BHS math teacher Danielle Balsman added to her family in a non-traditional way.

“My husband and I wanted to be parents and weren’t able to make that happen the traditional way,” Balsman said. 

First, Balsman and her husband had to go through the process of paperwork and profiles before being selected by a birth mother to be able to adopt their daughter Kari. 

“One positive of adoption is not having to recover from childbirth,” Balsman said.

 While obviously there are a lot of positives with adoption there are challenges as well.  

“The biggest challenge with adoption is that your dreams of being parents are in the hands of someone else,” Balsman said.

 “But being able to have a child is worth the process of adoption

“Kari loves anything outdoors, playgrounds, running free, trips in the wagon, and dancing,” Balsman said.

Seeing their daughter play and laugh is one of the best things to watch.

“The nice thing about being a teacher is that Kari’s schedule syncs to mine. Being a teacher also gives me access to some pretty amazing educators that have great parenting tips,” Balsman said. “Now that Kari is getting older, I hope to bring her to more school events so that I can support my students outside of the classroom.”

Being able to have her daughter interacting with her students is a wonderful thing to watch. 

“ We plan to adopt again,” Balsman said. “We are currently in the process of finishing paperwork and profiles to be active parents that potential birth mothers can select. We are working with the same adoption agency that connected us to Kari and are excited about the opportunity to expand and become a family of 4.”

Balsman and her husband are very excited and looking forward to becoming a family of 4.