Adoptive mother of 13 in Baltimore wouldn't have it any other way

Published: 2003-12-04

BALTIMORE (CNS) -- If Mary Maureen "Moe" Shanklin skips just one day of doing the laundry, "it's over." After all, to run a household with 14 children (13 of whom are adopted), she needs to do a minimum of five loads a day. "If I were to not do the laundry, then when I get up tomorrow, I would have 10 loads of laundry instead of five," said Shanklin, a parishioner of St. Edward in Baltimore, who begins each day at 4:30 a.m. Some might call Shanklin crazy for adopting 13 children. But she said she would do it again "in a minute, in a heartbeat." The full-time executive director of Community Support Services for the Deaf in Baltimore County has two biological children -- Patrick, 15, and Kelly, 23; Kelly no longer lives at home. Shanklin adopted her first child in 1987. Since then, her racially diverse family has grown to include 12 more adopted children.

Copyright (c) 2003 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .