San Joaquin County adoption event brings 28 foster youth into new families
Dozens of foster youth have a place to call home after being adopted into new families in San Joaquin County, just in time for Thanksgiving.
This includes single working-mother Alyssa Gutierrez and her 2-year-old son, Ezra. After a two-year-long process where she was called one day at work and asked if she could be Ezra's mom after he was born, it was an immediate yes.
"It's just been a very rewarding process," Gutierrez said.
On Saturday, which was National Adoption Day at San Joaquin County Superior Court, it became official.
"At the beginning, it was kind of an adjustment because most parents, you get nine months to plan and prep and think about being a parent," Gutierrez said. "I got one hour and I've just been taking it day-by-day, and every day, he surprises me."
Gutierrez said Ezra was born to her older cousin but they decided she wasn't fit and that a family member needed to take care of him. After calling two family members, who Gutierrez said didn't have the time and weren't able to, her name was brought up as someone who could help.
That's exactly what she did.
"Seeing him grow and him becoming his little person with his little personalities and his little hobbies and his little interests, he's (a) very energetic kid," Gutierrez said. "Just seeing him learn and just become such a smart little boy, it's very rewarding."
Gutierrez was 24 years old at the time she first got the call. Now, she's 27.
"What I enjoy most about being a parent is just the feel of his love," she said. "When we go out to do anything and you could just see he looks up to me and in his eyes, I'm like this very important person."
There were 28 children, ages 1 through 12, who were adopted into 17 families at San Joaquin County Human Services Agency's 26th annual National Adoption Day.
"If anyone's thinking about adopting or fostering, I would say do it," Gutierrez said. "There are a lot of kids who need homes. They need the village. A lot of kids that are in the system, they don't have family. They don't have the support. They don't have anything. So, fostering and adopting is very important to guide people and to do that, so that we can provide homes for the kids that actually need it."
Shawn Dunn, San Joaquin County Human Services Agency adoption supervisor, said foster family agencies joined for the first time this year. Those included Koinonia Family Services, Wayfinder Family Services, EA Family Services, Triad Family Services, and Aspiranet.
"Adoption is always our permanent place for children," Shawn Dunn, San Joaquin County Human Services Agency adoption supervisor, said. "So, our hope is they reunify with their parents and if they can't, providing permanency through adoption."
Dunn started at a shelter in 2000 and said he saw "a lot of children languished in care," so she went back to school to become a social worker. She was in permanent placement for several years, then transferred to adoptions. She's been with the county for 25 years and has been working in adoption placement for 11 years, seeing a rise in kids needing a home in recent years.
"We have a variety of issues that happen in our county, from homelessness to drug use, and so for those children that can't be with their parents in a safe home, we always need foster parents to come in and take in those children," Dunn said.
For anyone who'd like to adopt or foster kids, you can start by calling either a foster family agency or the county. If you'd like to adopt or foster a kid in San Joaquin County, you can call 209-465-KIDS.
Dunn also said there was a very rewarding moment for her on National Adoption Day, with four siblings being adopted by their relatives. She was so happy to see them go to their forever home.