Joss Stone Gets Candid About 'Difficult' Adoption Journey After Welcoming Son Bear with Husband Cody DaLuz (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Joss Stone/Instagram (2)

Joss Stoneis opening up about her rocky journey to adopting her newborn son Bear with her husband Cody DaLuz.

“It’s so amazing to actually finally be here, to have him here, because we have wanted to adopt for so long,” the newly-minted mom of three tells PEOPLE, adding, “When I first met Cody, that was what we spoke about in the first few weeks of us talking.”

“We’ve had it in our dreams for such a long time and we’ve been trying to adopt for over a year and a half. And we’ve had some adoptions fall through,” Stone explains. “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.”

“And then, we got that call,” she remembers fondly, “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.”

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Before meeting Bear’s birth mom, Stone and Daluz matched with multiple families that fell through — including one experience she says was “terrible” with a birth mom who put up a “whole facade.”

Despite the difficult scenario, Stone and DaLuz picked themselves back up and continued their search for a new addition to their family, because as parents in the adoption process, Stone says, “We have to be strong. And the second we are weak, take a minute, wipe your tears, take a deep breath, stand up tall and walk forward. That’s the most important thing.”

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Joss Stone and her kids Violet and Shackelton.Joss Stone/Instagram

Joss Stone/Instagram

After bringing Bear home for the first time, Violet “was very excited and very happy to be big sister,” the mom of three says. “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 Stone.Lorne Thomson/Redferns

Lorne Thomson/Redferns

On Dec. 20 and 21, Stone will be traveling to Costa Mesa, Calif. to perform tracks from her albumMerry Christmas, Loveduring a Christmas Symphony show. Unfortunately, as Bear was born “11 weeks premature,” she tells PEOPLE she can’t take him with her on the road. “His tiny little lungs are quite vulnerable.”

Luckily, Bear is “coming along quickly,” the musician says. “He almost weighs 6 lbs. now. Whereas when I first met him last week, he weighed 4 lbs.”

This isn’t the end of the road for Stone and Daluz on their adoption journey. “We want to adopt a bunch of kids,” she says. “So hopefully he won’t be the only one in this family that’s adopted.”

“We just love babies. I always say, more kids, more love,” Stone tells PEOPLE. “They’re just little rays of sunshine and they deserve all the love that we can give them.”

source: people.com