Bernie and Diane Lierow wanted to expand their family with a girl after four of their five boys had grown up and gone away. Since the couple liked being around kids, they wanted to offer their home to a less fortunate kid and attended an adoption event. That’s where their lives would be irrevocably altered as a result of a single choice based on a single image.
Diane saw a black-and-white photograph of a little girl who was unable to attend the occasion. She was captivated by the picture of the girl’s face right away. Caseworkers, on the other hand, did not react to Diane’s interest in the youngster in the manner she had hoped.
Despite the couple’s warnings that the girl in the image wasn’t right and that there was something wrong with her, they continued. That’s when they discovered the horrifying reality of the little girl’s horrible mistreatment. In fact, her sad backstory was so horrible that caseworkers declared the youngster unadoptable. Diane and Bernie, on the other hand, were unfazed. Their desire would transform their lives forever.
Diane persevered, certain that the kid was supposed to be her adopted daughter based on only one photograph of her. Sarah and Bernie started to discover more about the kid’s background and tale while caseworkers encouraged them to consider alternative possibilities, but the pair couldn’t shake their feelings for the youngster. They quickly discovered that the child’s name was Danielle and that she had been discovered living in filth in a Florida house. Danielle was a wild kid at the age of six since her surroundings were so awful.
Danielle, according to reports, had never left the filthy and bug-infested house. She couldn’t speak and couldn’t even consume solid meals. The officer who discovered Danielle claimed her situation was the worst he’d ever seen. He has been in law enforcement for 27 years, and this is by far, bar none, the worst example of child maltreatment he has ever seen, according to Detective Mark Holste.
Danielle was placed in a group home after being discovered, and her parents lost all parental rights as a result of their excessive negligence. The kid was subsequently placed for adoption, and despite knowing the sad truth about her past and being cautioned constantly not to do so, the Lierows chose to adopt Danielle nonetheless. The ruling drew national attention to them.
Diane and Bernie saw Danielle at her school numerous times before the adoption and claim they understood parenting her would be difficult, but they were prepared to take on the task and risk to provide the mistreated child with a better life. And, thank God, they did since Danielle has already gone well beyond all of the expectations that any of the professionals had for her at the time that she was discovered, as Diane put it.
Danielle, now a teen, lives on a Tennessee farm with her adoptive parents, where she not only attends school but is learning things that many people never imagined possible. She is even conversing, although primarily nonverbally. Moreover, despite the fact that communication is still a challenge for Danielle, she will sometimes greet Bernie with a “Hello Dad” and has even uttered, “I love you,” to her parents, demonstrating that she’s arrived at the spot where she was intended to be, as Diane put it.
Danielle made progress when specialists said she would never or could not, thanks to Bernie and Diane’s perseverance and devotion. The previously wild girl is now enjoying a life that many believed was simply impossible as two adults didn’t give up on her or shy away from the difficulty that parenting such a wounded youngster would provide.
If there was ever any question that love can overcome everything, Bernie and Diane Lierow demonstrated it when they took in Danielle against all warnings, loved her like their own through all of the trials, didn’t give up, and watched God do the rest. There are angels among us, and occasionally, like the Lierows, individuals decide to be the miracle that someone else has hoped for.
