Adoption Services

Creating loving homes since 1947

Drayke & Karly

Dear Birth Parents

We are Karly and Drayke. We are writing this letter hoping to give you some idea as to what kind of parents we will be if you choose us as your child’s adoptive parents. We tried to get pregnant for three and a half years with no success. We tried all of the steps before IVF hoping month after month, year after year, that we would be able to have a baby. It didn’t happen. It was a huge decision to try IVF. And it was our last hope. We had looked into adoption and were told over and over that it could take years to get a baby. Our IVF story is a success story, but we had multiple scares during the process. However, we ended up with our daughter, Scarlett, who was born in July of 2023.

We always knew we wanted more than one child. I always thought 3 or 4 would be perfect! Then after Scarlett was born, we were told we couldn’t have another biological child without going through the IVF process again. But then, we ended up pregnant on our own (much to our surprise!) and our son, Oliver, was born in February 2025. We will not be having any more biological children, but we want to expand our family through adoption.

For years we have known adoption was something we very much wanted to do. This was something we felt strongly about even before we tried for so many years to get pregnant and couldn’t. But when we looked into adoption and discovered it could take years, we made the decision to go through IVF. We got our daughter and then our son, but never stopped wishing that we could adopt more children.

We love our kids so much and have so much more love to give to another child (or children).

We want you to know that we will share with your child as much or as little as you wish us to. When the time is right, we will explain that you made the ultimate sacrifice so that he/she would have the best life possible. We know that you are doing this out of love for your baby and because of that, you are giving someone the most precious gift. (We hope that is us.)

We can assure you that your child will receive everything he or she needs to succeed in life from education and support and guidance to fun and recreation and a sense of belonging.

About Us

We are Karly and Drayke. We tried to get pregnant for three and a half years with no success. We tried all of the steps before IVF hoping month after month, year after year, that we would be able to have a baby. It didn’t happen. It was a huge decision to try IVF. And it was our last hope. We had looked into adoption and were told over and over that it could take years to get a baby. Our IVF story is a success story, but we had multiple scares during the process. However, we ended up with our daughter, Scarlett, who was born in July of 2023.

We always knew we wanted more than one child. We always thought 3 or 4 would be perfect! Then after Scarlett was born, we were told we couldn’t have another biological child without going through the IVF process again. But then, we ended up pregnant on our own (much to our surprise!) and our son, Oliver, was born in February 2025. We will not be having any more biological children, but we want to expand our family through adoption.

We are animal lovers. Karly works at an animal shelter a few days a week. We have a dog and three cats, and our family often fosters cats until they go to their forever homes. Drayke is the primary wage earner. Karly only works part-time now in order to give Scarlett and Oliver lots of attention. We work our schedules so one of us is at home caring for the kids; and lucky for us, Karly’s mom is always close by to help when needed.

Home/Community

We live in the country. There are about 80 acres of family land. We have our home on this land. We own our home. It is approximately 3,000 square feet, five bedrooms and two bathrooms. We have plenty of room for more children.

Children if applicable

Scarlett is a sweet little caregiver – to her little brother and the animals and even to her toys. She is also silly and funny, always making us laugh. Oliver is always smiling. He is thrilled when his sister plays with him. He seems to enjoy just about everything and everybody.

We love them so much and can’t wait to add a child (or children) to our family.

** The reason we are hoping to adopt right away is because we would love all of our children to be close in age and get to grow up together.

Hobbies & Interest

We both ended up in perfect jobs. I (Karly) work as a co-manager at a no-kill animal shelter. (Currently part-time since having our children.) I absolutely love my work; so much so that I often bring it home with me. I sometimes foster cats or kittens until they are adopted into their forever homes. I guess you’d say that my occupation and my favorite hobby overlap.

I (Drayke) am the manager of an automotive parts store. It’s the perfect job for me because I have always enjoyed working on cars and trucks. And my favorite hobby is (slowly) restoring old trucks.

What led you to adoption

We are hoping to adopt while our children are still young, so all of our children can grow up together.

Fun Facts

Karly did wildlife rehabilitation before children. She took in injured and orphaned baby animals as her license allowed. She has taken a break now to raise her children.

Drayke is really good at rebuilding cars and trucks. His favorites are classic vehicles that he gets when they’re in poor shape and he slowly fixes them up.

Pets

We love our pets. Our current furry family members are one dog (Monte) and three cats (Duckie and Milk and Bounce). Because I (Karly) work at an animal shelter, I encounter animals with special needs. Duckie and Bounce have physical disabilities. All four of our furbabies are precious to us and are friendly and good with people and children.

We also have a room in our house for fostering cats, up to two at a time, (through Karly’s job). Karly often takes the ones that need extra care.

Openness

We want you to know that we are willing to discuss the level of openness desired. We also want you to know that we plan to share with your child about his/her adoption and you as the birth parent. We want your child to know what an amazing sacrifice you made to make sure he/she was placed into a loving home and has every opportunity you would wish for him/her. We feel that you are the kind of person who is not only making a heartfelt decision for your child, but also fulfilling the deep desire of parents hoping to adopt. We want your child to know the gift you gave to both him/her and to us.

Raising a child of another race

If the child who comes into our family is of a different culture or ethnicity, we want to make sure he/she is given information about that culture/ethnicity. We feel like this is an important part of adopting a child of a different background from our own. He/she should grow up with knowledge of these things. We want you to know that your child’s culture and ethnicity will be taught and celebrated throughout their childhood.

Marriage

We married in June 2017; and were together for six years before that. We spent our first years together being a couple and pursuing our work lives and hobbies. We always knew we wanted children. Now that we are parents, we find that everything we do centers on the kids. We make a great team. Our favorite times together now are when we’re both home spending time with our children.

Support group/extended family

We have a very close extended family. The children are adored by all and everyone is aware of our plan to adopt and could not be happier.

We get together almost every day at our house or at Karly’s parents’ house or at Karly’s sister’s house. We all have different play equipment so we rotate from home to home.

Karly’s parents live about a mile from us. And Karly’s sister and her family live about a half mile from us. If we are lucky enough to be chosen, your child will get to grow up in the country, surrounded by nature and family. We are a close family. We have family cookouts and get-togethers regularly. We also make a big deal out of holidays. When Karly was a child, every holiday meant decorating the house and making cookies and getting together with family. Karly has such fond memories of those times and we hope to give that to our children as well. We take a short trip (vacation) about twice a year. It’s only for a few days at a time, but you can pack a lot of fun into a few days.