Charissa works in higher education for a State University, and Stacie is an assistant principal at a high school in queens. Charissa has two biological children Emily (25) and Caleb(23). When Emily went away to College and Caleb joined the USMC, Charissa, and Stacie, due to an “empty nest,” decided to adopt from the foster system and contacted You Gotta Believe. That’s when they met Mary, who was teaching the MAPP classes.

In 2017 they met Michele, who was 12, and a year later, they adopted her. In 2018 Jenna, who was nine at the time, moved in and was adopted a year later.

When Stacie had heard about an older teen, Jay, who was at risk of aging out of foster care in Rhode Island, contacted You Gotta Believe for help moving forward with placement. Unfortunately, it was a difficult placement due to Covid. However, You Gotta Believe and Mary were highly patient and advocated to move forward as quickly as possible. So Jay moved in the Fall of 2020. A year later, on Oct. 18th, 2021, Jay was adopted two weeks before her 21st birthday.

Now, Emily is a research assistant at Columbia University in NYC, Caleb is a Sergeant in the USMC, Michele is 17 and a Junior in high school. She is in honors classes and recently got her driver’s license. Jenna is 12 and is in 7th grade. She is doing very well at school and plans to play softball in the spring. Jay is in her 3rd semester of College and is taking driving lessons.