which takes about three to six months, I'd say, when you get the child is up in the air. Some people wait over a year, other times a baby comes in a week.
Our first adopted son [took] 9 months, practically to the week. Kate [took] a little over a year. Her birth mother found our profile online. We were living in Philadelphia and she was in Southern California. She said, "This is the family." We flew to California, she was in the hospital, delivered the baby, we met her and that was that.
With Will, we had moved to Chicago. His birth mother contacted us and said, "I want you guys to be the family, but you should know it's kind of soon." We said, "When are you due?" and she said, "I'm getting induced next Wednesday." We met her a half-hour before Will was born.
Q Do you believe divine intervention brought you all together?
A I definitely think the children in our family were meant to be our family. The birth mother is choosing a place for her child, it's not just a random pick. I don't know how or what inspires them to choose our family ... but I definitely think there's a heavenly father who wanted us to be a family.
Q What advice do you have for families considering adoption?
A First have a logistical plan?how you're going to adopt, putting it all together on paper, which agency or which lawyer you want to use. Then emotionally you have to be prepared for it. You have to say 'I'm ready and the baby's going to come however it's going to come." It's never a perfect road.
(Heidi Stevens, Chicago Tribune)