LOCAL

Adoptive dad Eric Anderson gives 4 Marion siblings a home

This Father's Day marks five years exactly since the day Eric Anderson became a foster - and now adoptive - dad.

MARION — When Eric Anderson and his wife started looking into adoption in their 50s, they thought they would take one, maybe two kids.

Now, they have adopted four children, all siblings, in an effort to keep them together. This Father’s Day will be five years exactly since the day they welcomed the three oldest of the siblings into their home, at the time a 4-year-old girl, a toddler and a months-old baby, he said.

Anderson’s wife, Edith, wasn’t sure at first whether they should accept all three at once, but it was at Eric’s insistence that they did. They needed a home, he said.

Now into his early 60s, Anderson is getting a second chance at fatherhood, decades after he said his own biological children were taken away from him due to drug addiction, he said.

It's the same scourge that brought the four young children he now cares for, all under the age of 10, under his roof.

The Andersons turned to foster care after they heard it would be less expensive and a quicker route to adoption. Plus, it wasn't necessarily permanent.

"You get to – for lack of a better term – test-drive the circumstances," he said.

It turns out, their first foray into foster care was no test drive.

"In our case, the first children that came to our house stayed," he said.

There wasn’t much time for consideration before the Andersons decided to take the three into their home. One day, Eric got a call from his wife, who said Marion County Children Services was waiting for a call back; the agency had three children and was going to bring them over in 30 minutes.

Edith said at first, she was hesitant, but when she heard Eric’s resolve, she knew it was the right thing to do.

"That’s really what it’s about, is becoming what you need to be for them," she said.

The two took a crash course in parenting that day.

“We totally had to figure it out, and that’s okay,” Eric said.

They experienced the over-protectionism of new parents.

"You boil everything for the baby ‘cause you’re afraid they’ll get a germ," he said.

For the first time, they were steeped in baby diapers, kids' clothes and bunk beds. Eric said they didn't have to pay for much. They received vouchers for kids' clothes and other necessities from the state, and what they didn't have vouchers for, they had help getting from their church.

"The hard part was figuring out what they would eat that was not sugar," Eric said. "You can't put food on the table and demand. That might work for your own children, but these are children that have lived somewhere else and now they're in your house."

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Edith quit working at the computer store they ran in Marion and stayed home with the kids to take care of them. Eric eventually closed the store to work primarily from home as a computer consultant.

Before becoming foster parents, the two had been warned during training sessions of dire scenarios that sometimes occur with foster children, but Eric said their experience has been smooth.

"What we had to do was love them and provide structure. Once we provided structure they fell in. They stepped right into it, no issues – no issues more than normal raising your own children," he said.

A few years later, the Andersons were told the children's biological mom was having a fourth baby and asked if they would take care of him.

"I prayed about it, and in three seconds, I knew, 'Yes, we'll take the fourth one,'" he said.

What they didn't know were the sleepless nights that laid ahead of them. Now 3-year-old Caleb was born premature and spent six weeks in the hospital gaining weight before he could be taken home, where the Andersons used a monitor for two months to make sure he continued breathing.

In November, the Andersons officially adopted Caleb, joining his brother and two sisters as the Andersons' adopted children.

At age 62, Eric's now getting to experience what he missed out on decades ago.

He struggled with drug addiction, he said, when his son and daughter, now in their 40s and 30s respectively, were born. 

"I know losing kids. I know getting kids," he said.

Shortly after he lost his daughter, he said, he started working on getting sober, eventually finding God and realizing that if he continued using drugs he would die.

Now he is picking up where he left off: trips to the Columbus Zoo, where 9-year-old Gabriella marvels at the small-clawed otters; evenings swimming at the Marion Family YMCA; and nights out at the Marion Palace Theatre, where he took the kids to see the bluegrass band Flatt Lonesome.

"Originally I agreed to adopt children primarily because I love my wife and she didn't have any children," he said. "Then the kids moved in, and then I saw what the benefit was for the kids, and then last but not least I saw what the benefit was for me."

Eric said he was surprised what his kids have done for him, as a person, helping him to "be the guy that I think I could be and should be."

When asked who that guy is, he said, "That guy is a dad who has a job. He's sober. He loves his kids. ... I'm not afraid to hug my children or get a hug from them."

svolpenhei@gannett.com

740-375-5155

Tweet me @SarahVolp

Want to become a foster or adoptive parent?

Call Marion County Children Services at 740-389-2317 for more information on becoming a foster or adoptive parent. Or visit children services' website at marionkids.com to fill out an inquiry form.

Foster or adoptive parents must sign up for free pre-service classes offered by Marion County Children Services in order to begin the application process. Adoption is little to no cost.