BEING a mum can be tough at times, but imagine trying to raise kids who are only a few years younger than you.
One mum, however, has revealed that she is barely a decade older than her kids and cruel trolls now claim she’ll be a grandma by 30.
While her family might not be conventional, Tasia Taylor doesn’t seem to care.
Despite being only 24 years old, she is already the proud mum to two kids in their teens and her youngest boy is just 8 years younger than her.
Her growing brood now includes 16-year-old Tamiray, Rory, 14, her brother Isaiah, 12, and 2-month-old Ashtyn Rose.
Before you start scratching your head wondering how that is possible, there is a surprisingly simple explanation.
Tasia and her husband Drew, 26, were both newly married when they started looking into foster care and starting a family.
Though they thought they’d end up caring for younger children, that wasn’t quite what happened as the teachers explained.
Appearing on an episode of Truly’s My Extraordinary Family, Tasia admitted: “We didn’t know that they would even let us take a teenager.”
It wasn’t long until the couple were paired with Rory, 14, who also happened to be a student in Tasia’s class.
Though the foster placement was meant to be temporary, they later received a call saying that Rory’s younger brother, Isaiah, was in urgent need of somewhere to stay.
Desperate not to separate the teen from her sibling, the kind-hearted teachers also took in the 12-year-old.
This is despite him being just 8 years her junior.
Their family was far from complete though.
Having already opened their home to two children, they then decided to welcome 16-year-old Tamiray – Tasia’s cousin.
“My grandmother was raising her and now she’s very ill, she has cancer,” revealed the 24-year-old.
She continued: “We were just going to pursue legal guardianship but after we adopted the two kids it was really important to Tay that she was adopted.
“We actually just adopted her a few weeks ago.”
However, there was one surprise addition to the family, baby Ashtyn Rose – the couple’s only biological child.
“We went from zero to four in less than two years….we were a little overwhelmed,” teased Drew in the short documentary.
Sadly, not everyone has been so expecting of the unusual family.
As Tasia started to share her family’s story on TikTok, they were relentlessly targeted by trolls on the app – who would leave endless cruel comments.
Though she’d tried to raise awareness of fostering and adopting, Tasia was inundated with some users claiming that they were ‘too young’ to raise their kids.
These aren’t the comments that hurt Tasia though.
“It’s not really about the age…I think that we are really mature for our age,” she explained, saying: “The worst comments that we’ve gotten have been from people assuming that Drew is ‘gross’ or doing things with our kids.
“Makes me so deeply upset to even hear that…it also makes me wonder where their heart is?”
While these might sting, the mum-of-four doesn’t dwell as she has got her hands full raising her four kids.
How does adoption work?
In the UK, there is lengthy process involved with adopting a child and it can take up to six months for the paperwork to be finalised.
To even be considered, you have to meet the following criteria:
- You must be over 21
- You must be a legal resident of the UK for at least 12 months.
- No criminal convictions – especially any related to the endangerment of children. This applies to everyone your household.
You will also have to go through an inital background check and assesment, which will consider whether you are the right fit for adoption.
Potenital parents will also have undergo training and a process to match them with the right child.