When Irene Clements and her husband, Billy, decided to create their family through foster care and adoption, they threw themselves into what became a lifelong labor of love. Irene and Billy fostered 127 children over the many decades of their marriage. They adopted four children, including sweet Melissa who is a special-needs member of the family, and they “adopted by heart” another child who did not want a formal adoption, but who is theirs, and they are hers, for life nevertheless.
In addition to their five children, they have 23 grandchildren and a growing flock of great-grandchildren that, to date, totals five with another on the way. Not bad for a couple who was told that they could never have children.
