By: Aya Yatim-Rhodes Nickels
Born in war-torn Beirut, Lebanon, in 2004, Aya, 13, and her two younger sisters—Tala and Sarah, 11 and 9—immigrated to the United States with their mother, hoping for a better life. Instead, they faced years of instability as their mother’s severe mental illness spiraled into neglect, homelessness, and abuse.
After Social Services took them into custody, the three were separated. Aya spent nearly two years in foster care, fearful she’d never see her sisters again. Then, through Barker’s Project Wait No Longer (PWNL) adoption program, prospective adoptive parents Amy and David discovered the sisters’ story. The couple chose to adopt and reunite all three sisters, giving them the safe, loving home they had always dreamed of.
Aya is just one among thousands of older children in foster care who long to be seen, chosen, and loved. And while her story may seem to have a fairytale ending, it came at a great cost. Though she was overjoyed to be adopted and reunited with her sisters, she didn’t anticipate the challenges she would face as an older adopted child entering a new family.
Like many older children who spend significant time in foster care, Aya carried deep emotional pain, loss, and trauma. Having never known stability, even safety felt unfamiliar and uncomfortable. While she spent the three remaining years of her adolescence with her adoptive family, much of that time was in and out of treatment centers as she worked toward healing.
In her struggle to cope and protect herself from her traumatic past, she often pushed her parents away, raising her emotional guard and testing their love and commitment. For a decade, Aya wrestled with feelings of not belonging. Despite her adoptive parents’ love and support, she remained unsure whether she truly had a place in her family.
A turning point came at 26 years old, when, driving with Amy to her sister Sarah’s college graduation, Aya finally found the courage to give voice to the question that had weighed on her heart for so many years:
“How can you truly love a child you didn’t give birth to or hold as a baby?”
Amy, surprised, softly smiled. “How could I not love you? You were the first person to ever call me Mom.”
At that moment, Aya realized she had been loved all along…every single day since she was 15. Amy had waited more than 50 years to be called “Mom,” and it took Aya 10 years to truly believe she belonged as her daughter.
From that day forward, Aya began to let down her walls, allowing herself to finally feel the love Amy and David had always offered. What grew between them, and Aya and her sisters, was a bond, not built by blood, but by choice, commitment, and unconditional love. As Aya now says:
“Love is stronger than blood. Love did what blood could never do: bring broken people together and make them a family.”
Project Wait No Longer (PWNL), Barker’s foster care adoption program, helps find permanent families for youth, sibling groups, and children with specialized needs who are legally available for adoption. Most youth waiting in foster care are 10–17 years old, but some younger children are part of larger sibling groups (three or more) who desperately wish to stay together. Our program partners with public child welfare agencies across the country to find loving, safe, and permanent families like yours. PWNL has placed over 200 wonderful children with adoptive families in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.
Learn more about Barker’s Project Wait No Longer (PWNL) adoption program by signing up for one of our upcoming information sessions. Our next session takes place virtually on March 19, 2026. Learn more here.