Meet the Hams: Two Arizona gay men who have adopted TWELVE children

For many couples, one child is enough. For others, two or three is ideal.
But Roger and Steven Ham say that after adopting 12 children, they finally feel their family is complete.
The couple had planned to adopt just one child when they decided their 3,000-square-foot house in Arizona seemed too big for just the two of them.

We are family: Clockwise from bottom centre, Roger, 47; Cooper, 3; Steven, 42; Olivia, almost 2; Jackson, 8; Michael, 13; Madison, 8; Vanessa, 16; Marcus, 5; Isabel, 13; Logan, 7; Elizabeth, 12; Andrew, 11; and Ambrose, 4

Eight years later, the bedrooms are filled with bunk beds - their Phoenix home organised with precision.

The logistics of getting the children to school and home, and then to basketball, cheerleading and karate, all carefully listed on Steven's BlackBerry.
Steven, 42, who is called Daddy, said the children know if they want something - uniform picked up from the dry cleaners or support in a school play - it has to be in his calendar.
He gets up when the first child is out of bed at about 5am. Roger, 47, who is called Papa by the children, has to be at his job as school bus driver at 6am.

Proud parents: Roger is called Papa by the children, Steven is called Daddy. The have fostered 42 children

Meal time: Roger and Steven said that though they never planned to have such a large family, neither can imagine life any other way

THE HAM FAMILY IN NUMBERS

12 - children
2 - dads
4 - dogs (Crazy, Spike, Zeus and Georgia)
2 - cats (Ripper, Zoe)
1 - parrot (Corkie)
1 - guinea pig (Bella)
2 - refrigerators
6 - gallons of milk a week
4 - loads of laundry a day
9 - mobile phones
23 - bikes and tricycles
6 - schools
5 - bedrooms
3 - bathrooms

Clothes for the youngest children are laid out the night before by Steven. The older children get themselves ready.
‘It's pretty smooth,’ Steven told the Arizona Republic. ‘There are little hiccups. Every family has that.’
After dinner, Steven is off duty and Roger takes over. He has three children in the bathtub and two lined up on the floor. In 15 minutes, all are clean and wrapped in towels.
The house has strict rules, but the Hams said they encourage their children in whatever they want to do.
Eleven-year-old Andrew is one of two boys on the cheerleading squad at school. Marcus, 5, has his fingernails painted pink.
'We don't judge,' said Steven.
The couple are raising the 12 children in Arizona, one of the most unlikely places for two gay men to put together a family.
In the state, same-sex couples cannot marry, nor can they adopt children together.
Both men’s names appear on the birth certificates of two of the children from Washington. But legally, the 10 children adopted in Arizona belong only to Steven.
Roger and Steven said they were determined to have a family and ‘had to fight to get them.’
The couple adopted their first child Michael in 2003 and they say nothing was ever the same again.

Child's play: If the children get a 'C' on a report card they get grounded for a week. If they get a 'D', they are not allowed out for a month 

Challenge: The Hams live in Phoenix, Arizona, where same-sex couples cannot marry, nor can they adopt children together 

When Michael, now 13, called either of them dad, they said they knew they were meant to be fathers.
In the first couple of months with them, Michael worried endlessly about his four younger brothers and sisters, who were still in foster care and he would sit for hours rocking and saying, ‘I wonder what they are doing right now.’
Roger said: ‘It broke our hearts.’ Over the next couple of years they slowly reunited the siblings, adopting each of the children.

Parents: Both men's names appear on the birth certificates of two of the children from Washington. But legally, the 10 children adopted in Arizona belong only to Steven

Loaded up: The Hams have a 15-passenger van to carry all of their children

‘These were kids who obviously loved one another,’ Steven said. ‘When we saw them together, I knew they had to be together, and I was going to do anything I could do to make that happen.’
The couple have fostered 42 children and have permanently adopted a number of the children who have come to stay at their home, taking their family to 12.
The children said they like having two dads. Elizabeth, 12, said: ‘Most of my friends think that having two dads is different, and I like to be different.’

Under control: All the children's events are logged in Steven's BlackBerry so the family stays organised

Hit the shops: The family get through six gallons of milk every week

Eight-year-old Madison said she tells her friends, ‘I'm lucky. I have two dads who love me.’
Roger and Steven said that though they never planned to have such a large family, neither can imagine life any other way.
They joke that, when all the children are grown, they will buy a one-bedroom house in San Diego that does not allow pets or children.

Bath time: After dinner, Steven is off duty and Roger takes over, starting with washing the children

‘Sure, there are days when I am ripping my hair out, but I wouldn't change it for anything,’ Steven said.
‘We knew the kids deserved a better life, and someone who would love them, no matter what.
‘None of my kids will ever tell you, any time in their lives, even years from now, that they didn't feel loved.’