Published: November 09, 2009 12:06 am         

Valley couple adopts children, outlook on ‘forever family’

Luken family has raised ‘an even dozen’ kids, including their own

TERRE HAUTE — When Butch Luken built the ranch house on Linden Street in 1979, it was about 1,400 square feet. Today, it’s about 3,000.

“Everything expanded,” he said Sunday afternoon.

“We’ve expanded.”

November is National Adoption Month, and Reba Luken remembers the couple’s first foray into the world of adoption when, in 1995, they brought three siblings ages 2, 5 and 13 into their home. The siblings were distantly related to Butch through his ex-wife, and at first, the move was meant to be temporary. But when the birth parents’ rights were revoked, the Lukens took steps to legally adopt them. Then came along another 2-year-old boy. All totaled, the couple has adopted five children over the years while raising Reba’s four biological children and those from Butch’s previous marriage. “It makes an even dozen,” she said, verbally untangling the family tree. “We wouldn’t change anything. We love all the kids,” she said.

Luken, 50, works for the Children’s Bureau as well as the Indiana Foster Care Adoption Association (IFCAA), a nonprofit membership organization for foster and adoptive parents in Indiana. The group is currently coordinating a project in Simon Malls across the state, heightening awareness of the need for adoptive parents.

Children ages 10 to 17, sibling groups and African-Americans are those most in need of homes, she said, explaining that most parents want a newborn baby and are a little reluctant to bring two or tree older siblings into their home.

Luken recalled her days of having six children under the age of 5 in the house at once, as well as having three in diapers at the same time. “I was buying by the case, not the box,” she said.

Despite the work involved, Luken said providing a home for children is important. “Adoption is permanency for the child,” she said, explaining the difference between it and temporary foster care. “To be part of a forever family is something every child is entitled to.”

Now the family has seven teenagers under one roof and they joked about electronic surveillance. They’ve stopped taking in new children as theirs continue to grow. Their oldest is 35 years old.

“I only feel 35,” Reba said.

Butch, 57, wearing his Bears shirt, said he’s ready for the transition. “Yeah, when I’m 90, I’m done. I want to party.”

Casey Chritchlow posed for a picture by the pool table with the family she’s known since age 2. “I like having a big family,” the sophomore at Terre Haute North Vigo High School said.

Her sister, Erin Luken, also a sophomore there, said this is what she’s known her whole life. “It’s fun. I’m never bored.”

Brian Boyce can be reached at 812-231-4253 or brian.boyce@tribstar.com.