Junior Sam Andersen has a uniquely structured family. Sam has only one biological sibling out of the five he calls family. Sam, 17, has a biological sister, Mercy, 15, an adopted brother, Kiya, 11, and an adopted sister, Chessa, 14, both from Ethiopia, and a foster brother, Cristian, 18, from Honduras, who shares a room with Andersen.

“Living with siblings from different parts of the world, you get to experience different cultures,” he said.

He experiences these cultural differences through going out and eating new foods and meeting other people through his siblings.

“You also learn about other countries and get to understand the world much better,” Andersen said.

Sam has yet to visit the places where his siblings once lived, but his parents have traveled to Ethiopia and his sisters are going there this summer.

“It’s kind of funny, I’ve actually been to like 13 countries, just not those countries,” he said.

Sam said that his family was motivated to adopt and take in a foster child because of their joy in helping others.

“They love helping people and knew that they could help more people, and helping children in need was the biggest way to make a difference” Andersen said.

Sam’s family has no plans for adopting more children but providing a Foster home to children in need is still a possibility.

“Five kids with two being adopted and one being fostered is quite a handful!” he said.

Sam said that when he is older, he may possibly choose to adopt like his family did.

“I definitely have a special place in my heart for adoption.”