Single mom adopts 6 sisters from foster care: 'God had a different plan for me'
Mandi Septer always pictured herself with lots of kids. Last year, Septer’s dream came true, in a way she'd never imagined before. And while her Christmas card looks different than what she once envisioned, she thinks the end result is fate.
“I was traditional in that I wanted to get married before I had kids,” Septer, 44, tells TODAY.com. “But God had a different plan for me.
"I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be," the mom in Kentucky adds.
On Nov. 23, Septer adopted six sisters from foster care: Alaynah, 16, Alyviah, 14, Alyssah, 13, Alyciah, 11, Alyse, 9, and Julie, 3. There is another sibling, Aaliyah, 19, who Septer considers a daughter.
Septer briefly considered artificial insemination before turning her attention to foster care.
"I went in knowing I wanted to adopt," she says.
Alaynah, Alyviah, Alyssah and Alyciah had already been living with Septer for a few months in foster care when the phone rang. It was Septer’s social worker, and she had big news.
“She was like, ‘There are more sisters and they are little. What do you think?’” Septer recalls. “I told her I had to do some research and think, but there was never any doubt. Of course I was going to say yes.”
Soon after, the siblings were all reunited at a restaurant.
“There was so much hugging and kissing,” Septer remembers. But the car ride home was eerily quiet.
“One of them said absolutely nothing,” Septer remembers, through tears. “I pulled her aside and she said, ‘I don’t understand why we can’t be with our sisters. I miss my sisters.'”
Septer promised she would make things right.
From party of one to party of seven
Septer works as an IT contractor for the military, but she’s also basically a professional chauffeur these days, shuttling her daughters to all their after-school activities.
“I tell my kids, ‘if you want to do something, I’ll make it happen,’ Septer says. “My third-grader went to state last year for cross country. She does track. She plays basketball. I just want to give them as many opportunities as I can.”
Aaliyah, the eldest sister, is not legally Septer’s daughter, but the two share a very special bond. Aaliyah, a nursing student, is pregnant with her first child.
“Mandi will be in the delivery room when I give birth,” Aaliyah tells TODAY.com. “She’s bought a majority of the baby stuff and planned my shower.”
"She calls me with questions about the pregnancy, which is kind of funny because I've never been through pregnancy," Septer says.
Before Septer entered their lives, Aaliyah says she took on the parenting role.
“At first it was kind of hard, you know, to let someone else mother them, but I quickly realized that she was OK. That this was a good person,” Aaliyah says. “She’s the reason I’m in school. She believes in us.”
Septer says she can’t take all the credit for the success of her daughters.
“From my understanding, the girls all had good grades even before I came along. One of them was deemed gifted,” Septer reveals. “But we have to work on stuff like saying ‘please and thank you.’ Just things they hadn’t been taught.”
Septer officially adopted the girls, who call her “Mandi or “Mimi,” on Nov. 17, 2023 — just one day before National Adoption Day.
“Mom is what they call their biological mom,” Septer says. “The goal is we’ll both be at soccer games together. I would love that. There’s room for everyone.”
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
