North Dakota has experienced a remarkable increase in adoption rates, with public agency adoptions rising nearly 34% from 2024 to 2025. This surge follows a restructuring initiative aimed at streamlining the adoption process. The goal is clear: to ensure that every child has a stable home. The success story of Jon and Julia Asprey, a couple from Fargo, exemplifies this positive trend.
A Family’s Journey to Adoption
Initially, Jon, 31, and Julia Asprey, 29, did not plan to adopt. They began their journey as respite foster parents, temporarily caring for children in need. However, their experience led them to take a young boy into their home full-time. “By that time, we just loved and adored him so much and couldn’t imagine life without him. Very organic, is how it all happened,” Julia said.
The couple welcomed the boy into their lives when he was just 4 years old, coinciding with the news of Julia’s pregnancy. In January 2024, they formally adopted him, making him a sibling to their biological daughter, who is now 3 years old. They are also expecting another child in May 2024. Jon expressed the couple’s motivation: “It’s an opportunity to give a kid what they deserve. They deserve to have a stable life and a sense of belonging and a family unit that is safe and loving and trustworthy.”
In an effort to protect their children’s privacy, the Aspreys requested that their children not be named or shown fully in photographs. They noted that their adopted son maintains contact with his biological siblings, who live with another family.
Statewide Adoption Initiatives and Results
According to Julie Hoffman, adoption services administrator at the North Dakota Health and Human Services Department, the increase in adoptions is partly due to reforms implemented at the start of 2024. The redesign initiative aimed to reduce bureaucratic hurdles, leading to a decrease in average assessment times by 23 days. The streamlined process has proven beneficial, particularly for Native American tribes, where adoptions of children in tribal custody have increased by over 53% in the past year.
This progress is attributed to enhanced collaboration between tribes and programs like Adults Adopting Special Kids (AASK), which is managed by Catholic Charities North Dakota. Tesia Miller, lead AASK adoption specialist, reported that nearly 330 adoptions were finalized in the last fiscal year. Most of these were identified adoptions, where children are unable to return to their biological families but have relatives or foster parents ready to adopt.
Despite these advancements, there remain between 20 and 30 “waiting kids” in North Dakota each year, who are eligible for adoption but lack identified families. Miller emphasized the need for recruitment efforts to find families for these children, noting that sometimes relatives are unwilling to adopt due to safety concerns.
The Aspreys view their adopted son as their first child, having taken him in full-time nine months before their biological daughter was born. Julia shared, “I’m very glad it worked out that way, because that time that we got to spend, just the two of us and him, was very special.” Jon remarked on the transition their son has made within their family, noting, “It’s been interesting to watch him go from the baby of the family to now needing to be the role model and the leader of the kids.”
Miller emphasized the overarching mission of AASK: “We want every kid to have a home. We want to one day say there are no kids waiting for their forever family.” With the recent increase in adoptions, North Dakota is making significant strides toward this goal, offering hope to families and children alike.
