Two dads who adopted six siblings celebrate three years as a loving family: ‘How the kids have grown!’
The Anderson-McLean family moments after a judge granted them adoption rights. (Facebook)
A gay couple in Pennsylvania, US, who adopted six brothers and sisters so they could all grow up together as a family, has celebrated three years together.
And that, reader, is our faith in humanity restored.
Even as some bigots still believe that children need one mother and father, Steve Anderson-McLean and Rob Anderson-McLean proved otherwise after they adopted the kids who spent nearly five years in foster care in 2019.
The Pittsburgh couple adopted Carlos, 14, Guadalupe, 13, Maria, 12, Selena, 10, Nasa, 9, and Max, 7. The six siblings had been removed from their biological parents’ care after years of abuse and neglect and shuffled around foster care homes for half a decade.
“It’s been almost three years,” Anderson-McLean wrote on Facebook Thursday (17 February). “Look how the kids have grown! Rob and I haven’t aged a bit… hahaha!
“Have a good day from the Anderson-McLean family!!”
‘We never imagined we’d be lucky enough,’ says gay dad
In a tearful Good Morning America interview in 2020, the Anderson-McLean’s said they had been together for more than 20 years and raised two sons together, Parker and Noah.
But after their sons grew up, they realised that they simply weren’t done yet with being parents. Adoption was the answer and the pair found the six children on a website for a fostering agency in Ohio.
Wary of tearing the six apart from one another after so long, the couple knew what they had to do.
“The judge asked, ‘Do you understand at this point forward they are your children? They are just as much as your biological children,'” recalled Steve on the ABC morning chat show.
“Obviously, we knew that, but when I looked up and saw all those eyes, it was very emotional. We never imagined we’d be lucky enough or blessed enough to have six.”
“I’d say our kids have brought a great kind of crazy to our lives,” Rob added.
“It’s heartwarming and so exciting to see how they connect with us and our extended family and friends.”
The siblings first began living with the Anderson-McLean’s in 2018 and it was a trip to a zoo that cemented it.
“After the first trip, they were asking if they could stay forcer,” Steve told TODAY Parents.
“We took them to the park and to the zoo. We played in the yard. That was all new to them. Having fun was new to them.”
Steve and Rob officially adopted them the following year – and the rest was history.
“Happy Valentine’s Day to my everything,” Steve wrote on social media on Monday. “Husband, rock and best friend!! Love you forever!!
“Almost 21 years… what a life we have built!”
