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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Kieren Williams

Mum and dad adopt 19 children despite being warned not to take foster kids in

A super couple have adopted 19 kids in only 15 years despite being wrongly warned foster kids have “issues”.

Shelly and Jared Wallace, from Arizona, US, have been married 15 years and the couple had two biological children of their own but quickly decided their heart was set upon adoption.

They revealed on their social media how people warned them against adopting.

Shelly said they were told: "You shouldn't adopt from foster care - those kids will have issues."

But this only spurred the big-hearted couple on to do whatever they could to help foster children.

So far, the family have adopted 19 children who were previously in the foster care system and are considering plans for more.

Just over half of the children Shelly and Jared have adopted (@crazymiddles/TikTok)
The family documented parts of their family life on social media including their TikTok (@crazymiddles/TikTok)

On top of that, Shelly and Jared have also been trying to find their children’s adopted siblings and reunite them.

Their eldest child Kylie, 27, from Shelly’s previous marriage, and 11-year-old Landen are the couple’s only biological children, with the rest being adopted.

Cody, 22, Lacey, 19, and Elizabeth, 18, were the first three children the couple adopted.

At that point, the couple decided to adopt siblings who had previously been split up by the country’s foster care system.

They then adopted Destiny, 25, Jonathan, 22, and Cynthia, 18, who were all related.

The couple have said they might adopt more children in the future (@crazymiddles/TikTok)

They also took in brothers Weston, 23, and Spencer, 18 and then Mason, 12, and Jacob, 14, who aren’t related.

After that, the family grew further when Anavaeh, 8, and Braxton, 10, were adopted.

The couple spent weeks trying to track down Anaveah’s brother and eventually found him and adopted him too.

Siblings Harlan, 18, Aubrey, 14, and Addison, 13 were adopted next and originally came in a group of four but sadly one of the placements didn’t work out.

The family was then joined by Brinley, 10, with their siblings Kason, 8, and Trey, 7.

Even though some of the older siblings have now moved out the family house is never quiet.

The family document their life through their TikTok videos Crazy Middles and recently Shelly and Jared said they were tempted to start adopting once more.

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