May 7, 2025 • 15 mins
Florida’s only home-based international adoption agency, Adoption by Shepherd Care, is currently the oldest Florida-based adoption agency assisting Expectant Parents facing unplanned pregnancies and Prospective Adoptive Families desiring to become parents through adoption. Tuesday on Mornings with Eric and Brigitte, Joe Sica will give an update on the ministry and encourage us to have a pro-life mindset.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:04):
This is mornings with Eric and Bridget right here on
Moody Radio. South Florida 89.3.
S2 (00:10):
You know, there's a scripture. I can't remember exactly where
it is. I think it's in the Psalms. It says
God places the lonely in families. And when you see
that happen, it's such a beautiful thing. I think of
my Aunt Edith and her adoptive daughter, and I just
almost removed that word adoptive because she's such a she's
such a fabric of our family. It's been so many
(00:32):
years now that we honestly don't even remember that part.
But it's such a beautiful God story of of how
he did that. Them longing for a child for many years,
and then God saying, I've got one especially picked out
for you.
S1 (00:43):
The thing about adoption, though, is we we might feel
a little distant if we don't have that story in
our family line, but it's not distant at all because
we've been adopted by as believers, we've been adopted by
our Heavenly Father, and so we can call him dad.
and we now have a brother in Christ. And that
(01:05):
relationship should help all of us really understand what adoption
is all about and the importance of adoption to our
Heavenly Father.
S2 (01:12):
It's close to his heart for sure. And Joe Sica,
thanks for joining us from Adoptions by Shepherds Care. Obviously,
you know the impact from both sides, from the child
who's looking for that forever family and that family that
brings that child in, don't you?
S3 (01:29):
Oh, correct. And I think that verse that you were
talking about, I think it's Psalm 68 five. And, you know,
that's part of how God identifies himself as his actual heart,
you know, is caring for orphans and widows in their distress.
And so that has become a foundational point of adoption
(01:51):
by Shepherd care.
S1 (01:52):
You talk about foundational words, that certain words can become foundational.
And as I was looking through some of the materials
you sent us a few times, the word Non-judgmental kept
popping up. That's really, really important when we're talking about adoption,
isn't it?
S3 (02:08):
Oh, absolutely. And I think one of the things that
you said, Bridget, there was that. Okay. Your Aunt Edith
and her daughter, your cousin. Yeah. You know, yeah. We
don't use the term adoptive anymore. And so. Yeah. So
the non-judgmental part about it is how we work with
our clients. And certainly I do most of the consultations.
(02:32):
And so the couple will be sitting there on the couch.
And generally when they come to us, this is their
last opportunity. They've tried everything else. And here you have
this successful couple and they have not been able to
have a family, you know, because that's kind of like
the order. They want to do all these things first
(02:54):
and then yes, they want children. So when they're sitting there,
you know, you want to hear their story. And yes, it's,
you know, you. They think that you're sitting there saying, oh,
you're a failure. Uh, or when you're sitting with a
birth mom, a girl that has, again, you know, when
she has made that call to us, she's really stepping
(03:16):
outside of her comfort zone. And so when you go
to meet with her. Yeah, there's a nonjudgmental aspect because
they will pick up on that. They will pick up
on the slightest little thing. And so you have to
come across as well, not just come across. Right. But
you have to build a trust with them because they're
(03:38):
trusting you with this precious, precious gift and that you
as an agency are doing your job correctly, evaluating this
couple and saying they're, you know, this couple that she
then picks is ready. They're ready to raise that child
as their child, not an adoptive child.
S2 (03:59):
Exactly. That's such a key part. And and maybe you
can give us a story or two of how you've
seen that happen from from start to to beginning.
S3 (04:08):
Ooh. Ah yeah.
S2 (04:11):
So many. Right.
S3 (04:12):
There's so many. But, um. Yeah. Oh, one of the
ones recently that has really tugged at my heart and
tugged at the heart of our staff. And, uh. Over
the last several years, we've had many folks come into
(04:32):
this country that. Okay, we're, you know, they wanted to
become citizens. Citizens, but they're not. And we have worked
with many girls that, as they came across the border,
were traumatized and became pregnant. And so then, you know,
they have reached out to us. And this one particular girl, uh,
(04:55):
name is Maya. And she was severely traumatized coming across
the border. And she has three children, And she made
her way to Florida and contacted a crisis pregnancy center,
which is another aspect that we're working on. And that
crisis pregnancy center we we had I think we had
(05:17):
just done a training with them because we're working to
reach out with crisis pregnancy centers in regards to adoption.
So they called us and said, hey, we have this
girl here. She only speaks Spanish. Can you help her?
And so we did. And her, we were able to
(05:38):
share the gospel with her through the time we worked
with her for several months. And just the sweetest girl
and and her three children. And she was able to
pick the family that her baby went to because she
was parenting on her own. No help. And you know, now, okay,
(06:00):
this would be a fourth child. And she was overwhelmed.
And so she picked them. She got to meet them.
She placed her baby with them and then said. Said
to us. Can you help me get back to my country?
So we actually were able to help her. And the
interesting thing was that we had to work with the
(06:20):
embassy and so on, and we go to the airport
and they wouldn't let her board the plane. And so,
you know, here we are at the airport and we
told the one top lady there her story and this
lady who was Jamaican, we also have a Jamaica program.
(06:42):
And she starts crying and she goes, I'm going to
get her back there. And so she went and talked
with her superiors and so on like this. And, you know,
we said, listen, ma'am, you know, we're Christians and, you know,
we just, you know, are really trying to help her.
And it just really touched her heart. So a lot
(07:04):
of the times these stories not only touch us, but
they touch folks that are on the periphery and they
see these stories happening. So that's that's one.
S2 (07:15):
Does she. Was she able to get home? Yes. Okay.
And her baby is being raised by a loving family here.
S3 (07:21):
Absolutely. Wow. Absolutely.
S2 (07:22):
Praise God for.
S3 (07:23):
That. Definitely.
S1 (07:24):
The story that I flipped through and saw that really
touched my heart was a family who accepted a down
syndrome baby and that, um, that means that life is
precious no matter what that life looks like. And that
family said absolutely that life is precious.
S3 (07:44):
Yes. And actually, there's a couple of other stories that
coincide with that one. You know, recently where there were
some medical issues and so on. But that story in particular,
that was a story where we had been working at
that hospital in, in South Miami. And this girl came
(08:06):
in and yes, the baby was born as a down,
you know, down syndrome. And this girl had no help.
She did have, I believe she had other children. And
so she was doing this on her own. And, you know,
the situation with the child being Down's is going to
be a significant, uh.
S2 (08:29):
Complication. Yeah. Yes.
S3 (08:31):
Complications. You know, lifelong complications. And she wasn't prepared for it. So, yes,
we we had a couple local, uh, Christian couple from
another church that was going through the process of homestudy.
They were close to being done. And, uh, we, we
knew that the, the mom, uh, had done quite a
(08:54):
bit of volunteer work with Down's children. So the baby
ended up being in the hospital for several months, for
a few months. And They're witness to those doctors and
staff was incredible. They. Every time you walked in there. Oh,
(09:18):
you're here because of that family, you know, and and unfortunately,
a baby did pass away. And a lot of those
hospital people came to the funeral and heard the gospel
and to hear them, because then, you know, they're at
the service, you know, they recognized us and said, you know,
(09:42):
just I've never heard this before. And so, yeah, a
lot of, uh, you know, situations like this. God's story
is being, you know, told on a much bigger scale. And, uh, but, yeah,
you know, it's a matter of knowing your families what
(10:02):
they are open to.
S2 (10:05):
Yeah. Adoption by Shepherd's Care is right here in our community,
helping to provide this help and hope. And you've got
different programs as well, including the Safe Haven program and
the summer hosting. Can you tell us about that?
S3 (10:17):
Sure. Safe Haven is, uh, we we started working with
them back in the early 2000 after that became the
law here in Florida. And I work very closely with
the founder of Safe Haven, Nick Silverio. He's a fellow
paisan and just a dynamite of a man that, uh,
(10:39):
he and his wife, you know, had no children. And
they wanted to, uh, you know, provide an avenue for,
for girls because they saw and they started seeing in
the news all these babies that were being left in, uh,
in inappropriate places. And so he started Safe Haven, and
(10:59):
he knows all of the fire chiefs, hospital staff throughout
the entire state of Florida. And he has built, you know,
safe haven is where a girl can Whatever her situation is,
she can come and deliver a baby, leave her baby
within the first 30 days of life at a hospital,
and not be pursued by law enforcement. And so it's
(11:23):
a it's a different process. And so we have worked
with together with Safe Haven will probably at least 40
of those cases. I think they're like about 380 nationwide.
And so he has taken this, you know, to a
whole nother level. And but many of our, you know,
(11:44):
we've been able to place all of these, all of
these babies. And it's just incredible, you know, that that
aspect of it. Some are hosting has uh, even more, uh,
has touched my heart even more, uh, than, than a
lot of, uh, you know, a lot of other ones.
(12:05):
It's very personal to me. And I Summer hosting is
where we bring a group of kids that have been
pre-approved from Columbia. We bring them here for several weeks
to experience America, and during that time we we will
put them with families. Families can, you know, register to say, hey,
(12:27):
you know what? I'll host a child. And the goal
is to, yes, find a family for them. These are
children that are adoptable. And so we've done that for
many years. And actually our youngest son came through the
summer hosting program. And so, you know, just, you know,
(12:51):
one of the great stories there. And he's in the
picture there. Yeah. Um, uh, one of the, uh, one
of the kids that came, uh, the same year that
my son did, uh, the day before they were going back,
this one child had a meltdown. we were having. We
(13:11):
were at the beach and he had a he had
a bit of a meltdown, like, you know, I'm going
back to nothing. I'm going, you know, and nobody could
console him. None of our counselors, none of the families
that were there could console him. He was just losing it.
So my son, uh. Davon, he grabs him by the
(13:32):
arm and says, get over here, you know? And he
walks him over to a tree. And I'm sitting there
watching this, and he just, you know, he just kind
of like, hits him right between the eyes. What's the
matter with you? You know? You know, look, you can
you can come here and be a part of a family.
And you just, you know, kind of like for about,
(13:52):
you know, several minutes just tells him, kind of tells
him off and say, get with it. You have this
great opportunity. So summer hosting is where children that are
older get the opportunity to meet a family. And, uh,
I think we have close to 100% success rate with
(14:12):
that program, and we've seen dozens of children adopted by.
Families over the years.
S2 (14:18):
Incredible ministry really. And then maybe our for our friends listening.
This is the first time they're hearing about it. If
you want to learn more, there's a link at our website.
Eric and Bridget.
S1 (14:29):
There just might be a place for you in this story. Right.
And so you can find out more information by about
adoptions by Shepherd's Care again at our website. Eric and Bridget,
thank you so much for coming in these stories. This
information is helpful because, uh, many I know want to
know what their next steps are in this whole process.
(14:51):
And I think your organization's a great landing place for
them so they can find out more. Again, thank you
for coming in.
S3 (14:56):
Well thank you. Thank you, Bridget and Eric for having us. And,
you know, keep up the good work yourselves. You guys
do a fantastic work. And I love hearing your stories and,
you know, so keep up the good work.
S1 (15:09):
We appreciate that. Thank you again. Find out more at
Eric and Bridget. Dot.
This is mornings with Eric and Bridget right here on
Moody Radio. South Florida 89.3.
S2 (00:10):
You know, there's a scripture. I can't remember exactly where
it is. I think it's in the Psalms. It says
God places the lonely in families. And when you see
that happen, it's such a beautiful thing. I think of
my Aunt Edith and her adoptive daughter, and I just
almost removed that word adoptive because she's such a she's
such a fabric of our family. It's been so many
(00:32):
years now that we honestly don't even remember that part.
But it's such a beautiful God story of of how
he did that. Them longing for a child for many years,
and then God saying, I've got one especially picked out
for you.
S1 (00:43):
The thing about adoption, though, is we we might feel
a little distant if we don't have that story in
our family line, but it's not distant at all because
we've been adopted by as believers, we've been adopted by
our Heavenly Father, and so we can call him dad.
and we now have a brother in Christ. And that
(01:05):
relationship should help all of us really understand what adoption
is all about and the importance of adoption to our
Heavenly Father.
S2 (01:12):
It's close to his heart for sure. And Joe Sica,
thanks for joining us from Adoptions by Shepherds Care. Obviously,
you know the impact from both sides, from the child
who's looking for that forever family and that family that
brings that child in, don't you?
S3 (01:29):
Oh, correct. And I think that verse that you were
talking about, I think it's Psalm 68 five. And, you know,
that's part of how God identifies himself as his actual heart,
you know, is caring for orphans and widows in their distress.
And so that has become a foundational point of adoption
(01:51):
by Shepherd care.
S1 (01:52):
You talk about foundational words, that certain words can become foundational.
And as I was looking through some of the materials
you sent us a few times, the word Non-judgmental kept
popping up. That's really, really important when we're talking about adoption,
isn't it?
S3 (02:08):
Oh, absolutely. And I think one of the things that
you said, Bridget, there was that. Okay. Your Aunt Edith
and her daughter, your cousin. Yeah. You know, yeah. We
don't use the term adoptive anymore. And so. Yeah. So
the non-judgmental part about it is how we work with
our clients. And certainly I do most of the consultations.
(02:32):
And so the couple will be sitting there on the couch.
And generally when they come to us, this is their
last opportunity. They've tried everything else. And here you have
this successful couple and they have not been able to
have a family, you know, because that's kind of like
the order. They want to do all these things first
(02:54):
and then yes, they want children. So when they're sitting there,
you know, you want to hear their story. And yes, it's,
you know, you. They think that you're sitting there saying, oh,
you're a failure. Uh, or when you're sitting with a
birth mom, a girl that has, again, you know, when
she has made that call to us, she's really stepping
(03:16):
outside of her comfort zone. And so when you go
to meet with her. Yeah, there's a nonjudgmental aspect because
they will pick up on that. They will pick up
on the slightest little thing. And so you have to
come across as well, not just come across. Right. But
you have to build a trust with them because they're
(03:38):
trusting you with this precious, precious gift and that you
as an agency are doing your job correctly, evaluating this
couple and saying they're, you know, this couple that she
then picks is ready. They're ready to raise that child
as their child, not an adoptive child.
S2 (03:59):
Exactly. That's such a key part. And and maybe you
can give us a story or two of how you've
seen that happen from from start to to beginning.
S3 (04:08):
Ooh. Ah yeah.
S2 (04:11):
So many. Right.
S3 (04:12):
There's so many. But, um. Yeah. Oh, one of the
ones recently that has really tugged at my heart and
tugged at the heart of our staff. And, uh. Over
the last several years, we've had many folks come into
(04:32):
this country that. Okay, we're, you know, they wanted to
become citizens. Citizens, but they're not. And we have worked
with many girls that, as they came across the border,
were traumatized and became pregnant. And so then, you know,
they have reached out to us. And this one particular girl, uh,
(04:55):
name is Maya. And she was severely traumatized coming across
the border. And she has three children, And she made
her way to Florida and contacted a crisis pregnancy center,
which is another aspect that we're working on. And that
crisis pregnancy center we we had I think we had
(05:17):
just done a training with them because we're working to
reach out with crisis pregnancy centers in regards to adoption.
So they called us and said, hey, we have this
girl here. She only speaks Spanish. Can you help her?
And so we did. And her, we were able to
(05:38):
share the gospel with her through the time we worked
with her for several months. And just the sweetest girl
and and her three children. And she was able to
pick the family that her baby went to because she
was parenting on her own. No help. And you know, now, okay,
(06:00):
this would be a fourth child. And she was overwhelmed.
And so she picked them. She got to meet them.
She placed her baby with them and then said. Said
to us. Can you help me get back to my country?
So we actually were able to help her. And the
interesting thing was that we had to work with the
(06:20):
embassy and so on, and we go to the airport
and they wouldn't let her board the plane. And so,
you know, here we are at the airport and we
told the one top lady there her story and this
lady who was Jamaican, we also have a Jamaica program.
(06:42):
And she starts crying and she goes, I'm going to
get her back there. And so she went and talked
with her superiors and so on like this. And, you know,
we said, listen, ma'am, you know, we're Christians and, you know,
we just, you know, are really trying to help her.
And it just really touched her heart. So a lot
(07:04):
of the times these stories not only touch us, but
they touch folks that are on the periphery and they
see these stories happening. So that's that's one.
S2 (07:15):
Does she. Was she able to get home? Yes. Okay.
And her baby is being raised by a loving family here.
S3 (07:21):
Absolutely. Wow. Absolutely.
S2 (07:22):
Praise God for.
S3 (07:23):
That. Definitely.
S1 (07:24):
The story that I flipped through and saw that really
touched my heart was a family who accepted a down
syndrome baby and that, um, that means that life is
precious no matter what that life looks like. And that
family said absolutely that life is precious.
S3 (07:44):
Yes. And actually, there's a couple of other stories that
coincide with that one. You know, recently where there were
some medical issues and so on. But that story in particular,
that was a story where we had been working at
that hospital in, in South Miami. And this girl came
(08:06):
in and yes, the baby was born as a down,
you know, down syndrome. And this girl had no help.
She did have, I believe she had other children. And
so she was doing this on her own. And, you know,
the situation with the child being Down's is going to
be a significant, uh.
S2 (08:29):
Complication. Yeah. Yes.
S3 (08:31):
Complications. You know, lifelong complications. And she wasn't prepared for it. So, yes,
we we had a couple local, uh, Christian couple from
another church that was going through the process of homestudy.
They were close to being done. And, uh, we, we
knew that the, the mom, uh, had done quite a
(08:54):
bit of volunteer work with Down's children. So the baby
ended up being in the hospital for several months, for
a few months. And They're witness to those doctors and
staff was incredible. They. Every time you walked in there. Oh,
(09:18):
you're here because of that family, you know, and and unfortunately,
a baby did pass away. And a lot of those
hospital people came to the funeral and heard the gospel
and to hear them, because then, you know, they're at
the service, you know, they recognized us and said, you know,
(09:42):
just I've never heard this before. And so, yeah, a
lot of, uh, you know, situations like this. God's story
is being, you know, told on a much bigger scale. And, uh, but, yeah,
you know, it's a matter of knowing your families what
(10:02):
they are open to.
S2 (10:05):
Yeah. Adoption by Shepherd's Care is right here in our community,
helping to provide this help and hope. And you've got
different programs as well, including the Safe Haven program and
the summer hosting. Can you tell us about that?
S3 (10:17):
Sure. Safe Haven is, uh, we we started working with
them back in the early 2000 after that became the
law here in Florida. And I work very closely with
the founder of Safe Haven, Nick Silverio. He's a fellow
paisan and just a dynamite of a man that, uh,
(10:39):
he and his wife, you know, had no children. And
they wanted to, uh, you know, provide an avenue for,
for girls because they saw and they started seeing in
the news all these babies that were being left in, uh,
in inappropriate places. And so he started Safe Haven, and
(10:59):
he knows all of the fire chiefs, hospital staff throughout
the entire state of Florida. And he has built, you know,
safe haven is where a girl can Whatever her situation is,
she can come and deliver a baby, leave her baby
within the first 30 days of life at a hospital,
and not be pursued by law enforcement. And so it's
(11:23):
a it's a different process. And so we have worked
with together with Safe Haven will probably at least 40
of those cases. I think they're like about 380 nationwide.
And so he has taken this, you know, to a
whole nother level. And but many of our, you know,
(11:44):
we've been able to place all of these, all of
these babies. And it's just incredible, you know, that that
aspect of it. Some are hosting has uh, even more, uh,
has touched my heart even more, uh, than, than a
lot of, uh, you know, a lot of other ones.
(12:05):
It's very personal to me. And I Summer hosting is
where we bring a group of kids that have been
pre-approved from Columbia. We bring them here for several weeks
to experience America, and during that time we we will
put them with families. Families can, you know, register to say, hey,
(12:27):
you know what? I'll host a child. And the goal
is to, yes, find a family for them. These are
children that are adoptable. And so we've done that for
many years. And actually our youngest son came through the
summer hosting program. And so, you know, just, you know,
(12:51):
one of the great stories there. And he's in the
picture there. Yeah. Um, uh, one of the, uh, one
of the kids that came, uh, the same year that
my son did, uh, the day before they were going back,
this one child had a meltdown. we were having. We
(13:11):
were at the beach and he had a he had
a bit of a meltdown, like, you know, I'm going
back to nothing. I'm going, you know, and nobody could
console him. None of our counselors, none of the families
that were there could console him. He was just losing it.
So my son, uh. Davon, he grabs him by the
(13:32):
arm and says, get over here, you know? And he
walks him over to a tree. And I'm sitting there
watching this, and he just, you know, he just kind
of like, hits him right between the eyes. What's the
matter with you? You know? You know, look, you can
you can come here and be a part of a family.
And you just, you know, kind of like for about,
(13:52):
you know, several minutes just tells him, kind of tells
him off and say, get with it. You have this
great opportunity. So summer hosting is where children that are
older get the opportunity to meet a family. And, uh,
I think we have close to 100% success rate with
(14:12):
that program, and we've seen dozens of children adopted by.
Families over the years.
S2 (14:18):
Incredible ministry really. And then maybe our for our friends listening.
This is the first time they're hearing about it. If
you want to learn more, there's a link at our website.
Eric and Bridget.
S1 (14:29):
There just might be a place for you in this story. Right.
And so you can find out more information by about
adoptions by Shepherd's Care again at our website. Eric and Bridget,
thank you so much for coming in these stories. This
information is helpful because, uh, many I know want to
know what their next steps are in this whole process.
(14:51):
And I think your organization's a great landing place for
them so they can find out more. Again, thank you
for coming in.
S3 (14:56):
Well thank you. Thank you, Bridget and Eric for having us. And,
you know, keep up the good work yourselves. You guys
do a fantastic work. And I love hearing your stories and,
you know, so keep up the good work.
S1 (15:09):
We appreciate that. Thank you again. Find out more at
Eric and Bridget. Dot.
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Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Cold Case Files: Miami
Joyce Sapp, 76; Bryan Herrera, 16; and Laurance Webb, 32—three Miami residents whose lives were stolen in brutal, unsolved homicides.  Cold Case Files: Miami follows award‑winning radio host and City of Miami Police reserve officer  Enrique Santos as he partners with the department’s Cold Case Homicide Unit, determined family members, and the advocates who spend their lives fighting for justice for the victims who can no longer fight for themselves.