SHELBY COUNTY — A Bartholomew County school superintendent and his wife more than doubled the size of their family this week by adopting four sibling girls as part of National Adoption Day.
Shawn Price, superintendent of Flat Rock-Hawcreek schools, and his wife Scarlett, were elated when their family of three boys grew to add the four young girls in adoption ceremonies in Shelby Superior Court 1 before Judge R. Kent Apsley. With one pronouncement Monday, the family of five went to a family of nine.
The Price family sons, Alexander Burnes, 21, Samuel Price, 15 and Benjamin Price, 12, now have four female siblings — Sophia Anne, 4, Jennifer Mae, 5 (and soon to be 6), Isabella Lydia Rose, 8 and Katherine Elizabeth, 10.
“It’s been a rollercoaster,” Shawn Price said of the process that brought all four girls to the family.
After becoming licensed foster parents, the couple had decided they wanted to foster to adopt, he said. As they were considering their next steps, a photo of the four girls came to them, and the couple fell in love with them, he said.
To start the process, the couple became the four siblings’ foster parents and have had the girls in their home since last year.
State officials said the girls could not be separated to preserve their sibling bond, which is something the Price family was in complete agreement with, Shawn Price said.
The Price family interviewed with state officials and hoped they would be selected to be the caregivers for the girls, and when they were selected, it was a very quick transition to have them move to the family’s Shelby County home, the superintendent said.
When the girls arrived, it was a “mad rush” for the first six months as the family adjusted to having four more children in the household, and particularly adjusted to girls there, he said.
“Scarlett, she’s the oldest of six girls, so she kind of knew what we were in for,” Shawn Price said with a laugh. “We were learning about each other, and after about six to eight months, we bonded very quickly.”
The family had been approved by state officials to adopt three children, but obtained a waiver so all four could stay together and become an official part of the Price family this week.
Looking at the ages of the children, Price said he knows he has pre-kindergarten through a college student in his household, something he said he is looking forward to as the children all grow up together.
“We want to raise awareness for adoption,” he said of telling the family’s story publicly. “There is a great need in the state for children to find homes,” he said.
