Parents Deemed Unfit To Care For Twins With Genetic Deformities Leading Nurse To Adopt Them

Mar 11, 2019

Caring for newborns is a lot of work no matter what. But when infants are born with genetic deformities, it can take even more work to care for them. Nurses, especially, are known for their kind nature and care when looking after babies. In this story from 2017, one particular nurse from Minnesota took this compassion to an entirely different level.

Linda Trepanier is a Minnesota nurse who is also a full-time medical foster care provider. The nurse showed the world just how much she loves children in need when in 2017 she adopted twin boys Matthew and Marshall who were born with Pfeiffer syndrome, who she had fostered for nearly three years.

This rare genetic deformity causes the skull to not go through the normal growth patterns while still developing inside the womb. Because of this syndrome, the sweet twins were born with large and misshapen heads, bulging eyes, fibrous joints and deformities of the hands and feet.

The reason Trepanier came into their life in the first place is that, sadly, their parents were deemed unfit to look after them. Matthew and Marshall were taken away from their parents shortly after they were born in 2014, as their parents were deemed to be unfit to care for them. This left the boys without a home.

However, Trepanier, who was 58-years-old at the time she was interviewed in 2017, agreed to foster the boys until a permanent home could be found. She was the perfect choice for the job after she'd already fostered 16 kids. Trepanier is also a parent and grandparent, which has given the kind nurse an abundance of experience with small children. 

Matthew and Marshall were just 4 months old when they went to live with Trepanier in 2014. She took on the job well aware of the special needs and required care around the clock that the twins required. This included constant monitoring of breathing tubes and body temperature. In an interview with the New York Post, Trepanier spoke of how quickly she fell in love with the boys. She said:

"When I first saw the twins I thought they were the most adorable little things I had ever seen ... They had these big heads and tiny bodies. They weighed 8lbs but their bodies were the size of newborns, so most of the weight was because of their heads. I just fell in love with them. I knew in my heart that they were my boys."

She was such a good fit for the boys that social services asked her to adopt one of them. But rather than just taking in one of the twins, she decided to adopt both Matthew and Marshall. She said in the same interview:

"People struggle to understand. They say, 'Oh, those kids are going to tie you down,' but I have learned to live with it. I just feel privileged that I have been able to make a real, positive difference to Matthew and Marshall's lives."

She added:

"They are a lot of hard work but they are also a lot of fun — they are the happiest and smiliest. Almost always if one twin laughs the other twin will automatically laugh as well." 

She added:

"Everybody just falls in love with them."

Trepanier says she doesn't "know what would have happened if I hadn’t looked after them. They would have tried to find them another foster home for them, but who knows? Their condition means it would be hard for a normal parent to take look after them." She added:

"I don’t know many moms who could do what I do, but my career as a nurse prepared me well. My family and friends think I’m crazy because I’m a 58-year-old and I should be looking forward to retirement, but I couldn’t care less about that."

In the first three years of their life, while Trepanier fostered them, the twins had three operations to reshape their skulls. By the time the story went viral in 2017, Trepanier's adoption of the then-3-year-old twins was finalized. And she couldn't have been happier. She spoke further with the publication about her work as a nurse and how it prepared her to become a foster mother. She left her career back in 1986 and since then has fostered 16 children. She told the New York Post:

"When I was a little girl I always thought I wanted to be a nurse and take care of babies and kids. It has always been my passion and once I started doing the foster care and teaching other nurses how to provide care I just felt like it was something I was born to do."

Additionally, Trepanier has three biological children of her own who are all adults now and another three adopted children besides the twins. Meanwhile, Matthew and Marshall, who are turning 8 this year, appear to be doing great. In a Facebook photo that Trepanier shared in Nov. 2021, the twins were dressed up in adorable Winnie the Pooh-themed costumes. 

What do you think about Linda Trepanier fostering and then adopting little Matthew and Marshall? After you have read this heartwarming story, be sure to spread the joy to everyone else that you know. The kindness of Linda should be spread to the world.