A long-time Issaquah couple, Karen and Ted Madison, have received the Stella Mae Carmichael Award for adopting two children and providing foster care for 76 others over the years.

The award was presented by Amara on March 3. Amara (formerly Medina Children’s Services), is a Seattle-based nonprofit offering domestic adoption, foster care and all-options pregnancy counseling services,

The Stella Mae Carmichael award honors families who open their hearts and homes in exceptionally kind and selfless ways to children in foster care.

The Madisons adopted children as a way to grow their own family. They then went beyond that to care for 76 more children in need. Because their own children were a few weeks old before they could take them home, Karen knew this meant that someone else had cared for them, had held them, and had loved them for weeks before she could be their mom.

“I wanted my kids to know that there wasn’t a minute that went by when someone didn’t love them,” Karen said, adding that foster care was a way to pay-it-forward.

The couple now reside in Redmond.