Hello, we are Stafford and Kenny, a happily married couple in our 30s, from San Jose, California. We’d like to start by saying thank you for the opportunity to share our story with you.

Although we’ve never been faced with a decision like the one in front of you, we hope to be as supportive as possible throughout this process. If you select our family to raise your baby, we promise to provide them with unconditional love, a supportive family environment, laughter every day, and the freedom and support to become the person that they want to be.

About Us

We met six years ago at a charity event (Toys for Tots) in San Francisco. The invitation for the event said “jeans are not allowed”, and we were the only people in the room wearing jeans anyway! We fell in love and immediately went on our first date. Three years later, Stafford proposed to Kenny beneath the Northern Lights in Alaska, and we tied the knot at San Francisco City Hall in 2014.

Kenny grew up in New Jersey, and is a Financial Analyst at Apple. He loves to spend his time playing video or board games, reading a good book, or singing in the shower (when no one else is around).

Stafford grew up in Australia and started his career as a software engineer. He spent his early life traveling the world (30 countries!) teaching people to use computer software, including NASA, the Pentagon, the United Nations, and Harvard University. He also spent 3 months volunteering in South Africa teaching English and computer skills to students at an elementary school. In 2012 he wrote a book, and in 2013 he joined the education department at Apple as a Project Manager. He loves to spend his spare time doing yoga, gardening, and knitting. Stafford’s job is extremely flexible and allows him to work from home whenever necessary.

Together, we enjoy going camping, going out for nice dinners, and taking our dogs for long walks.

Stafford is the outgoing partner in the family, and loves to constantly learn new hobbies. Kenny is the calm (but goofy) partner, who prefers to relax and chill out. Together, we balance each other nicely, and we really believe that this balanced family environment will create a nurturing atmosphere for a child.

Our Home

We are very fortunate to own a house with a yard in a residential neighborhood of the San Francisco Bay Area. Our spare bedroom is often used by Kenny’s mom when she stays at our house. We have a large office adjacent to the master bedroom, which we will convert into a nursery when a baby joins our family. The nursery looks onto a courtyard that is often visited by hummingbirds, and has a beautiful view of mountains in the distance. We have large open areas in the house that we are looking forward to turning into play spaces.

Stafford has planted our own mini-orchard in the back yard, including apples, strawberries, tomatoes, oranges, plums, grapes, avocados, watermelons, and cherries (which are Kenny’s favorite). Stafford usually spends his weekends tending to the garden or baking bread, while Kenny spends the day cooking homemade pasta sauce, or beef brisket using his family’s secret recipe. We look forward to family meals and nights at home playing board games with our child, and family camping adventures.

We live right across the road from a large park, which includes a children’s playground and several walking tracks. On weekends, we take our dogs (Starbuck and Apollo) for long walks through the park. We both really enjoy being out in nature. Apollo is a 2 year old mixed breed dog that we rescued from a shelter in 2014, and Starbuck is a 1 year old mixed breed dog that we rescued from a shelter in 2016. Our dogs are gentle souls, and everyone who meets them immediately falls in love with them.

Stafford About Kenny (aka “Papa”)

The day that we decided that Kenny would be called “papa”, I remember Kenny telling me that his heart fluttered. He describes himself as wanting to be a dad like Phil Dunphy from “Modern Family” – fun, goofy, and his kid’s best friend. Kenny plays video games in his spare time, and I have an image of him teaching our son or daughter to play with him, which makes my heart melt for them to have a hobby in common. He looks forward to doing science experiments with our child on weekends, and encouraging our child to use their imaginations to tell stories, just like he did when he was young. Kenny is also a dog fanatic, which we discovered when we spent two years volunteering at the San Francisco SPCA. I’m excited to be on this journey to grow our family with Kenny because I have complete faith that he will be a perfect papa.

Kenny About Stafford (aka “Daddy”)

Stafford is easily the most loving and dedicated man I've had the pleasure of meeting. He is constantly thinking of different ways to make our family life better, from the small ideas (growing beautiful flowers to cut and bring inside weekly) to the epic projects that are surprising and wonderful! I am such a happy-go-lucky person that I sometimes skip right past important details or activities, but Stafford’s attention to detail and intelligence give me peace of mind, and I know that I can rely on him to catch anything that I've missed. One of the things I admire most about Stafford is his willingness to embrace change. He's not quite as goofy as I am, but over the years, it's been so nice to see him taking the chance to be more spontaneous and silly. Nowadays, he'll surprise me with silly faces, and it always makes me laugh. I spend most of our time together laughing happily, as his silliness combined with his amazingly dry sense of humor sends me into fits of laughter. I can’t wait to see Stafford covered in goop after his latest science experiment with our child!

Our Family

Stafford’s extended family lives near Sydney in Australia. He tries to visit them once every year, and we enjoy going on family vacations together.

Kenny’s mom is a retired school teacher, and lives 10 minutes away from our house in San Jose. She visits at least once a week for dinner, and is also an avid gardener. Kenny’s dad lives in New Jersey with Kenny’s stepmom. Kenny’s dad is an amazing cook and makes the best French Toast in history, so we try to visit New Jersey for Thanksgiving whenever possible. Kenny’s brother lives in Los Angeles with their new baby girl, and we are making a habit of visiting our beautiful niece every few months. We are excited to add to the family ourselves!

Our Community

Our house is located in a cul de sac with almost no traffic, and we’re situated away from all main roads. With the exception of a lovely elderly couple who live next door, almost every one of the 16 houses in our cul de sac has children under the age of 15. Every day after school, it warms our hearts to see the kids playing on our street together. We also have free access to a community pool that is 6 minutes walk from our house, and Stafford, a keen swimmer himself, can’t wait to teach our child how to swim.

It was important for us to find a home in a community with a great school system for our child. Our local elementary school (Los Alamitos Elementary) is just 7 minutes walk from our house, and is rated 10/10 on www.greatschools.org. Our local middle school (Castillero Middle) is a 3 minute drive, and is rated 8/10. Our high school (Pioneer High) is 6 minutes drive, and is rated 9/10. We can’t wait to be those “involved” parents at our child’s schools.

Our Dreams of Parenting

We value communication, honesty, inclusiveness, courtesy, and mutual respect. We believe that every man, woman, and child deserves respect, and that every individual deserves the opportunity to be truly who they are. We want to guide our child to make the best choices possible. We believe that good parenting centers on unconditional love, patience, empathy, and consistency. We appreciate that every child deserves to know where they came from, which is why we’ve chosen to become first-time parents through open adoption. If you share these same values, we’d love to hear from you.

Stafford and Kenny