For many of us, there’s an almost automatic assumption that when we become parents, we’ll do it with a partner. We rarely begin the journey thinking, I want to do this my way — and I think I want to do it on my own.
Zoë did.
She knew from the beginning that becoming a parent was something she wanted to experience on her own terms. She also knew she wanted to have two very different experiences of becoming a parent: pregnancy and birth, and adoption.
For Zoë, pregnancy wasn’t necessarily about having a biological connection to a child. It was about wanting to know what it felt like to grow and bring another human being into the world. And because she wasn’t sure how pregnancy would affect her body, she felt that if she was going to experience pregnancy and birth, she wanted to do it before pursuing adoption.
Her path took her through both IUI and IVF. And as that process was winding down, Zoë began looking more closely at the foster care system.
What followed was a family-building journey that took years — and eventually brought her to five-week-old twins who were in foster care.
Fast forward to today, and those tiny babies are now three-year-old boys who Zoë officially adopted in August 2026.
Her story is a beautiful reminder that there is no single blueprint for becoming a parent. Sometimes the path we imagine at the beginning changes completely along the way. Sometimes family arrives through a combination of paths we never expected. And sometimes the most important part is simply knowing that you get to decide what your journey to parenthood looks like.
You can follow Zoë and her family on Instagram at @the_colorful_kelletts.
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