Our Story
Golf and Adoption. Most people don’t naturally associate the two. I didn’t…until one day in April of 2016. But “our story”…the story my wife and I share…began much sooner.
The first time Bree and I discussed adoption was actually the first day we met, May of 2011. Obviously, we weren’t even DATING at that time, but our conversation led to adoption and the fact that both of us knew that adoption was in our future. Fast forward 5 years to 2016…Bree and I, now married, began fulfilling that dream.
As we began our adoption journey, we knew it was going to cost us…in more ways than one. Full disclosure, it was the monetary cost of adopting a child that concerned us most…with agency, consultation, and attorney fees…fees for the personal welfare of the birth mother…travel and hotel costs…our home-study and numerous follow-ups…and a myriad of other residual costs in preparing for a child. And this concern went hand-in-hand with our knowledge of how “broken” the system had proven to be.
Nevertheless, Bree and I approached our adoption journey with great hope, excitement and expectation.
However, around the birth-mother’s 7th month of pregnancy, things began “going south”…for a variety of reasons. Consequently, more fees were required, with extra steps and more “Are you going to be fit parents?” appointments, etc. And these complications continued to be our reality for the next 9 months…for nearly 8 months after we had already brought our daughter home.
To be clear - Bree and I were ALL IN…and we would’ve spared no expense to see our daughter’s adoption into our family made final. But we were exhausted…in the trenches, day in and day out…wondering, “Where’s our support?” and “Why does it have to be this hard?”…ultimately questioning whether we would ever see the day a judge would declare Thea Mackenzie Tuttle our lawful daughter.
But as the dust was settling, on the back-end of this beautiful and chaotic journey, all I could do late one Friday was go play GOLF…by myself…to the backdrop of a brilliant Georgia sunset.
Twilight golf is my favorite.
And somewhere around Hole #12, I started pondering how we might be able to help other hopeful adoptive parents navigate this joy-filled and expensive and exhilarating and maddening and satisfying journey of adopting a child.
Sure…golf is a mere game, and adoption is…well…life. But that Friday, I discovered a striking commonality. As sure as I had returned to play a game that has broken my heart a thousand times over, I also knew I was ready…then and there…to adopt again. Despite my exhaustion and the residual scars of our previous “round”…I was ready. Without hesitation. Let’s adopt again!
Bree felt the same.
By the end of my late Friday golf round, I must’ve asked God a dozen times, “What can we do?” What can we do for others? What can we do for the thousands of others trying to adopt, feeling alone and not knowing where the money will come from? What can we do for this broken system?
And as natural as you can imagine, my “What can we do?” turned into “What can we do for adoption?” “What can we do FORE adoption?”
Golf.
Why not?
I’ve never seen a game mobilize people toward a common cause better than the game of GOLF…serving, supporting, healing and raising needed funds toward worthy causes. And adoption is most certainly a worthy cause.
So there you have it…
Fore Adoption, Inc. is the result of the commitment my wife, Bree, and I share to help other families navigate the ups and downs of their own adoption…fighting for children who need home and family…fighting for LIFE…fighting FORE ADOPTION.
More succinctly, Fore Adoption exists to serve our great Mission of FAMILY…using the greatest game ever played to serve the bravest decision ever made.
That’s our story…and we truly hope you become a part of it.
In Christ,
Kendal Tuttle
Founder and Executive Director
