The Pierce Family

Tricia Pierce always knew she had a passion to support and love children who needed extra care. As a labor and delivery nurse and the wife of James, a 25-year fire department battalion chief, dedication to service and care is in the Pierces’ DNA. 

Tricia recognized the fulfillment she felt when caring for children from a young age, but it wasn’t until she was married to James that she realized her calling to become a foster parent. 

When he entered Tricia’s life, James immediately stepped into a father-figure role for Tricia’s daughter from her first marriage, Mikaela. James adopted Mikaela as his own, kick-starting the Pierce’s story that showcases love, community, and trust as the core of their purpose.

The Beginning Of Forever

Alongside their biological daughters Mikaela, Madison, and Meradith, Tricia and James became licensed foster parents in September 2017. Just one month after becoming a licensed foster family, the Pierces welcomed two children into their home who were ultimately placed into kinship care with family. 

Reunification of children in care and their biological families was always the goal for the Pierces, until two newborns made their way into Tricia and James’ home and never departed. 

Newborns Joseph and Jonathan, unrelated by birth but bound for life, entered the Pierces’ care separately in November 2017 and March 2018. Tricia and James cared for each with love and compassion while staying connected with the boys’ biological mothers. 

Both Joseph and Jonathan’s mothers relinquished their parental rights, allowing the Pierces to add two 6-month-old babies to their family. 

“Despite our intention not being adoption when we entered foster care, we could not let our babies have more trauma moving to new families, and we knew we had the capacity to raise them, so we kept and adopted both Joseph and Jonathan in April 2019,” Tricia said. 

Forever Home, Forever Growing

After gaining two new members of their family, the Pierces closed their home to foster care to settle in to their new normal. Despite this closure, Tricia and James knew their foster care journey was far from over. 

A little less than a year after Joseph and Jonathan’s adoptions, the Pierces reopened their home with open arms to any child seeking comfort and care. The first kiddo to make their way into Tricia and James’ home was a newborn in February 2020 who was reunified with family after three months.

Soon after, the Pierces provided a home for a newborn baby, followed by his newborn sister 10 months later. Those siblings, like Joseph and Jonathan, never left Tricia and James, and were adopted by the Pierces forever.

Now a family of nine with the additions of Jameson and Moira, the Pierces closed their home while continuing to operate as respite care providers and stay heavily involved in their local foster care system.

Motivation To Maintain Connection

With several families now intertwined with the Pierces, Tricia and James uplift their passion for staying connected with biological families to ensure each of their children is familiar with their roots.

“[The biological parents of our adopted children] are wonderful people,” Tricia said. “We do birthday parties and life together in many ways and keep the kids [and their siblings] together as much as possible.”

“We are big advocates on how important it is for children to know where they came from even when it is not safe for them to be living there,” Tricia continued. “A child who has access to all of the answers and the truth never has to seek it or loses trust in those who are trying to protect them.”

Beyond cultivating connection between child and parent, Tricia and James are driven to create relationships with their adopted children’s biological parents, too.

By doing this, Tricia believes trust is built and relationships are sustained.

“We would want to know our child is safe and who is caring for them,” Tricia said. “We always assume that the children we are caring for have parents who feel the same and give grace.”

“You never know the trauma these parents endured as children. In getting to know these first parents of our children, we have learned so much about the path that led them to these circumstances,” she continued. “By reassuring, supporting, and getting to know them, it increases their trust in us. This is a partnership for the best interest of the child. Not a war.”

Everything In Between  

Overall, it’s the little things that mean the most to the Pierces when it comes to being a part of the foster care community. 

From witnessing small smiles to big milestones and everything in between, Tricia and James love their story and their family like nothing else. 

“The best thing about foster care is just the blessing and joy of getting to be everything to a child who deserves so much,” Tricia said. “There is so much with parenting in general that makes all the hard work worth it. It doesn’t change just because they are foster and not biological.”

Foster care is a huge part of the Pierces’ story, catapulted by Tricia and James’ love for each other and their three biological daughters. 

“We are not perfect,” Tricia said. “We try to love our kids as best as we can and be better parents for them every day.”