Finding a Forever Home: Professors at Georgia Southern Embrace Motherhood Through Adoption

By: Abby Miller and Emily Potter

STATESBORO – Sanford Hall isn’t just home to classrooms and lectures. Within its walls, it is also home to stories of love and family. For Jennifer Kowalewski and Lisa Muller, two professors at Sanford Hall, the journey to motherhood took a unique and wonderful path. 

Picture from Kowalewski's Facebook page.

      “My father had passed away in 2017,” said Kowalewski. “We talked a lot about adoption and I told him I was waiting and he kept telling me just do it.” 

      Kowalewski, or “Dr. K” as students call her, has been at Georgia Southern University since 2013. In 2021, the Associate Professor of Multimedia Journalism surprised many by taking in and then adopting Serenity Kowalewski in 2022. 

      Her choice to adopt a child was something she always wanted to do, rather than have a biological child, she said, adding that there are so many kids out there who need a home in the foster care system.  

      Her family believes that there is no difference between a biological child and an adopted child, Kowalewski said. However, she realized she was ready to take that leap of faith and adopt after her father passed away in 2017.

        Like many others, Kowalewski’s adoption journey began through the foster care system in the State of Georgia. According to the Georgia Department of Human Services (GDHS), over 11,000 children are currently in the foster care system waiting to find their forever homes. 

Picture from Kowalewski's Facebook page.

Serenity was one of the 1,275 children who have been adopted since 2022, according to GDHS. This number highlights the need for future adoptive families in the state. 

         Serenity was 11-years-old when she found her forever home, but for Muller and her family, their daughter came into their hearts as a baby. 

           Muller, a public relations lecturer at Georgia Southern, also saw this need through her experience while working in law before coming to Georgia Southern. Muller always considered adoption to grow her family, even when she had gotten married to her husband John Muller in 2000. 

            Similarly to Kowalewski’s experience, Muller entered the adoption world through the foster care system, Muller said.  She and her husband started fostering children with the intent of adopting if there was ever a need. 

Photo courtesy of Lisa Muller

However, they found out they were expecting their biological son while preparing to become a foster family, she said. They then decided to put the idea of fostering on hold to adjust to their family's growth. 

            After raising their biological son, Muller and her husband decided to put the idea of fostering back on the table. For them, she stated that she was open to the idea of taking care of somebody’s child and loving all of them, even if they weren't her biological children.

      This mindset ultimately put their family in a position to adopt their daughter eight years ago. 

Although both professors have reached their goal of creating a family through adoption, they agreed on how complex the process of fostering and adopting is in the State of Georgia, not only for the parents but even for the children. 

        When Serenity first met her adoptive mother, she was unsure of her new home. She wasn’t scared to mention that she was nervous in the beginning, worrying the adoption wouldn’t go through.  Over time, Serenity warmed up to the idea that she was now in her forever home with her mother. 

        Although it was a life-changing moment for both the children and their adoptive parents, the two professors have also experienced a change in how they teach and care for students in the classroom. 

        Muller has implemented a more caring and understanding approach when interacting with her students in the classroom, she said. 

Photo courtesy of Lisa Muller

       “You don’t know the past, you don't know the background, you don’t always know where somebody’s been and what they've been through,” Muller said.  

Similarly, Kowalewski mentioned that she has realized that she is also more understanding of students' emotions and what occurs in their lives outside of Sanford—a quality that many of her students admire about her. 

       Both professors agreed that they are open to growing their families through adoption. For now, both families have decided to focus on raising their children before they add on. 

“Dealing with the questions and paperwork is not easy,” said Muller. “As well as the person themselves, as they grow into a family that they were not biologically connected to in the beginning, it is tough but worth it to give them the ability to grow and develop.” 

      But for the state of Georgia, according to GDHS, there is an urgent need for adoptive families for teens, sibling groups, and children with complex needs. 

      As for both professors, they hope their stories of finding family through adoption are inspiring to their colleagues and students, with a greater desire to shed light on understanding adoptive families better.