Bradenton foster mom adopts four siblings, giving them loving home

BRADENTON, Fla. - Every child deserves a loving home, and that's why a Bradenton foster mom adopted four siblings. 

Melissa Servetz adopted four siblings as a single mom to give them a loving home. She said she originally got Jane and Destiny at the same time. Then came Matthew in 2018 just three days after he was born. He was officially adopted by Melissa in 2019. After that, Emerson was born in 2020 and adopted in 2021. 

Melissa's love for children came from her mom, who was an elementary school teacher. Her parents said – even at a young age – they could tell she was born to be a teacher too. 

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"Even as a child in our basement in New Jersey, I had to paint the wall with chalkboard paint, so she could teach an imaginary classroom," said Joel Servetz, Melissa's dad. "But she was always about helping in the community. She was always about, but especially children. The welfare of young children has always been something she cared deeply about."  

She's worked with children since she was 13 years old, and she ended up teaching for 20 years.

"I wanted to be a teacher and work with kids since I was probably in my mom's stomach, and she was a teacher as well," Melissa said. "But I've always loved children and working with them."

Her love for children was so strong, Melissa became a foster mom in 2015. She fostered 60 children in six years. 

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"Some of them were long term, over a year. Some of them were for two weeks, some of them were for five days," Melissa said. "It varies on whatever the children needed and what placement just needed my help with. They would call me in the middle of the night and say, ‘Hey, I have a two-year-old that needs a placement. Can we bring them?’ And I said, ‘Absolutely so.’" 

Now, she has a family of four. 

Melissa said there are so many children who need safe and loving homes, and she hopes every child in need of a home gets one just like her family did.