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Woman goes to great lengths to adopt baby from husband's ex-wife to save him from foster care

"At the time, it just made sense."

via Christie Werts/TikTok and Christie Werts/TikTok

Christie Werts and her son, Levi

Christie and Wesley Werts have taken the idea of a blended family to the next level. When the couple fell in love five years ago and married, they brought together her children, Megan and Vance, and his children, Austin and Dakota.

As of January, the Ohio family has five children after adopting young Levi, 2. Levi is the son of Wesley’s ex-wife, who passed away four days after the child was born. The ex-wife had the boy prematurely, at 33 weeks, and died soon after from drug addiction and complications of COVID-19.

When Levi was born, he was a ward of the state with no first name or birth certificate.

“When I heard about Levi, without hesitation, I said we should take him,” Christie said, according to The Daily Mail, and her reason went far beyond the fact that the child was the half-brother to two of her recently adopted children. “I myself was a foster kid and, although for the most part, I had a great experience, I did not want him going to foster care,” Christie said.



@cjthemom5

Replying to @Journey♥️ Yes, they will always know of her and ill be there for every emotion good or bad. But im also mom, ive been to every game, every doctors appt, sat with them if they needed an ear loved unconditional . I am mom also. #adoption #srorytime #siblings #foryou #loveislove


Before the family knew of Levi’s birth, Christie had a recurring dream about a blue-eyed, blonde-haired boy.

"Before Levi, we had wanted to try to have a child of our own," she told Newsweek. "I'm in my forties, so we knew that we would probably need fertility treatment, so I thought let's just think about it and what will be will be."

The problem was that Levi was in Texas, so the family sold their house and moved to the Lone Star State to go through the arduous adoption process. The situation was further complicated because Levi’s biological father had parental rights even though he had substance abuse problems. The family couldn’t move out of Texas until his rights were legally terminated.

But after a 16-month process, in January 2023, Levi became a legal family member. Christie understands that adopting her husband’s ex-wife’s baby may seem unusual to some people. "It's a lot to process for a lot of people, but honestly, it seems a lot crazier than it was. At the time, it just made sense," she said.



@cjthemom5

Our adoption is official !!! after 17 months!!! #adoption #son #loveyou #ourstory#foryou #fyp


Even though Christie knew in her heart that she must adopt Levi, she wasn’t without reservations. “'If I said I did not [have concerns beforehand], that would not be honest,” she told The Daily Mail. “This was different—I was going to walk into a child I never met and was worried the circumstances would hinder this instant love. But [...] he stole my heart. I also felt this intense need to protect him.”

These days, Levi fits right in with the family, and the rest of the kids are happy to be back to living an everyday life without any caseworkers or inspections.

“He's great, he is the king of the house! We are all very close. He won't understand the journey right now, but someday, I will let him know we fought for him!” Christie said.

This article originally appeared two years ago.

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Foster kids deserve better. These dads know it. So Ellen helped them out.

Guests on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" often get neat surprise gifts for their selfless deeds, and it's not all that rare for there to be some tears, too.

But some guests and their stories are really something special.

Rob and Reece Scheer — a Maryland couple DeGeneres calls the "dads of the year" — started a nonprofit called Comfort Cases to help kids in foster care. When they sat down with DeGeneres to share their powerful story, it became clear just how much these two dads' life work truly matters for thousands of kids who don't get the love and care they deserve.

As she often does, DeGeneres ended the interview by giving Rob and Reece two well-deserved gifts that left the couple downright speechless.

Watch the emotional clip from "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" below:

If Rob and Reece's story sounds familiar, that may be because they were profiled in an Upworthy video that went viral back in February.

The couple started Comfort Cases to make sure kids in foster care have things to call their own.

The nonprofit provides new duffel bags and backpacks to kids in foster care filled with items they can bring with them wherever they go — pajamas, a soft blanket, a book, stuffed animals, a hygiene kit, and more — so they aren't forced to rely on trash bags to carry their belongings, like many are forced to do.

Right now, Comfort Cases provides services to kids in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. But seeing how great the need is — over 670,000 kids spent time in foster care in the U.S. in 2015 — they hope to eventually take their cause across all 50 states.

At the end of the interview, DeGeneres gave Rob and Reece the most incredible gift of all: a check for $10,000, as well as $40,000 worth of luggage courtesy of Samsonite.

Needless to say, Rob and Reece were over the moon.

[rebelmouse-image 19528609 dam="1" original_size="500x256" caption="GIF via "The Ellen DeGeneres Show"/YouTube." expand=1]GIF via "The Ellen DeGeneres Show"/YouTube.

To learn more about Comfort Cases, visit the organization's website.

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The incredible story you didn't hear about the gay dads featured in American Girl magazine.

More than 10,000 comfort packs later, Rob Scheer continues fighting for foster kids.

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You may have heard about Amaya, the 11-year-old girl with two dads who was featured in American Girl magazine.

And you may have heard about the backlash that came in response to Amaya's article.

But what you may not have heard about is the most important part of all: the work Amaya, along with the rest of her family, is doing to help the estimated 400,000 U.S. children currently living in the foster care system.


11-year-old Amaya is involved in the Comfort Cases cause. Photo by Joyce Smith.

The whole story stars with Amaya's father, Rob Scheer.

When he was 10 years old, Rob lost both of his parents and entered the foster care system. At 17, he became homeless. Without family and without permanent shelter, he made do by sleeping in cars or restaurant bathrooms before eventually joining the military. All the while, he carried his belongings in a garbage bag, standard practice for foster kids.


Things eventually worked out for Rob, and now he's paying it forward. Photo by Joyce Smith.

More than three decades later, Rob found himself confronted once again by those same garbage bags.

He went on to become a successful businessman; along the way, he fell in love with a man named Reece. Eventually, the two decided to start a family.

More than six years ago, as Rob and Reece began taking steps to adopt a child, the couple received a call from a social worker, asking if they'd be interested in fostering a sister (Amaya) and brother (Makai), ages 4 and 2. They said yes, and the next day, the two children arrived at their home — with garbage bags in tow.

"I believe we need to make a change in how we think about children in foster care. So often, they're thought of as 'problem children,' but they deserve so much more."

Soon after, the couple took in two more foster children — boys Greyson and Tristan. Rob and Reece eventually adopted all four.

Left to right: Greyson, Rob, Makai, Amaya, Reece, and Tristan. Photo by Joyce Smith.

"I want to make sure no child is given a trash bag again," Rob told me by phone.

That was the motivation behind his and Reece's nonprofit, Comfort Cases. The volunteer-fueled group works to compile and distribute care packs for children entering foster care. "Something to call their own," Rob said.

"No other child should ever arrive at a foster home like this," he says. "I believe we need to make a change in how we think about children in foster care. So often, they're thought of as 'problem children,' but they deserve so much more."

Each Comfort Case care pack includes things like a backpack, a set of pajamas, a blanket, a toothbrush and toothpaste, a stuffed animal, and a hairbrush.

A sample Comfort Case. Photo by Joyce Smith.

Since starting in late 2013, Comfort Cases has distributed more than 10,000 packs to foster kids nationwide.

And while that's super helpful to the kids receiving them, the overall goal is to help these children find loving, caring, permanent homes.

"We as a community need to show [these kids] that we care for them and love them," said Rob. "They want what any of us want: to feel that we're loved and being treated like anyone else."

To do that, we need to stop stigmatizing children in the foster care system as somehow broken or less worthy of love.

A huuuuuge pile of Comfort Cases sits in a corner at a recent volunteer event. Photo from Comfort Cases.

November is National Adoption Month, and there's no better time to have a positive influence in a child's life.

Of course, not everyone can adopt or even foster a child. Not everyone has the means to donate to projects like Comfort Cases. What we all can do, however, is share success stories like that of the Scheer family. We can help treat these kids with the love and respect they all deserve.

May every child living without a permanent home find a warm, welcoming, and loving environment like this family. The world would be a better place for it.

Makai, Amaya, Tristan, and Greyson. Photo by Joyce Smith.

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