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Jeanette Murphy
‘Some of the kids we’ve adopted would probably have died in hospital or would have spent their lives in and out of foster care,’ says 53-year-old Jeanette Murphy from Atlanta, Georgia.
The full-time carer has 18 surviving adopted children with special needs, plus four birth children of her own. The family of 24 all live under one roof. ‘At one time we had nine toddlers, but we’re down to two at the moment. Even so it can take nearly three hours to get everyone fed at meal times.’
Jeanette first became interested in mental disability in her teens when she befriended a Down’s syndrome boy who lived on her road. The experience inspired her to work as a counsellor in a home for disabled adults, and it was there that she met her husband John, a nurse.
‘We found that the people we were looking after had already been raised and had picked up bad habits that we couldn’t change. We wanted to reach out to them when they were younger,’ says Jeanette.
In 1983, when they already had two birth children of their own, Christian, then four, and Shawn, then seven, they adopted five-year-old Shannon, now 28, who had a severe brain injury. From then on, the church adoption services contacted them every year with another child. ‘We never exactly planned to have this many children,' says Jeanette. 'but I realised what a huge difference we could make in their lives.’
Dealing with so many disabilities hasn’t been easy. ‘I’ve sat through 14 heart surgeries for 13 kids panicking every time a doctor rushed down the hall,' she says. 'Five of our children have died – three as babies – and my world fell apart every time. They were all so precious.’
The extended family has to manage on community donations and disability payments. Their house is cramped, with bunk beds housing up to four children per room. ‘Our goal is for the kids to eventually get jobs and marry. If we ever have enough money we want to build a second house for the older kids, where they can live semi-independently.’
Amy, 19, has Down’s syndrome and has just got her first job in a day-care centre. Murphy is optimistic that the other children will follow suit. ‘I am happiest when I see them helping one another, like the other day when Mia, who is ten, fell down and scraped her knee. Cody and Nathan, who are 14 and ten, brought her inside for a plaster. I see how much love they have every day.’
For more details on Jeanette’s story or to contribute to the fund, log on to www.murphyhouseproject.com.
Thursday 26 January 2006
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