A Philadelphia woman has overcome grief and found a healing path forward in the course of expanding her family.
In October 2014, Bobbie-Jo Floyd experienced an unimaginable tragedy when her husband, Andre Floyd, died in a motorcycle crash. The 46-year-old mother of two had no idea what to do next.
"I curled up in a ball on the floor,” she said in an interview with People. “I was petrified of moving forward without him."
But soon a very wide, loving path was laid.
Two years after her husband’s death — and right after Bobbie-Jo and sons Jeremai and Elyjah held a balloon-releasing ceremony in his honor — they came home to a phone call from child care workers. Bobbie-Jo had applied to become a foster parent about a year earlier, and it now appeared that two young sisters were available for fostering.
When the two sisters — Destiny, 11, and Serenity, 7 — were brought over for introductions, the girls’ 9-year-old brother, Lysander, was there too, but there was a plan in place to leave him in the care of another foster applicant.
Floyd asked, “'If I can get another bunk bed, can he stay?” And so started the unexpected expansion of the Floyd family that Bobbie-Jo is certain was initiated by the spirit of Andre.
After discovering that three more of their siblings were in foster care — Honesty, Adrian and August — Bobbie-Jo desperately begged social workers and the court for the opportunity to care for them, too.
"I'll do whatever I have to do,'" she said. "I got to get these kids together."
By February 2020, Bobbie-Jo was able to finalize the adoption of the four youngest, and earlier this month she secured the adoption of the two older children.
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Now with eight children, ranging in age from 6 to 17, she will be moving into a larger home in Texas with her sister, who will help care for the brood.
"I believe this was all Andre giving me a sign," Bobbie-Jo said. "He knew what would keep me going. I thank him every day for giving me these kids."
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