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Bringing Up Bates couple Michael “Michaela” Bates and Brandon Keilen are hitting back at fervent questions about any potential plans to adopt their two foster sons.
“Life continues to be an adventure there, and I know somebody had made some comments somewhere in reference to an adoption choice,” Brandon, 36, began in a YouTube video uploaded Saturday, August 22, sharing an update on the couple’s journey as foster parents. “We’re loving the boys as long as we can, but that’s not something that’s in our court at this point in time.”
Michaela, 36, and Brandon have been married since 2015, later becoming foster parents of two boys in 2025.
“I feel like we get a lot of comments through social media, you know, ‘I hope the boys stay with you forever’ or, ‘It’s time for you to send them back home,’” Michaela added on Saturday. “This is our first time doing it, but we’re just a home to love the boys as long as they need it.”
She continued, “I mean, it’s not really up to us what happens. We’re just here to be here for them and to support them.”
Michaela, one of Kelly Jo and Gil Bates’ 19 children, further acknowledged that both she and her husband are still learning about the foster care system.
“It’s one of those things that if you’re not familiar with foster care, as we weren’t as much before, you just don’t know,” she said. “Obviously, there’s so much that we don’t share about their story because it’s their story. So, we do appreciate the encouragement and we appreciate the prayers and we certainly feel them cuz some days are long and some days are hard.”
Despite the hardships, Michaela and Brandon merely want to be “here for [their foster sons] as long as they need.”
“We hope that they feel loved and valued and like they belong for however long they are here,” she noted, before Brandon added that the Department of Child Services (DCS) issues final rulings about potential adoption placements.
Neither Michaela nor Brandon presently know whether adoption is in their future.
“We’re just available to love the boys as long as that’s necessary,” Brandon stated. “We don’t know where their story is going to go, where this is going to end up, but we are very grateful for this season of time. It’s changed us, it’s changed me [and] it’s changed how we’ve had to live life in relation to decisions we make as a couple.”
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