Citizen Spotlight: Rubino Family

Sometimes life’s biggest challenges — and its greatest rewards — arrive seemingly out of nowhere.

Such was the case with the Rubino family of Canton, who, a little under four years ago, went from being a family of five to a family of seven virtually overnight.

The two newest Rubinos, Brayden and Kaylee, are pictured with their older siblings: (l-r) Peter, Maria and Joseph

The two new additions, a boy named Brayden and his little sister Kaylee, are about to turn 5 and 4 and have been settled into their new home for quite some time. But they were both still babies when their biological mother, a relative of Linda Rubino’s, telephoned the family asking for help. It was 2009, and the Rubinos’ youngest child, Maria, had just graduated from Canton High School and was getting ready to start college in the fall.

“It all fell into our lap somehow,” recalled Linda, who had just started a new career as a preschool teacher and certainly didn’t plan to take on two more children, let alone two infants she had never met and knew very little about.

The Rubinos, in fact, had barely seen or spoken with the young mother in years until she called “out of the blue one day” in desperate need of assistance. At the time, Linda was caring for her own mother, who had lung cancer, and both of her parents had recently moved in with them.

Despite all of these complications, Linda said the family didn’t even hesitate when asked to assume temporary custody of 3-week-old Kaylee, and it was only a matter of weeks before they welcomed 15-month-old Brayden into their home as well.

“To be perfectly honest, it was never even a question,” said Linda, echoing the feelings of her husband, Peter, and their three young-adult children. “Once they get into your heart, there was nothing you could do.”

Despite their good intentions, however, Linda said the first few years with their two new children tested everyone’s resolve, as both of them struggled to adjust to their new environment — particularly Brayden, who displayed aggressive behavior and an assortment of developmental delays.

“It’s been a trial, and it’s a lot of work,” said Linda. “There were days, especially early on, when I wanted to give up, but I just didn’t have the heart to do it.”

She described life with Brayden as unpredictable, stressful, and exhausting, adding that it “can go three steps ahead but then five steps back” at any given moment. At the same time, Linda has seen major improvements over the past two years — thanks in large part, she said, to a team of behavioral health specialists at the Riverside center in Needham.

“We were very smart in getting help from the very beginning; we didn’t let it fester,” she said. “It is something that’s never going to go away, but we can deal with it and control it with medication and therapy.”

Linda said there was a time when she was angry about the decision that she made, especially during the first few years when she was also dealing with the losses of her mother and father, who passed away within a year of each other.

“The kids got me through it,” Linda explained, referring to her three oldest: Peter, Joe and Maria. “I don’t know if I could have done it without them. It’s been hard on them too, because their whole lives have changed.”

Both Joe, 23, and Maria, 21, are in college but living at home, and Peter, 26, recently moved to Plainville with his fiancée, Jessica Lloyd, who teaches fifth grade at the Luce School in Canton.

Linda said all three of her children make great big siblings and are always willing to help, and they make a point to remind both Brayden and Kaylee that they are Rubinos now — a distinction that became official with a formal adoption ceremony this past September.

“They are a truly amazing family who would do anything for each other,” noted one family friend. Another described Peter and Linda as “wonderful people” who “put so much of themselves into making a better life for their children.”

Then again, Linda said people on the outside looking in don’t always see the struggles they endure. “It took us a lot of fighting and yelling at each other,” she said. “It didn’t happen overnight.”

“You also lose a lot of things,” added Linda, who was forced to quit her job in order to take care of Brayden full time and has never received any assistance from the state.

Their fortunes have started to improve now that Linda has opened her own in-home travel business (pjmvacations.com), although she’s only “just getting off the ground,” due in part to all of the responsibilities that go along with raising two little ones.

Yet even with all the challenges they have faced, Linda said they are glad they chose to adopt Brayden and Kaylee, and they are grateful for the support of so many people — from family members and friends, to the kids’ teachers at the Rodman and Cole-Harrington centers, to the doctors and therapists at Riverside.

Most of all, Linda said they are glad to be a close-knit, loving family, and she cherishes those moments where everyone can be together, such as the upcoming cruise she has planned for this summer.

“Every year we take them on a cruise as a family, all of us,” she said. “The kids love it and they have a ball. And I love it too, because we just spend so much time with them.”

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