Charleston couple Allison and Bo Cordle are the kind of people willing to take bold chances to create the most fulfilling and meaningful lives possible. Their courage, sense of adventure and open hearts led them to sail the ocean, spend time in dozens of foreign countries, and foster – and ultimately adopt – five beautiful children.
The Cordles were the very first Lowcountry family licensed as foster parents by Epworth after we opened our Charleston office in 2019. At the time Allison Cordle was working as a project manager for Microsoft, and Bo was creating Emmy-winning video animations for televised sporting events like the Super Bowl and the Olympics. The couple had settled in Charleston in their late 30s after three years living aboard a sailboat in the Caribbean. Prior to their marriage, Allison had spent six years organizing Christian mission projects aimed at ending human trafficking and halting the spread of disease. Her job took her to forty different countries, to communities marked by dire poverty. She said the work deepened and expanded her understanding of God because time and time again she saw the power of prayer and love in overcoming seemingly hopeless challenges.
But the couple say their most rewarding, soul-enriching and surprising journey to date started with their decision to become foster parents with Epworth.
“Once we settled in Charleston, we had everything we wanted materially,” Allison recalled. “But I started feeling like my life did not have a lot of purpose. It was a grand old, ‘you were made for more’ situation.”
The Cordles talked about having children. But both were near 40 at the time.
“I had encountered so many children around the world who needed families,” she said. “I held babies whose mamas begged me to take them home. It was inconceivable to me that I would go great lengths and expense to bring a child into the world when there were so many children in need already here.”
Allison prayed for guidance. In 2019, TV news coverage of the border crisis riveted her attention and changed the course of the couple’s lives. Images of children being held without their parents broke her heart, and she felt a powerful call to help them.
“We could try that,” he said. “Or we could help kids here in South Carolina.”
Given the complexities of the border conflict, Allison realized his suggestion made sense.
Allison has learned to listen to the still quiet voice inside of her. When Bo came home that day, she announced that they were going to Texas to rescue some of the children. Bo listened thoughtfully.
Coincidentally, she had recently made friends with a woman at her gym who was setting up Epworth’s new foster care office in Charleston. Allison approached her friend to learn about the foster care process, and in the months that followed, her friend helped the Cordles apply and win approval to be foster parents.
Soon, the Cordles took in two siblings. Both the little girl, Abby, and her younger brother, Alex, were under the age of 5.
“Within days of the children coming to live with us, we realized they had lice, we all came down with a stomach virus, and we were evacuated from our home because of a hurricane,” Allison said.
The Cordles dealt with all of it. The couple took in a third child, an infant named Eliana, a few months later. Within three years, they had taken in two additional children, Leighla and Eli. Eli was the biological younger brother of Eliana.
years would challenge anyone. But in addition to love and stability, some of the children in the Cordle’s care needed extra help recovering from trauma.
“It took us awhile to wrap our heads around the fact that traditional parenting doesn’t always work with children who have lived with trauma,” she said. “One of our children is volatile, so we’ve had some tough moments. The typical consequences don’t always work with these children.”
Allison learned about a trauma parenting model called Trust-Based Relational Intervention, which Epworth endorses. Allison was so impressed by the results she obtained in applying this approach, she became a trainer herself and now works with Flourishing Families of South Carolina to train parents and organizations in this method.
The Cordles had assumed that all the children would eventually be reunited with their birth parents. Instead, over time, all five became available for adoption. The Cordles did not hesitate.
“We are really enjoying our kids, and we have fun with them” Allison said of their life today. “Bo and I sometimes look at each other and laugh at how far we’ve come.”
Today Abby is 9, Alex is 8, Eliana is 5, Leighla is 3 and Eli is 1. Allison said that building this beautiful family together with her husband has been deeply gratifying.
“Our little family will last longer than we will, and if this is our legacy, then gosh, man, we are so lucky because they are incredible, the things they have overcome,” she said. “It is an honor just being a witness to their changes, growth, maturity and healing.”
She said they were especially proud of being able to give the children siblings.
“For most people, siblings are the longest relationship you’ll ever have in your life,” Allison said. “The other day Leighla, who is our 3-year-old, came in from swimming lessons and she had a little ribbon for graduating from one level to the next. She was so excited, she was yelling, and I watched the other kids celebrate her like she had won the Olympics. So much whooping and hollering! Bo and I get a lot wrong, but we got the sibling thing right.”
As a Christian and a mom, Allison is grateful she and Bo have been able to influence the trajectory of the children’s lives away from generational addiction and other struggles. She remains in awe at the challenges, joy, adventures, and spiritual and emotional enrichment that make up the typical foster family journey.
“Bo and I could never have imagined some of the hard things we would face in fostering,” Allison said. “Nor could we have imagined in our wildest dreams, the great things, the joy we have in our lives because of it.”
If you are curious about the rewards and realities of fostering, learn more by contacting Epworth’s Foster Care staff at (803) 256-7394 or visiting maybeme.org.
