Hi there! I’m Lydia, one of the Adoption Case Managers here at Gateway Woods. My husband, Brock, also works at Gateway and we have been married for four years. Together we have two beautiful daughters, Bristol and Nora. In our free time we enjoy working on our hobby homestead and spending time with our friends and family.
My journey at Gateway Woods started in 2016, when I was hired as an Assistant Houseparent in Gateway’s Residential program. I was young, freshly out of college, and had just moved across the country from Kansas to be a role model and parent figure for teenagers only a few years younger than myself. And I loved it. Being a houseparent challenged me to grow in my relationship with God and also taught me first-hand the effect that trauma has on children and their families.
During my time as a houseparent, I met a really cute teacher who worked at Gateway’s on-campus school. We were married in 2018, and at that time I accepted a position as a Foster Care Case Manager at Gateway. For the next two and a half years I had the opportunity to work with many amazing foster families and children. I learned about the foster care system in Indiana as well as how to work with DCS and foster families to support foster children and their families. Sometimes that led to reunification and sometimes adoption. As a Case Manager I came to realize how much I enjoyed walking alongside the foster families when they had pre-adoptive placements. I became passionate about helping these families prepare to be forever homes for the foster children in their care. Brock and I became parents to our daughters during this time and I went from parenting teenagers and helping foster parents be parents to raising my own babies. Sometimes it felt like the teenagers were a lot easier!
Soon after our second daughter was born, I accepted a part time position as an Adoption Case Manager. As much as I loved being a foster care case manager, it was time to slow things down and focus on my family. I love that I still get to work with adoptive families. I truly enjoy getting to know our prospective adoptive families and making sure their home study is a true reflection of them. It is one of the best parts of this job. Being a part of the Gateway family has been one of the biggest influences and blessings on my personal and professional life. I can’t wait to see what God has in store for our future.
