Adoption Dreams Turn Into Reality

Erich L. joined CNB in 2009 and is a Vice President and Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) Advisor.

Erich and his husband, Brian, have been together more than 25 years and married when legislation permitted same-sax marriage in 2015. Their dreams and plans always included having a family.

The couple went through an adoption agency, which included a myriad of processes such as background checks, meeting with social workers, writing essays, making videos, and creating pamphlets.

“Essentially, we were marketing ourselves as potential parents,” Erich added. “It takes a lot of time and can get expensive.”

So, Erich took advantage of The Family Fund at CNB.

The Family Fund helps reimburse fertility-related or adoption-related expenses by offering supplemental payments for some of the costs experienced by new parents.

“We had budgeted for a child, but there were more expenses than anticipated. Prior to the adoption, we flew to Maryland to meet the birth mother. After the birth, we had to stay in her home state for two weeks before the adoption could be granted,” Erich said. “We had the costs of hotels, rental cars, and attorney fees in addition to baby expenses like diapers and formula. We were dealing with state laws in both Maryland and Florida, which was costly to execute.”

“One of our first questions was whether we could move forward due to the cost. The Family Fund gave us a safety net that helped tremendously,” Erich added. “It was very interesting because my husband works for another bank in South Florida, and comparatively, he was given just a fraction of what CNB offered in our parenting journey.”

Erich and Brian started their adoption process in March of 2020, and fifteen months later they received the news that they were becoming adoptive parents.

“Bringing someone into a home as an adoptive parent really does change your life.” Erich and Brian’s daughter, Emily Rose, is now almost four years old.