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Get Scouted Scouting CareersJess Rementer always has had her priorities in order.
“My priorities have always been family first, school, softball and friends,” the 2018 National Scouting Report softball prospect wrote in her personal message to college coaches.
Those who know Jess, a sophomore at Harry S Truman High School in Levittown, PA, realize why family always has been her top priority. She learned the importance of family at a very young age when her parents, Sharon and Mark, opened their modest four-bedroom, two-bath, 1,500-square-foot home in suburban Philadelphia to their first of 13 foster children.
During the past 12 years, the Rementers have parented as many as six foster children at one time in addition to their two biological children — Kristie, 21, and Jess, 16. In all, they have welcomed six boys and seven girls of different races and nationalities. The family adopted two of those children — Colleen, 14, and Kelly, 13 — in 2009.
“It certainly hasn’t been easy,” said Sharon, food services director at a local nursing home. “All of the children have had special needs or behavioral issues. We have helped many of them make significant changes in their lives.”
“These kids needed a home,” said Mark, a manager for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA). “They needed consistency in their lives. We’ve been able to provide that.”
The Rementers hoped to raise several of their own children. However, Sharon was diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes in her 20s. When she was pregnant with Jess, she said her blood sugar became “out of control.” During delivery, Jess cut off Sharon’s blood supply and they both lost their heartbeats. After doctors performed medical and mechanical maneuvers, both regained consciousness and Jess was born.
“We both died on the table,” Sharon said. “After the doctors brought us back to life, they told me, ‘This is your last child.’’’
Jess may have been the Rementers’ last biological child, but, as it turned out, only the second of 15 overall. “We always wanted a bigger family,” Sharon said. “But after I had Jess, it wasn’t possible to have any more.”
The Rementers decided to try adoption.
“Rather than try to adopt newborns, we wanted to adopt needy kids,” Mark said. “But we kept losing those kids to foster parents. The other families fostered them and kept them. So we decided to change to foster care with the idea of adoption.”
“I didn’t want any more babies,” Sharon said. “I didn’t want to start over again with the diapers.”
In 2004, the Rementers welcomed their first foster children. At the time, Kristie was 10 and Jess only 4. The sisters began sharing their bedrooms with as many as three foster children at a time. Some of the children stayed as little as one week, others as long as four years.
“You never know what you’re going to get,” Sharon said. “Good things and bad things happen. You just hope the good outweighs the bad.”
The Rementers have tried to treat all of their children — biological, adopted and foster — the same. It hasn’t been easy on Kristie or Jess, but both have learned some valuable life lessons.
“Jess got to see the issues we had to deal with,” Mark said. “She saw where these kids came from. They had nothing. They didn’t have their own bedrooms or clothes. She learned from a young age to appreciate everything she had.”
One of the few things the children had in common was a love of softball. With Mark as a travel coach, Kristie evolved into a high school and college softball player. Jess is a promising infielder/outfielder for Truman High School and the Philadelphia Angels 18U travel team. Adopted sisters Colleen and Kelly play for a U14 travel team.
Jess credits much of her success – on and off the field — to her loving parents, who sacrificed a lot for their children.
“I am very lucky to be raised by two very caring people,” Jess wrote in her personal message. “My mom and dad have been foster parents since I was very little. It was hard at times, but I believe living through some hardships made me realize I should be grateful for everything and everyone I have in my life.”
National Scouting Report is dedicated to finding scholarship opportunities for athletes who possess the talent, desire, and motivation to compete at the collegiate level. We’ve helped connect thousands of athletes with their perfect college.