"We're a Family Now"
The Nebergalls' story of faith and commitment
“He’ll tell you there was dust in his eyes, but he was definitely emotional about not aging out in a group home. He was ready to find placement.”
Years had passed since Jade and Daniel Nebergall were ready to start their family. Though being foster parents was always in their mind, they initially tried having kids biologically. But after two years without results, they began pondering whether they should seek medical counsel or pursue something else altogether.
“We didn’t go through any kind of treatments. We just thought, What’s the point in doing that when it appears that may not be God’s will for us? Let’s look at other avenues,” Daniel recalls.
Jade and Daniel grew up in households where not only were both of their parents together, a dynamic that was becoming more and more rare, but Daniel’s parents were also interested in being foster parents. Though it did not come to life with his parents, the desire had been instilled in Daniel ever since.
After thinking about and praying over their situation, they felt Jesus was leading them to foster. They wanted to get acclimated to the system before diving straight into foster, so they signed on as being sponsors for foster kids, where they could host a child one weekend each month.
They faithfully committed to their roles and served in them for two years, but felt they were being called to more.
“We thought we were ready to do something kind of a little further, a bigger step. That’s where we moved towards the idea of fostering long-term as opposed to a little bit here and there,” Jade explains.
One of the children who stayed with the Nebergalls during their time as sponsors was Travis. Travis first met Jade and Daniel when he was 14-years-old. Now, Travis was 16 and preparing for permanent placement with a different family, and the Nebergalls were preparing to move into long-term fostering. But, in January, Travis’s placement fell through. So the Nebergalls stepped up.
“We started the process not sure if it was even possible,” Daniel explains. “We didn’t want to tell him ahead of time what we were doing because we didn’t want to get his hopes up again. He had had a failed placement already that didn’t work out. So we didn’t want to be someone who disappointed him again. A lot of foster kids end up getting disappointed a lot and we didn’t want that to happen.”
Knowing that all the paperwork and all the requirements to become foster parents was a process that was very lengthy and drawn-out, Jade and Daniel worked on an accelerated plan with Bright Foster Care, a ministry of Georgia Baptist Children’s Homes. By this point, Travis had been enrolled then transferred from well over a dozen schools already, so their primary goal was being able to avoid another transfer and have Travis placed before the school year began.
But the Nebergalls soon realized that while their ambitious timeline would keep Travis from having to transfer schools, they would have to expedite the process by another one to two months so Travis could play football for his school, something that was incredibly important to him.
They adjusted their goal and went at it in full force.
“We finished the stuff that we could on the accelerated plan as fast as we could so that we would have him by the summer,” Daniel says.
He and Jade filled out months worth of forms, completed trainings and tests, waited to get replies from state agencies, and everything else they could to get Travis placed in time.
As summer grew closer and their ideal timeline to have Travis placed became shorter, the Nebergalls received the news: they were licensed and approved. Travis would be placed with them, and in time to play on his school’s football team.
“We made it through the process actually quite quickly at six months,” Jade says. “We started in January, had the court date in February, and by June, he lived with us.”
“Without Georgia Baptist, I’m not sure this really would’ve happened,” Daniel added.
To give Travis a space of his own, volunteers signed up with Bright to give Travis’ new bedroom a makeover that showed his personality and interests. The project was completed in a total of two days during which his walls and some furniture pieces were painted, and memorabilia of his favorite football team was hung around the room, all to make the space tailored for him.
When Jade and Daniel reflect back on the start of their journey and see where they are at now with their family, they realize God had set them on a path to foster teenagers.
“You skip the diaper phase. Obviously, that’s really nice!” Daniel jokes. “Teens get a bad rap. ‘Oh, they’re so moody, they’re so much of a problem.’ And obviously, we were all there and we all had issues with that. But life hits you hard at that age, and when there’s not a stable environment to be in, how can you expect to be stable later in life?”
“We get this kid who already has his foundation set. He’s got holes and cracks in it, but we’re here to help fill those and hopefully provide guidance on how to live your life going forward,” Jade elaborates. “And then there’s that moment when you’ve been teaching him something and teaching him something, and they get it. It’s not like a little kid going potty, this is real life. This is him understanding that school is important, that who you establish yourself with is important. And when he gets those concepts, it’s something that takes your breath away and you want to cry a little bit because he finally gets it.”
"He's not a weekend visitor anymore. He actually lives here now," Daniel says.
"He's a family member now."
To learn more about our foster program, Bright, and how you can get involved, click here.
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