Welcome! Meet:

Trask + Aurélien

French and Translation Professor / Lecturer of French

Ohio

Caucasian

All About Trask & Aurélien
Why Adoption?
Gallery
Family and Home
How We Met
Advice to Future Child
Perspectives on Open Adoption
Favorites

All About Trask & Aurélien

Thank you for considering us as you begin imagining a future for your child and we wish you the best in any decision you will make for you and your child.

We’re a French-American couple living in Northeast Ohio. We met in 2017 and married in 2020. Before moving to Ohio, we lived together in Paris for four years with our cuddly hound dog, Radley. We are now happily settled in Ohio, where we are professors at a local university—Trask in translation and Aurélien in French. We speak both English and French at home and look forward to raising a bilingual child in a multicultural household. We also both play the piano and would be happy to share our passion for music with your child. Our careers give us plenty of time to spend together as a family, both during the week and on school vacations. We can’t wait to become parents and will do everything we can to help your child thrive and grow with curiosity, confidence, and the keys to a bright future.

Why Adoption?

We’re crazy about the kids already in our lives and can’t wait to become parents. We have been so lucky to watch our nieces and nephews grow and mature and we love to play, read stories, and laugh with them. We know they will be wonderful cousins to any child we welcome. As parents, we will encourage empathy and curiosity. We want to help your child thrive and grow with confidence and imagine any future they want. Our schedules as professors will allow us all to be together during the week and school vacations, and visit France in the summer.

Family & Home

Trask comes from a big, close-knit family. His parents and four sisters embraced Aurélien from the moment they met. Our seven nieces and nephews refer to us simply as ‘uncles’. Aurélien’s family can’t wait to welcome another bébé to the family. We are lucky to have an incredible community of friends here in Ohio. You are likely to find them in our living room or on our front porch for movie or game nights.

We bought our home in 2023 and are grateful to have fully paid it off, giving us financial stability as we grow our family and our house itself with updates and an addition. On summer evenings you can find us on our porch, chatting with neighbors and their children as they pass, or in our backyard, grilling and playing fetch with Radley. We live in a diverse, walkable neighborhood, close to the university where we work, and only two blocks to the local elementary school. Our street is often alive with the sounds of kids laughing and playing.

How others describe me

Aurélien*

He is endlessly curious and always learning—he speaks four languages and hopes to add more! He grew up in the Loire Valley of France and worked as an airline engineer in Paris before moving to Ohio. Now as a professor, he enjoys helping his students discover the world, build confidence, and open their eyes towards a future full of opportunities. In his free time, he also volunteers at a school for bilingual kids. He has a big heart, and there’s plenty of room still left. His future child would know that papa will always be there to listen, to learn and explore, to make crêpes with, to watch Harry Potter and Friends with, and to karaoke Mariah Carey.

*pronounced like ‘oh-really-in’!

Trask*

Trask grew up in rural New England, the fourth of five children (and the only boy!). His childhood was full of long days exploring the woods and bothering his sisters. From a young age, he’s been happiest when making the people around him laugh. After earning his PhD, he is now a professor who cares deeply about helping his students find their voices. In his free time, Trask likes to swim, bike, and run marathons. He makes friends wherever he goes and he keeps them close, even from afar. He looks forward to being a dad who makes bad jokes and tells his kid he loves them too often.

*Trask comes from his great-grandmother’s maiden name.

How We Met

We met in Philadelphia in July of 2017. Trask was completing his PhD at UPenn. Aurélien was traveling around the US at the time but living in Paris and working for a French airline. We connected quickly and started an exciting one-year long-distance relationship. We visited each other often and got to know one another’s friends and families, while falling more and more in love! Eventually, Trask moved to Paris with our cuddly hound dog, Radley, and was able to finish his PhD in French there. After four exciting years in Paris, we settled in Ohio in 2022 to work at a local university and teach French.

Advice to Future Child

We want you to know that we will love you unconditionally. We will always be honest with you and share everything we can about your adoption story. We will support your connection with your birth family and welcome every feeling you have about your adoption. Nothing you feel will ever be too big or too small for us. You can always come to us with your thoughts and emotions.

At home, we speak both English and French, and we hope you’ll enjoy the benefits of growing up with two languages. We will celebrate your heritage, along with our American and French roots, and help you appreciate the beauty of the world and the many cultures within it. We play the piano and will introduce you to music, letting you explore it if it becomes something you enjoy. We will encourage your curiosity and support you as you discover what brings you joy.

We will do everything we can to give you the best future possible and help you explore all the different paths your life may take.

Perspectives on Open Adoption

Thank you for considering us as you begin imagining a future for your child. We believe a child cannot have too many adults who love them and, if you wish, we hope to create a relationship between your and our family. We can’t pretend to understand how hard this decision must be, but we hope to support you however we can.

Favorites

Trask

Favorite Movie: Homeward Bound
Favorite Holiday/Tradition: My older sister organizes a caroling for cancer fundraiser each December. The singing is not good but the vibes are excellent.
Hobbies/Interests: reading, crosswords, running
Dream Vacation: A cruise along the Norwegian coast up to the Arctic Circle
If I Could Choose a Superpower: to be able to talk with our dog

Aurélien

Favorite Movie: Harry Potter, the 3rd one would be my favorite!
Favorite Holiday/Tradition: Making French crêpes with the children from our family, for Thanksgiving dessert or the French “Chandeleur” or “Mardi Gras” holidays
Hobbies/Interests: Playing the piano, learning foreign languages on Duolingo, making French crêpes
Dream Vacation: Hopping from one European country to another aboard cozy night trains, like in the Orient Express or the Hogwarts Express!
If I Could Choose a Superpower: Owning a magical, expandable tent like in Harry Potter, to host cozy slumber parties