British singer Joss Stone has announced that she’s finally adopted a beloved baby boy into her family alongside her husband Cody DaLuz, who was also adopted as an infant.
The 37-year-old and her husband are already the proud parents to daughter Violet, three, and son Shackleton, two, and with great joy she has just announced that a newborn son called Bear has joined the fold after a long and ‘difficult’ process.
Speaking to PEOPLE, she said that within weeks of first meeting her now husband, they were already discussing adopting into their family.
She said ‘We’ve had it in our dreams for such a long time and we’ve been trying to adopt for over a year and a half. And we’ve had some adoptions fall through.
‘We’ve had moments where we were chosen, but we couldn’t get there in time. There’s been lots of things that have happened, and you start to feel like it’s not going to happen.’
Joss, who now lives in Nashville, Tennessee, said getting the call about her new son was a ‘beautiful thing’.
‘He’s so sweet and his birth mother is so sweet. She could not be any nicer. It’s just like everything is perfect. It’s all love. Everyone is just full of love for this little guy.’ she said.
Joss explained that her husband Cody’s experience as an adoptee lead the couple to their decision to have an open adoption, where Bear’s birth mother was involved in his placement.
Cody didn’t have such an experience, and they couple felt that their baby would be better off knowing who his birth family are.
While it sounds like an ideal situation with ‘love from every direction’, in the new mum’s words, the family had some setbacks and upsets along the way, particularly with one ‘terrible’ birth mum who put up a ‘whole facade’.
‘She thought, “Oh, I’ll just take this money and then I’ll just keep the baby”, Joss explained.
However, she and Cody weren’t put off in their quest for their child, revealing parents embarking on the adoption process need to be strong and resilient.
‘The second we are weak, take a minute, wipe your tears, take a deep breath, stand up tall and walk forward. That’s the most important thing.’ she said.
Joss said that baby Bear’s new big sister and brother are very happy to welcome their new baby brother, with Violet excited to hold him and feed him.
However, Bear was born 11 weeks early and needed to stay with his new mum in the hospital overnight, his big brother Shackleton was more excited to get his mum home!
‘He ran up to me and just gave me this big hug. I was like, “Look, you’ve got a brother!” And he was like, “Okay, whatever.”‘ she said.
Bear was born 36 days before he met his mum and dad, who went on something of a hunt to find him at the right hospital. Now they have been united, little Bear is thriving having weighed just 4lbs when he was born, he now weighs 6lbs.
Joss and Cody hope to repeat the whole process again. ‘We just love babies. I always say, more kids, more love. They’re just little rays of sunshine and they deserve all the love that we can give them.’ she said.
