Adoption Stories

The Pruiett Family

By March 22, 2008No Comments

PANAMA CITY — Bobby & Cheryl Pruiett have been married a dozen years. In their fifth or sixth year, they started to try to become parents. They wanted to love and have their Christ-centered home filled with the kind of joy that only a child can bring. But God had other plans for them.

Bobby & Cheryl Pruiett, with their son, Buddy.

“Most of those years were spent going to fertility doctors,” Cheryl said. “We couldn’t hand they sure didn’t know that some of those babies could come up for adoption.

So in January 2005, the couple began the process to become foster parents through an agency in their northwest Florida hometown of Panama City. They enrolled in the required parenting classes that precede the “home study” process, wherein their background and safe.

Cheryl doesn’t work outside the home; Bobby is the Worship Pastor at Panama City’s Northside Baptist Church. She’s from Tennessee; he’s from Arkansas but went to college in Tennessee. During the year after she graduated from high school, Cheryl was smitten with the older but young man who had just joined her church’s staff as Youth and commitment by staying together ‘til death do you part.” So many children don’t have that example these days, Cheryl said.

It was during the Panama City parenting class that Bobby & Cheryl learned they could get licensed through Florida Baptist Children’s Homes. That excited them because, Cheryl said, “we knew the reputation of the Children’s Home and knew we’d rather get licensed through them; we are so thankful that we did.” It didn’t matter that, to work with the Children’s Homes, they’d have to interact with staff who were based in Tallahassee, a more than two-hour drive away.

In the spring of 2006, Children’s Homes’ Social Worker Mileya Storey worked with a community-based care agency to place the first foster child in the Pruiett home. She was a 13-month-young girl we’ll call Heather (to protect her privacy) who had been neglected by her mother. Heather’s parents were in the process of divorcing; dad lived in another state. “She was very dirty, her hair was scaly and she was beautiful.” A few weeks later, a judge ordered that Heather be turned over to her father’s custody. The Pruietts cried about that because they didn’t know what Heather’s future might hold; however, they were comforted by the knowledge that all children are ultimately in God’s care.

Shortly after the Pruietts said goodbye to Heather, their Florida Baptist Children’s Homes’ social worker had them saying hello to their second placement, whom we’ll call Jennifer. She, too, was only 13 months. Cheryl said they also met Jennifer’s mother and her siblings became available. It was very tough saying goodbye, Cheryl said: “Not only did we fall in love with her, but so did our church.”

Hurting from Jennifer’s departure, the Pruietts told Social Worker Mileya Storey they needed a break. “She respected that and making sure we didn’t feel pressured to take another child until we were ready. She was so helpful in offering advice on grieving the loss of when they leave your home.”

Several weeks later, Mr. & Mrs. Pruiett told Mileya they were ready for their third placement, which happened on July 26th. The Pruietts will never forget it; they say that’s their son’s “Gotcha Day!”

He was a biracial boy (real name: Justyn) who had tested positive for cocaine when he was born only 3 weeks earlier. Cheryl elaborated: “Mom left the hospital when he was born and, being married to her, makes him the legal father but he didn’t want the boy.”

The legal matters delayed the process but were worked out. “Wasn’t long when Mileya called andling the adoption.

At the final adoption hearing, the Pruietts asked to have their son’s name legally changed to Caleb Jordan; the judge granted the request. “There are several instances in the Bible where something significant happened in a person’s life and ‘Daddee.’ Music to our ears.”

When Buddy was about 6 months old, he started having seizures. Doctors said it was because of his mother’s drug use when she was pregnant with him. Cheryl Pruiett: “We spent a week in (a Pensacola hospital) with him. It was very difficult watching this precious little baby going through the seizures and tell her ‘thank you.’”

Cheryl said her son, who will be 2 years old on June 28, 2008, is doing fine now. No developmental delays. At his most recent check up, the doctor said, “Your son is very smart and very healthy.” Bobby & Cheryl praise God for that.

Buddy is “a little firecracker” who has a lot of energy and neither do his new parents; it’s just a skill Cheryl learned years ago when she taught deaf children.

Since their son’s adoption, Bobby & Cheryl have fostered two more infants through Florida Baptist Children’s Homes and they intend to welcome more into their home in the future. And they want to adopt “at least one more time.”

Mr. & Mrs. Pruiett couldn’t be happier with their little Buddy. “He is absolutely beautiful!” Cheryl said. “People stop me to say how beautiful he is…. We have so thoroughly enjoyed him, even the mischievous stages, I think, because we waited and trusted the Lord for so long. We don’t take him for