Everyone has something they are good at; Ashley Rudd is good at being a mother.
“I sent my youngest off to kindergarten, so I was looking for something to do because I had always been a stay-at-home mom,” Rudd said. “That’s something I was good at — I was good at being a mom.”
Ashley and her husband Robert were raising three children in their Hancock County home when they realized their heart and their home still had room for more.
In 2015, the two completed the process to begin fostering children.
“His brother adopted five children from foster care,” Ashley said. “It’s in our family and we’ve always been around it and it’s greatly needed in our area.”
Then, the day before Thanksgiving, the couple received a call at 10 p.m. informing them that three siblings needed placement.
“It was just like in the movies,” Ashley said. “It has been a roller coaster ever since of doctors, therapy and visits from social workers.”
And the Rudds wouldn’t have it any other way. The couple took to the three children as if they were their own. And, two years later, when the children’s birth mother had another child, the Rudds picked up the baby and brought him home. And last year, when she gave birth to her fifth child, the Rudds once again headed to the hospital without even knowing the baby’s gender.
“All we knew is we were walking into the hospital with an empty car seat and coming home with a baby,” Ashley said.
At that point, according to Ashley, the birth mother was forced to terminate her parental rights, and the social workers consistently asked the Rudds if they had any intention of adopting the siblings.
“Their goal in foster care is to get these children adopted,” Ashley said, adding that, if the Rudds did not adopt the children, the children would be placed with another family that would consider adoption.
That made the decision very clear for Ashley and Robert.
“You’re not taking my kids — they’re staying,” Ashley said.
The Rudds had cared for those five children from another mother for a total of 1,280 days.
On Tuesday, the Rudds officially adopted and became parents to five more children, ages 9, 5, 4, 2 and 1-year-old, increasing their total number of children to eight. Which, according to Ashley, was one of the largest adoptions the family’s attorney Ed Hodskins had done, “and he does them regularly throughout the state.”
In one day, the Rudds doubled their family members from five to 10.
“That was never part of our plan — but apparently, it was God’s,” Ashley said. “They are good kids. They are so loving and so smart — and they are so driven. They are going to grow up and be somebody — my husband sees that in them, and I see that in them.”
While others have commented on the tremendous act of selflessness the Rudds have performed, Ashley said she doesn’t feel they are any different from anyone else.
“A lot of people say this is a huge accomplishment and I know it is — I know it’s amazing, but we’re just ordinary people, anybody can do this,” Ashley said.
And Ashley encourages other families, other moms, to consider foster or respite care for foster families in order to fill a need the community has.
“There’s a lot of stay at home moms out there sending their babies off to kindergarten and they’re looking for something to do, but they’re already good moms,” Ashley said. “They should look into it [fostering].”
Sunrise Children’s Services, a Christ-centered ministry that has provided care and hope for hurting families and children since 1869, will celebrate their 150th anniversary this month on June 30. Sunrise was responsible for the placements of each of the children with the Rudd family.
“We are always looking for amazing people like the Rudds, willing to open their homes and hearts to serve as foster parents,” said Program Director Kellie Neal. “The Rudds are a shining example of Sunrise ministry in action. They have been serving as Foster parents since July 2015 and, quickly after becoming certified, answered the call, saying yes to a sibling group of three that quickly multiplied to five.”
The newly adopted Rudd children were the first placement at Sunrise for caseworker Jodi McCarty, who celebrated the family’s adoption day on social media Tuesday.
“What a God story — this family has such a special place in my heart,” McCarty’s post read. “The first children I placed when moving to Sunrise. The Rudds said yes and continued to say yes a couple more times. All five children were adopted today by Robert and Ashley Rudd making them a family of 10.”
