How We Became A Family Of 14 🥰😍😘 #shorts

HOW WE BECAME A FAMILY OF 14

#LargeFamily #DoughertyDougherty #ThisIsUs

Good Morning! We are almost to 1 Million Followers (Hi!) so I thought I would reintroduce ourselves:

We are Josh and Alicia Dougherty and we live outside Rochester, NY. We met in college where we both got our teaching degrees, and married soon after graduation in 2003.

After 9 years of Infertility and Recurrent Pregnancy Loss we decided to embark on the Path of Foster Care Adoption.

We adopted Alex in 2011 when he was 5-years-old.

Six days later we found out we were pregnant with Zoey!

When Zoey had just turned 1 we were asked if we could adopt James from Foster Care. He was 6-years-old.

Two weeks after James moved in we found out were pregnant with Dash!

The next year we were asked to take foster care placement of Jason and Jordan “for 5 days”. Well, 5 days turned into Forever and we eventually adopted the twins.

*You might some times hear us refer to Dash, Jordan and Jason as “The Triplets”, and thats because they were all born in 2014 and have been being raised as Triplets for most of their lives.

We gave birth to Bodhi Blaze in 2016, and Harlee Quinton in 2018.

The next year we heard about a sibling group in a Residential Treatment Facility that were being split apart for adoptions. We advocated to keep them together and be their adoptive family in order for that to happen. We adopted Bree and Patrick in 2019. They were 8 and 11 years old at the time.

And then in the Spring of 2022 we were asked to take Kinship Placement of a teen sibling group: Dayshawn and Nevaeh.

And That’s How We Became The Dougherty Dozen!

🧡It’s Not Always Easy, But It’s Always Worth It.🧡

Family Creed:
*Be Kind
*Be Respectful
*Don’t Quit
*Look Out For The Lonely Ones

Family Motto:
“There’s Always Room For One More!”

Family Affirmations:
🧡You Are Strong
🧡You Are Beautiful
🧡You Are Loved
🧡You Belong
🧡And I Am So Proud Of You

THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE! We hope to spread Joy by sharing our Journey.

We’d love to hear about YOU!!

*pics by Mistie Rawlings Photography

Josh-44
Alicia-42
Alex-17
James-16
Nevaeh-14
Patrick-14
Dayshawn-13
Bree-12
Zoey-11
Dash-9
Jordan-8
Jason-8
Bodhi-6
Harlee-4

*Follow Us*

Boost Our Birthdays on Famous Birthdays!

Dougherty
P.O. Box 1187
Pittsford, NY 14534
USA

*music: ‘The Way Back Home’ by Louis Stephens
**We do not own the rights to this music**

[Czetli]

I love your story. I've heard of other people with infertility that once they make up their minds to adopt, they get pregnant. I don't know if the parents relax about it and it just happens. It's so awesome the family you have grown. I'm sure it can be difficult at times but all these kids look so happy. Congratulations on your beautiful family.

[Darealx]

Neveah and Dayshawn have found their smiles 🤗

[createwithlinda]

Such a beautiful family you both created!💖

[hiroku]

Hey Alicia! I admire your thoughtfulness on keeping the siblings together!

[LifeisfullofPlotTwists]

I love your story. Having an open mind and a loving heart is really the best way to change the world around you.

[magnus]

What a beautiful, loving family. After years of frustration with infertility some people are so disheartened but you and Josh thought outside the box. You fostered, adopted and also had 4 beautiful biological kids. My Mom and Dad's first pregnancy ended in a tragic miscarriage. Mom said she was scared it would happen again but she wanted to be a Mother so much so they carried on and had all of us. Moms are brave, loving, selfless and amazing. Dad's, too, of course!

[jovance]

And what a beautiful happy family you are🥰

[ashleighhendrickse]

I'm so glad Bree and Patrick got to stay together 😢❤

[aukuzjolaquarmeila]

@dougherty can u please share where you got your dresses and shirts from PLEASE❤

[Lizzie__Lizzz]

This is why I follow you. I love how your family was put together. I am not able to have kids but I’ve always wanted to adopt. I would LOVE to adopt siblings to keep them together and then I’d have an instant family! It makes me smile just thinking about it x

[SadiyoSaid-mghs]

Im a family of 11 and no one is adopted

[thelastdinosaur]

This is a question that maybe be insensitive but I just curious and mean no malicious to it. However, if the kids ever want to go back to their bio parents would this ever be a possibility? As I believe you said 4 out of 5 are open adoption so they have interaction with their bio family. I curious if their feelings would come into it? Or would it be refused due to you being officially their mum and dad? Xx

[pauluvettebrown]

I love this I love the family but how in the world did you get them all in Flowers.😂😂😂❤❤❤ Especially your husband then Young men and the boys how in the world you pulled that off ?😂😂

[sandrabrandhorst]

What a sweet, warm, loving coup who opened their hearts and home.❤❤❤

[robloxpeoplegatherhere]

This is one of the biggest, and most beautiful family I’ve ever seen.

[junebuchholtz]

The Outfits really are fantastic looking

[LifeofMaria]

I thought the last two would only stay for a couple months. Did it change?

[jenniferneill]

Wonderful what a story xx beautiful family x

[Goaway]

This makes me cry. What a great FAMILY YOU ALL MAKE EACH AND EVERY PERSON FITS YOU ALLLL MAKE THIS FAMILY THE GREAT FAMILY YOU ALL ARE. EVERY PERSON FITS IN EACH SPOT AND I CANT IMAGINE THE FAMILY WITH OUT EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU. THANK YOU FOR ALLOWING US TO SHARE YOUR STORY AND SUCH JOY EVERY DAY TO SEE EVERYONE GROWING AND MATURING THE WAY THESE KIDS ARE YOU ARE BEST PARENTS TOO. I AM LOVING KEEPING UP WITH YOU ALL. AND LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING EVERYONE GROW AND GRADUATE AND MOVE ON IN THIS

[MariaCruz-oble]

Joshua and Alicia you have a beautiful family 🫶🫶🫶🫶👏👏👏