Joss Stone Shares Rocky Adoption Story On New Baby Boy, Bear
Joss Stone has a new reason to sing with joy — her newly adopted baby boy, Bear. The 37-year-old singer and her husband, Cody DaLuz, recently welcomed their third child together through adoption. This milestone wasn’t just a spur-of-the-moment decision; it was a dream they’ve held close to their hearts for years.
Speaking to PEOPLE about their journey, Joss shared, “It’s so amazing to actually finally be here, to have him here, because we have wanted to adopt for so long. When I first met Cody, that was what we spoke about in the first few weeks of us talking.”
The journey to meet Bear wasn’t smooth sailing. Along the way, Joss and Cody experienced heartbreak when previous matches fell through. “We’ve had moments where we were chosen, but we couldn’t get there in time. There’s been lots of things that have happened, and you start to feel like it’s not going to happen,” she said.
Despite the setbacks, Joss and Cody stayed resilient. Joss leaned on a mantra she repeated to herself during the hardest times: “She’s not my baby until she’s my baby.”
The long wait was worth it when they received the life-changing call that Bear was finally theirs. As Joss put it: “And then, we got that call and it’s just the most beautiful thing. He’s so sweet and his birth mother is so sweet. She could not be any nicer. It’s just like everything is perfect. We haven’t got to deal with a difficult situation. It’s all love. Everyone is just full of love for this little guy.”
Cody’s own adoption story also guided the couple through this journey. “He [Cody] has firsthand experience of how it feels to not know your mom, to not know your dad, to not know where you’re from, and we didn’t want that for our baby. So we put ourselves in a position where we can be chosen by the mom that is placing her child for adoption. So that way, it’s all love from every direction,” Joss stated.
Joss admits the experience wasn’t just about patience but also faith. According to her, adoption is one of those things “where you have to put yourself in the position where it’s possible and then pray.”
At home, Bear’s siblings had mixed reactions to the new addition. Violet, 3, embraced her big sister role with excitement. “She wanted to hold him and she wanted to feed him, and every time he cries she’s like, ‘Oh, okay, his pacifier!’ She’s trying to help me,” Joss shared. Two-year-old Shackleton, however, was more focused on his mom’s return.
“I had to stay in the hospital with Bear for a night and Shackleton, I think just really missed me. So he didn’t even notice the baby was there. He ran up to me and just gave me this big hug. I was like, ‘Look, you’ve got a brother! And he was like, ‘Okay, whatever,’” Joss recalled.
Bear, who was born 11 weeks premature, weighed just 4 pounds when Joss first met him, but he’s making great progress. “He almost weighs 6 lbs. now. Whereas when I first met him last week, he weighed 4 lbs,” she said, adding that his tiny lungs are still vulnerable, so she won’t be taking him on tour just yet.
Joss’s Christmas Symphony shows in Costa Mesa, California, on Dec. 20 and 21 will go on as planned, but Bear will stay home for now. “I can’t wait for the day he can come with me, but his health comes first,” she said.
Looking ahead, Joss and Cody hope Bear won’t be their last adopted child. “We want to adopt a bunch of kids…We just love babies. I always say, more kids, more love,” Joss beamed.
