As a family experienced in caring for children with all kinds and degrees of special needs, Jacqui and Rodney Moore felt confident that they could care for an older boy with fairly involved spina bifida. But to them, his condition was beside the point. For National Adoption Month, Jacqui shares why her family would have adopted Nelson no matter his gender, age or special needs — becoming the answer to one very long-held prayer. 

Ours has been a journey of breaking down our personal mental barriers and being blessed each time. Fifteen years ago, we were a couple with two executive positions and no children. But then we began to understand how many children in the world need loving families. Since that time, we have adopted four wonderful daughters from China with various disabilities including lupus and leukemia. One of our daughters is an amputee, another is deaf and one has Ushers syndrome — meaning she is deaf and going blind.

These disabilities do not, however, define our daughters. Instead, they are characterized by their beautiful hearts and their love for each other.

When adopting, we did adhere to one guideline – we felt we should adopt children of the same gender. It seemed to make sense that, since our family had grown with little girls, we would only consider adopting daughters into our household…

But then we heard about Nelson*.

Nelson was a sweet, shy 7-year-old boy with a penchant for helping others. He was born with a condition called spina bifida, which literally means “split spine.” The birth defect can vary in severity depending on which part of the spine is split, and most commonly causes mobility and continence issues. Mobility is Nelson’s primary difficulty.