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October 2006
Open adoption creates one big family
Birth parents, adoptive parents all share in Elyssa’s life
Maryangela Layman Román
Parenting Staff
Dave, Laura, Elyssa and Grant Koel pose for a photo in their Waterford home. Grant was born about a year after the Koels adopted Elyssa through Catholic Charities. (Catholic Herald photos by Allen Fredrickson)
A white picket fence surrounds Elyssa Koel’s Victorian home in this cozy community in Racine County. Across the road is Uncle Harry’s ice cream parlor, within the picket fence is a large yard where Elyssa and her younger brother, Grant, can run and play in typical preschool fashion.

Elyssa has a pet cat, a house full of toys and loving parents, Dave, 38, an art teacher at Waukesha North High School, and Laura, 37, a special education teacher, now a stay-at-home mom to Elyssa and Grant.

It appears to be a picture-perfect childhood for 3-year-old Elyssa, almost straight from a Norman Rockwell portrait.

When Jessica and Rick Donaldson come to visit Elyssa, whether it’s to celebrate a birthday or some other family occasion, the energetic, outgoing, bubbly little girl exudes happiness.

“I rarely see babies who are that happy,” said Rick of Elyssa. “I think it’s proof we did the right thing.”

Full story...
October 2006
Cover Photo
Catholic Herald Parenting is a supplement of the Catholic Herald published eight times annually, September to May. It is intended to help parents pass on the Catholic faith to their children.
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