Mother Teresa Home makes adoption option work

The Mother Teresa Home helped make the Hussar household a family. Richard and Cheryl Hussar adopted their son, Dominic, with assistance from Cheryl Calire and one of the residents of the Mother Teresa Home.

The pastoral mission of the Mother Teresa Home is to promote safety, stability and well-being for people who have experienced or been exposed to pressure in regard to their pregnancy. Some of the mothers realize they cannot raise their children and offer them to be adopted by a loving family.

“We talk to (the mothers who come into the home) about the options that are out there,” explained Calire, executive director of the Office of Pastoral Ministries, which oversees Mother Teresa Home. “We’re not an adoption agency, but we work with adoption attorneys, and we certainly know women who are expecting babies. We try to work that fine line between helping them figure out themselves what is going to be in their best interest and what will be the best thing for the child that they are going to be brining into the world. In a pastoral way we try to make sure that everyone knows that adoption is available.”

After two miscarriages, and realizing as she aged more complications could arise, Cheryl Hussar decided to look into adoption.

She met Calire through family years ago. They reconnected at the St. Gianna Molla Room when it opened at St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store. After discussing her desire to adopt, Calire asked Hussar to write a letter about herself and her husband, Richard, and promised to stay in touch. Mothers who came through the Mother Teresa Home who were thinking of adoption, would receive Hussar’s profile.

“I had five or six moms who were interested. And all five or six times, by the end, changed their minds on me,” Hussar explained. “This last time Cheryl called me and said, ‘I have this mom. She’s interested.’ I wasn’t too sure, but she met with us. She was very interested in us. From day one of meeting her, she referred to us as ‘Mom and Dad’ to the baby.”

Calire and the birth mother kept in contact with the Hussars up until the time of birth.

“They wanted us there. So, we went (to the hospital), waited in the waiting room until they did the C section. After they did the C section, we were able to go into the room and see him. I sat with him every day at the hospital. Three or four days later he was able to come home, and he came home with us,” Hussar said.

Considered a private adoption, where the birth parent chooses the family with whom they will place their child, birth parents can either find a family on their own through profile searches or via the help of an adoption agency or attorney.

Hussar said they had no issues with the process.

“Everything went really smoothly. She (the birth mother) went to court a couple days later and signed over her rights. We had a waiting period to finalize everything. Then we went to court three months later to finalize everything. That was it.”

The birth mother was looking for a couple with a stable marriage and home.

“She knew that she wasn’t able to take care of a child right now, and just wanted somebody that wanted a child and have him in a good home,” explained Hussar.

“It was a unique and good fit for them,” said Calire.

“My husband and I were married for 24 years and something was missing, so having him completed our family. He’s everything to my husband and I,” she said. “He’s a well-behaved child. Very good. Even as a baby, I expected to have all those night feedings and waking up every couple of hours, but he was really good. I’m very blessed.”

Hussar, who worked in a daycare center, stayed in contact with Calire. When she was looking to change jobs, Calire agreed to be a job reference, then asked for a copy of her resume.

“She called me and said she was looking for somebody to answer the phones and help the moms out at the Mother Teresa Home, and wondered if I was interested. I said I was. It was something I always wanted to do. She had me come in and interviewed me, and that was it.”

Hussar is now assistant coordinator at the Mother Teresa Home.

“I would say to any mom out there who is not too sure to give your child up for adoption. It’s giving your child a better life if you cannot provide that for your child, and giving them an opportunity to have a life and live, instead of taking their life,” Hussar said. “Anyone looking to adopt, I would tell them not to give up, even though it might not pan out through the first, second, third, fourth fifth time, to hang in there because it will happen. You just got to hang in there. The right person will come long at the right time.”

For more information on Mother Teresa Home, call 716-424-0217.