One of the many perks Facebook users enjoy on the massively popular social networking site is the freedom to ask their friends (and their friends’ friends, and their friends’ friends, you get the gist) as well as complete strangers to aid their cause, whether it’s to “like” their photo to win a contest or, in the case of married couple Jake and Jessica Hance from Lake Charles, Louisiana, to help them raise monetary funds to pay for their adoption fees.
The Hances have been waiting to add a new member to their family for months now, so they were above and beyond when they were notified that a birth mother – whose baby they were eligible to adopt – was currently in labor. That was before they remembered that the agency orchestrating the adoption would be charging them $33,000 in fees.
Thank goodness for Facebook! Members of the Lake Charles community eagerly set up a page on the site that quickly raked in supporters, accumulating more than 500 likes. After only three days of being live, the page helped the Hances raise funds and hit their target amount, thanks to the generosity of friends as well as well-meaning strangers.
Adoption was their last resort in their pursuit of starting a family, as they have spent most of their money on fertility consultations and treatments over the last couple of years. It’s been two years since they began the process of adoption and after months of uncertainty and waiting, they finally got a response from the agency only last week, stating that the birth mother of their new baby chose them over other candidates.
“A few days ago, we were ready to throw in the towel,” said Jake, who is now glad that they didn’t give up on their dream of becoming parents. They were able to bring their new baby girl Eliana to their home in Lake Charles on Sunday night and expressed their gratitude on their Facebook page.
