Hello! We are clare and tyler and our sons,
moses and bodhi
We’re hoping to adopt!
Learn more about us by downloading and reading our adoption profile book.
We live in Cincinnati, Ohio in the wonderful community of Northside but love to travel as much as possible.
Clare works as an obstetrician at the University of Cincinnati Hospital while Tyler, whose background is in engineering, currently focuses his time on Bodhi and Moses as well as volunteering.
As parents, we hope to help our children develop a deep sense of empathy and confidence in themselves. We believe we owe our children every opportunity we can give them, and our goal is to help them experience as much of the world as possible so that they can lead meaningful, value-centered lives.
We believe that a chosen community raises children and that it is love, not blood relation, that makes a family. We are hoping for an open adoption and would view you as an important part of the child’s life.
ABOUT US
We were brought together by our shared passion for travel and working to make the world a better place.
We met in a university organization that does development work in Africa. We still laugh about how Clare decided unilaterally that we were close friends, but she wasn’t wrong! Our close friendship blossomed into love while we traveled together in Morocco. Tyler vividly remembers the moment he recognized his love for Clare on a moonlit night camping in the desert.
When Clare was accepted to medical school in Ireland we relocated our lives. Living away from our family and friends taught us how to truly rely on one another and our relationship grew even stronger. After graduating medical school, we moved to Cincinnati. Clare was driven to become a doctor to work with underserved communities and we both wanted to live in Africa.
Once Clare finished her residency, she accepted a job to work in Malawi, where we lived for two years. Malawi is where we met our two amazing boys – Moses and Bodhi – when they were a few weeks old. From the first day we met them our hearts became totally devoted with love for them. We pursued adoption which took many months and were finally able to bring them home when they were ten months old. We moved back to the states and landed back in Cincinnati.
“We have always wanted to adopt from the beginning of our relationship.”
OUR HOME AND FAMILIES
Our community is a fantastic, diverse neighborhood full of small independent shops, cafes, and other services.
Tyler and the boys take the dogs on walks or bike rides every day to visit various playgrounds, the community centre swimming pool, the barbershop for haircuts, and a café for hot chocolates on cold or rainy days. There are fantastic nature preserves in the neighborhood, which provide great practice for the weekends when we like to camp, hike, and go rock climbing in Kentucky.
Clare’s family is spread out throughout the country. Tyler’s family lives in Canada where he was born.
Moses and Bodhi call their grandparents variations on the Malawian word for grandparent (gogo or agogo). Clare’s mother is “Gogo” and father “Ago”, while Tyler’s father is “Agogo”. Tyler’s mother (“Grandma”), is sadly no longer with us but she was always found in her garden or cooking up big feasts for extended community of loved ones.
“Agogo” is often found cycling or cross country skiing in the mountains. He is an engineer and entrepreneur who built up a successful construction business that has been passed on to Tyler’s sister, Aunty Carley.
OUR VALUES
We believe very strongly that with a combination of confidence, empathy, and compassion for themselves and others, our children will be able to not only experience all that life has to offer but help make the world a better place. We also place great importance on honesty, integrity of character, and working hard. We actively encourage our children’s sense of wonder and curiosity and perhaps most of all – that it is ok to make mistakes and fail because that is how we learn and grow.
IN CLOSING
We recognize that raising Black children as white parents in America is an enormous responsibility with unique challenges.
No amount of books or social media will ever truly enable us to know what it is like to be Black in America. We have made it a priority to build a diverse community around our family. We intentionally seek out doctors, locticians/barbers, teachers and coaches that look like our boys so they can see themselves reflected in role models in their lives. We know we can’t be all things to our children, especially when it comes to growing up Black in America, and therefore community and mentorship plays a critical role in raising our children.
Thank you for taking the time to get to know our family. We are excited to open our home to you and your child. We hope for an open adoption as we believe that it takes a community to shape and mold children, and you will always be an important part of our lives!
DESIGNED WITH ❤️ BY OUR CHOSEN CHILD