Supermom | Danielle Brickhouse
SuperMom: Danielle Brickhouse
-Liesel Schmidt
When Danielle Brickhouse started with Netchex nine years ago, she was still in college and was really just beginning her career path. After working her way through the company, she’s now a Payroll Implementation Manager for the company that has poured time into her and supported her journey to motherhood.
Married to a man who grew up with foster siblings, Brickhouse’s desire to adopt was matched by his, and the couple began fostering early in their marriage. “When we got married, Matthew’s son, Miles, became my amazing bonus son,” she says. “Still, we knew we wanted more kids—but having our own biological children was not a ‘must have’ for us. One day, the conversation just came up naturally and we were instantly on the same page. A few short weeks later, we signed up for foster classes and immediately knew we wanted to make an impact on our community by fostering. We went in with the mindset of hoping to make a difference in a child’s life but were also open to adoption if the opportunity presented itself.
“Fast forward to many foster placements and successful reunifications later, we wound up adopting our five sweet kids from foster care,” Brickhouse continues. “We adopted William (10), Harlowe (4), and a sibling set of three this past April: Isabella (8), Michael (7), and Luna (6), all through foster care. When we started our foster care journey, I don’t think we necessarily pictured ourselves with such a big family but at this point I am not sure we know how to function any other way! Then, just as Matthew and I were getting comfortable with our current routines and celebrating finally being out of the diaper stage, we got the biggest shock and found out we were pregnant!”