National Adoption Month 2025: Tracy Haufschild: Baby Girl Completes the Family

When a child’s home life is determined to be unsafe, they are placed with a relative or licensed foster family. While foster care is designed to be temporary, reunification between children and their biological parents is not always a safe, permanent option. In those cases, the children can be permanently adopted.

In 2004, Sally Haufschild met a woman who was in an abusive relationship and struggling to care for her infant, Tracy. Sally babysat for Tracy and quickly became enamored with the little girl. When Tracy’s biological mother was unable to care for her, Sally and her husband Jim became licensed foster parents and welcomed Tracy into their home.

The couple expected the arrangement would be temporary, but admittedly hoped the situation would be permanent. At the time, they had three young boys, ages 4, 6, and 8. The brothers had to quickly get used to a new baby sister.

Before being placed with the Haufschilds, Tracy endured extensive trauma. During a critical time in her development, she received inadequate nutrition, was denied quality sleep as she often slept in a car seat and was not provided opportunities to develop the strength and motor skills needed to crawl.

Weeks turned into months, and Tracy continued living with the Haufschilds. Tracy’s biological mother remained unable to care for her and eventually she and her husband relinquished their parental rights to the Haufschilds.

A legal process ensued, and when Tracy was 4-years-old, the Haufschilds officially adopted her.

“The first few years were difficult, largely because we were raising three other children while connecting with various resources to accelerate Tracy’s development,” says Sally. “A team of early intervention specialists identified weaknesses and brought in therapists for physical, occupational and speech therapy. The speech therapist identified that Tracy had hearing problems, and Tracy was fitted with a hearing aid. Her brothers were very protective and worked hard to make her a good athlete.”

Today, at age 21, Tracy is well-adjusted, healthy and happy. She is an accomplished athlete, active in her sorority at Illinois State University and studying to be a physical education teacher. She enjoys close relationships with her brothers and is amused by the influence she has on them.

The Haufschilds have always been open with Tracy about their family history. While Tracy was informed of her early childhood experiences, she does not dwell on the past but rather treasures her family’s love and support, and looks forward to her bright future.

Passionate about giving back, Jim serves as Treasurer on the Let It Be Us board of directors and the couple supports the Barrington 220 Educational Foundation.

November is National Adoption Month, a time to increase awareness of adoption, bring attention to the need for adoptive families for teens experiencing the U.S. foster care system, and emphasize the value of lifelong connections.

For more information about foster care to adoption, visit www.letitbeus.org.

About Let It Be Us

Let It Be Us is an Illinois 501(c)3 and licensed child welfare agency dedicated to changing the landscape of foster care and adoption in Illinois. The mission of Let It Be Us is to provide collaborative, innovative solutions of effective recruitment and placement for children in Illinois foster and adoptive care. The Let It Be Us vision is for all children in the Illinois child welfare system to achieve educational equity, employment equity, and overall well being through the incorporation of Let It Be Us Programming into statewide advancements in foster care adoption recruitment and placement. For more information about Let It Be Us, visit www.letitbeus.org.