Smiles: Brian, Tucker, and Tia Gardner share jokes and play together. Melanie Stetson Freeman

Rick plays with his sister Lynden as their mom, Beverly, looks on. Melanie Stetson Freeman

In the kitchen, children gather when Beverly passes out treats. Photos by Melanie Stetson Freeman - staff

Like father, like son: Chip Gardner, one of 12 multiracial children adopted by Sam Gardner and his wife, Beverly, 'helps' his dad mow the lawn outside their home in Birmingham, Ala. Photos by Melanie Stetson Freeman - staff

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'Family is everything'

An Alabama couple adopted 12 children, nine of whom have special needs.

By Melanie Stetson Freeman | Staff

from the June 16, 2008 edition

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Staff photographer Melanie Stetson Freeman visited the Gardner family recently at their Alabama home.

Birmingham, Ala. - Beverly and Sam Gardner never thought they'd have 16 kids. But after their four biological children were born, they started adopting – and couldn't stop. Eventually, 12 more children were added to the family. Each one has a story.

"Chip [now 10] was 6 months old when we got him. He'd been put in a book bag, zipped up, and put in the trash," Bev says, explaining the early days of one of her children. He was rescued after the house where he lived caught fire and one of the firemen discovered him in the garbage behind the house.

"Johnny [now 12] was 3-1/2 months early because of his mother's drug abuse. She basically abandoned him in the hospital," Bev continues.

The Gardners adopted Johnny, who can't see and had been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, despite warnings from doctors that he might be a "vegetable."

"He definitely is not!" his mother says.

The Gardners' adopted children are black, white, Latina, and biracial. Nine of them have special needs. None of that bothered the Gardners. Neither did predicted problems.

"Once you fall in love with a child, that's your child, and all the fear just goes away," Bev says. "Once we heard the terrible stories, we couldn't say no."

Bev and Sam both come from big families. After three of their biological children arrived prematurely, the couple decided that since they wanted more, they would adopt. They are Caucasian, but were happy to adopt black or biracial children, who are harder to place.

After the Gardners' first two adoptions, they came into contact with state organizations that help find homes for at-risk children. After hearing the stories about these children, the Gardners became foster parents, caring for more than a hundred special-needs children for periods as short as a couple hours to as long as a few years.

Whenever parents gave up the rights to any of these children over the years, the Gardners adopted them. "More than likely, if they left [the Gardners'], they would've gone to a group home or some kind of place for special-needs children," Sam says. He and his wife felt it was important to give them a real home.

Older children and children with disabilities are very difficult to place, says James Tucker, a lawyer and associate director of the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program. Combine the two, and it's almost impossible to find families willing to take on the challenge.

"Children that come to [the Gardner] home do not get turned out," he adds. "We see an alarming number of cases where kids come into foster homes and are not part of that home. With [the Gardners], there's never a doubt that those children are, and remain, a part of that family."

The work involved in having so large a family is constant. "I've had people come in and say: 'You need nurses,' " Bev says, "but my children aren't sick. They have disabilities, but they're healthy, they're whole."

Everyone pitches in

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