Samantha is kind-hearted, dependable, extremely intelligent, and, above all, a problem-solver. She cares deeply about the world around her and will always stand up for her values and to defend those who are unable to defend themselves. She is very curious and loves to learn - she has many hobbies like baking and gardening, takes classes to improve her Spanish, and just started teaching law students. And while she can be very serious in her work as a lawyer, she also has an incredible sense of humor and loves to laugh and is very social. Samantha has an extremely open and caring relationship with her large family, especially her two younger sisters.

Adam is warm, generous, hilarious, and extremely even-keeled and sensible. He is a great partner, a wonderful son to his parents and in-laws, and a reliable and steady brother to his sister and Samantha's sisters, and a central figure in our community of friends. Adam is a very loyal friend: he has had many of his friends his whole life and has a close group of male friends in DC that he goes hiking with, to the movies with, or meets for breakfast before work. Adam has been very successful professionally, working in national security issues in government and at a tech company, but always remains down-to-earth and humble.

Samantha is the daughter of immigrants from the Philippines and has four sisters. As the daughter of immigrants, Samantha was her family's fiercest advocate. While her family did not have a lot financially, there was a lot of love in her home. Her family regularly attended Catholic church and Samantha sang in the choir growing up. She formed an unbreakable bond with her sisters, who now have their own families that she is very close with and visits often.

Adam was born and raised in Washington, DC in a loving home with his parents and older sister. Adam’s parents are lawyers who specialized in immigration and special education law. They raised Adam in the Jewish faith and its tradition of community service. They believed in the importance of education and provided Adam and his sister with support and encouragement to pursue their academic interests. Growing up, Adam loved playing basketball and ran track.

Although we had different upbringings, we share the same values and priorities and the same vision for growing our family and raising a child.

We were both lucky to have incredible and loving parents who taught us what it means to be a parent. While they're very different, the qualities they had in common are ones we want to emulate as parents. They loved us unconditionally, instilled strong moral values in us, and encouraged us to pursue our passions and interests no matter what. For Samantha in particular, her parents' struggle as immigrants in this country raising 5 children inspires her to teach a child to respect people of all backgrounds and to have empathy and understanding for those who might be different from them. Ultimately, we believe that being a parent is about offering a safe, protective, and loving home for a child to grow up in, nurturing a child's interests, and encouraging them to be good citizens of the world.

We are so excited to be parents. What we think we will love most is sharing the things we love - music, food, exploring new places - and getting the chance to experience the world anew through the eyes of a child - getting to experience everything for the first time.

We are blessed to have a large community of family, friends, and loved ones close by in Washington, DC and throughout the country.

Adam's parents live in DC about 15 minutes away and we see them all the time, dropping by one another's homes or going out to eat or to the movies. Now that Sam's parents have retired, they split their time by spending a few months in the Philippines and living with their daughters the rest of the year. We have five sisters and four nieces and nephews: Adam's older sister lives in Brooklyn and Sam's sisters and their families are spread throughout the Bay Area in California and in Toronto, Canada.

It is so important to us to see our sisters and nieces and nephews as much as possible, so we typically make a trip to NYC, California, and Toronto at least once a year if not more. Adam's family gather in DC for Passover and Rosh Hashanah and Sam's family gathers together every single Christmas for a week together spent cooking, laughing, and exploring the city of the host family for that year.

In 2025, we hosted our whole family in DC, took the kids to the zoo and to museums, tried new restaurants together, and hosted a 20-person Christmas Eve dinner for both of our families that everyone made together.

We have lived in Washington, DC for more than a decade. In 2020, we were lucky enough to buy our own house - a 2-bedroom, 2.5-bath rowhouse in a historic DC neighborhood. Our house was newly renovated when we bought it, and the main floor with the kitchen, living room, and dining room are in one open space. We cook all the time and have our family and friends over for dinner or breakfast at least once a week, so it's great for us to be able to keep an eye on the oven while we hang out with our friends around the dining table or on our big couch. Upstairs is our bedroom, our guest bedroom, and access to our roof deck that we hang out on during warmer months to watch the sunset or read in the sun.

Our favorite part of the house is the garden we built in the front yard after we took a DC Parks Department class to learn to grow our own vegetables. We're not gardening experts and sometimes our veggies fail, but we really love trying again every year. Our neighborhood is very walkable and there is a mix of older residents and families with young children. There are great public schools nearby and we can walk to a public recreation center and two playgrounds, including one right across the street. We are a short drive away from some of DC's incredible Smithsonian museums, the zoo, and national monuments.

We are Adam and Samantha (Sam), and we are deeply honored that you are considering us as adoptive parents. We are writing to share a bit more about ourselves so you can get a sense of our journey to this moment.

We met in 2011 while leading community service projects at a public school in Brooklyn, New York as AmeriCorps members. Adam was teaching pre-K and kindergarten classes and Sam was working with middle school students. Because we shared the same sense of humor, love of movies/TV, and core values, we quickly became friends. Our friendship grew into a relationship and we have now been in a committed, loving relationship together for over 14 years and married for 7 years. We are curious and engaged people who love learning about the world and others through travel, reading, and conversations.

In 2013, we moved together to Washington, D.C., Adam's hometown, and have lived here happily ever since. We were fortunate to buy our own home in Northeast D.C. in a family-friendly neighborhood next to wonderful schools, rec centers, libraries, and museums. Our home is full of laughter, music, and cooking and is a regular gathering place for friends and family.

Family is at the very center of our lives. When we started discussing what it would look like for us to have children, we reached the conclusion that adoption was our first choice for building a family. Adam’s 13-year-old cousin is an adoptee with a close relationship with her birth family and Sam’s friend adopted her daughters and visit regularly with their grandmother, so we have seen what others’ adoption journeys look like. But more to the point, adoption is our first choice because we share a deep conviction that a family is built through love, care, and trust, not just DNA. It would be the privilege of our lives to build the family that we envision in this way.

We have been blessed with wonderful parents, five sisters, four nieces and nephews, and a wide circle of beloved friends in D.C., many with children under 3 that we have had the privilege to see grow from infants to toddlers. Sam is the daughter of Filipino immigrants who came to the U.S. with few resources but a lot of resilience and faith. Her four sisters are her best friends. Adam was raised in D.C. with his sister by a former special education teacher and an immigration lawyer. We see Adam’s parents all the time, as they live in D.C. too. Our community in D.C. and around the country is so supportive of our decision to adopt and any child in our home would grow up surrounded by love from every direction.

We know that every child yearns to know about their history and where they came from. We also know children can only stand to benefit from having more love in their lives, and we hope that we can develop a relationship with you through an open adoption. We envision an open adoption that includes updates over emails, regular pictures, and future visits, if you are also open to that. We would be honored to maintain a life-long connection with you in any way that feels right.

We hope there will be a chance to tell you this in person, but please know that we promise to provide your child with unconditional love, unwavering support, and a home where they will always feel safe, celebrated, and encouraged to become exactly who they are meant to be. When we think about what we hope to teach a child it is this: be kind, engage with the world with curiosity, and commit yourself to making it better.

Thank you for your courage and for considering us.

With deep respect and gratitude,

Adam & Samantha