Signe and Jason
Dear Expectant Mother,
We are Signe and Jason Bertrand. First, we want to acknowledge that placing a precious beautiful little human for adoption is a profound sacrifice. We have no children yet but deeply desire to expand our family as we have lots of love to share. If you choose us, we know that it’s a blessed gift and we’ll honor your sacrifice by centering our lives around him/her/them. For us it’s an open door for an open adoption. If you would like to be part of the child’s life, we welcome that with open arms. We will show dedication to this relationship, whether it’s pictures, or in person get togethers.
Signe (pronounced Sig-knee) is one of the best listeners because she genuinely cares about what people have to say, their thoughts and feelings. She’s incredibly empathetic. No matter what the situation may be, she stays calm and cool. She brings logic and reason to each situation. Signe is very future focused. She’s always been organized; she appreciates the Marie Kondo lifestyle. Family time is very important to us; even though her family is in Seattle, she talks to them almost daily. She also has a love of interior design, so you can catch her watching HGTV during her free time.
Jason is an extrovert and enjoys getting to know others. He is the most nonjudgmental person I have ever met. He lives in the moment and cherishes it. Perhaps that’s why he’s always busy cooking, working, spending time with friends and family. Jason’s family lives in California and he has a younger brother who had a baby girl, Sofia, last year. It’s not uncommon to see Jason facetiming with little Sofia. In his spare time, you’ll likely see him listening to a podcast or reading an article on history or science. Also, he’s loved dinosaurs from an early age – safe to say, that hasn’t changed!
After college we met in San Francisco through a mutual friend and immediately hit it off. We quickly saw our similarities in values and background. While are values are similar, our personalities and perspectives are different, and we appreciate that. We believe diversity is beautiful. We have been happily married for six years. We enjoy traveling together, watching sports games together and love hanging out with our toddler niece, Sofia, and baby godson, Brayden.
We both focused on our professional development early on in our marriage. Jason and a few of his closest friends started their own production company. Starting your own company is a lot of hard work and we are happy to report that his company is doing great. Signe is an HR Director where she happily supports over 5000 employees. While we are grateful for our professional development, we know that ultimately work doesn’t define us. We value family and there’s nothing more important to us.
A couple of years ago, we began to focus on building our family. When we didn’t conceive ourselves, we started going through infertility treatments and suffered heartbreaks along the way due to repeated miscarriage losses. Throughout those years, we also thought that adoption could be the answer to our prayers.
We are a multiracial couple. Jason is mixed with Filipino, Irish, French, and English. Signe is even more colorful as she is mixed with Mexican, Filipino, Vietnamese, French and Native American. We were both raised to know it was special to be a part of different cultures. We have always embraced our ethnicities and have lived in communities from San Francisco to our current home in a west suburb of Chicago.
Signe was adopted as an infant by the most loving Filipino parents. She is an only child and was raised in Seattle. Family was always close by as her grandma lived next door. Today Signe’s parents and grandma still live next door to each other. Her grandmother’s big 100th birthday is January 2020! They are so ready to become first time grandparents and great grandmother.
Signe’s parents and grandma raised her with love and support and also prepared her to navigate through questions about adoption. Signe was proud of being adopted and knew early on that adoption was a special act of love and that a family through adoption was perhaps even more special than a family through birth. Just like marriage where two different individuals form a family, an adoptive family is a very special bond not requiring the same biology but rather just a full heart of love and commitment.
We promise to provide your child a life filled with love, honesty, inclusivity, fun and fond memories. We’ll support your child’s talents and hobbies, such as sports, musical instruments and theater. We will enroll this child into the best schools and dedicate time for homework. We will socialize him/her into art and groups with other little ones. We will introduce this child to different cultures through diverse friendships and travel. We are committed to celebrating your child and providing a sense of belonging. Your child will grow up feeling proud.
We don’t have a crystal ball, so we aren’t certain of what our future will look like. We picture a family larger than just ourselves with more than one child. We are also open to a fur baby in the future; Jason is a bit obsessed with Frenchie dogs. We imagine a family tradition of going to the Arboretum yearly to watch the holiday lights while having hot cocoa. Disneyland would be a must as well. We live in a safe family friendly neighborhood with an excellent school district. We are fortunate to live nearby downtown, the lake and multiple parks.
It’s strange to write about ourselves and we admit that we aren’t the best writers. We promise that we did our best to present ourselves honestly. You are making a big decision and it’s all based out of love; we completely respect you and welcome any contact or questions.
You can contact us directly via email at jasonandsigneacfb@gmail.com. You can also contact our adoption counselor, Maggie Benz via phone at 1-800-869-1005, via text at 1-847-366-6343 or via email at maggie@centerforfamily.com.
