Single mom to adopt fourth child Friday

Amber Humphries was already a single mom of three kids when she learned her kids had a newborn sibling.
 
So she took her children to the hospital to visit the baby girl and took some photos of them all together. She assumed they would grow up not having much contact with each other. Then the hospital called – could she take the baby just for two weeks while some help was set up with her biological family?
 
She said yes. She wanted to help. Then two weeks became two months. 
 
“Then I began to wonder, What’s going on here?” Humphries said. “We didn’t want to lose her, but we understood what I signed on for.”
 
Baby Aniyah never left. Now, two years later, Humphries is about to become a single mom of four kids. She adopts Aniyah on Friday during Hamilton County’s National Adoption Day ceremonies in Judge Ralph Winkler’s court. Aniyah joins siblings Ace, 9; Tiahna, 7; and Alexander, 6. They were adopted in 2020. 
 
The JFS caseworker for the family, Maggi Erhart, said Humphries, who works in hospice, has “the right temperament. She’s very calm and kind.” Also helpful: Humphries’ mother is a social worker and therapist and her sister has a degree in psychology and has experience working with kids who have special needs. Humphries said her large family is a huge help.
 
Watching her older kids interact with their young sister is fun, Humphries said. They spoil her, she said.
 
“They might be working hard on a paper,” she said, “but it’s OK if she writes all over it. Nobody else can, but it’s OK if she does.”
 
They’re planning a family celebration at Great Wolf Lodge.