HIDALGO — Leah Garcia, 18, feels like one of the lucky ones.
At 17, she had given up all hope of finding her forever family.
She worried what the future had in store for someone like her, who had no where to call home and no one to call a family.
Leah’s status as an adoptable child was coming to an end as she neared adulthood — at least in the eyes of the state.
Inside, she still felt like a scared child.
“Who would I turn to for support?” she constantly asked herself.
Her two younger siblings had already been adopted and after meandering through nearly 100 foster care homes since the age of 12, Leah was losing hope fast.
Her answer would come later at an adoption expo in Austin, where she met her adoptive parents Roxanne and Elias Garcia of Hidalgo.
The couple — a first-grade teacher and a police officer — immediately fell in love with the 17-year-old and went through the adoption process, which was expedited because of her age. A child in foster care can no longer be adopted once he or she turns 18.
“She brought a lot of joy to our home,” her mother Roxanne said. “We’re blessed to have her as our daughter.”
There are more than 6,000 children in the foster care system in Texas waiting to be the chosen one. The loved one. The lucky one.
But many parents seeking to adopt tend to look for babies, who are rare among adoptable foster children, said Diana Salazar, recruiter and trainer for Spaulding for Children. Families looking to adopt babies usually turn to private adoption agencies, where there is a fee involved.
Younger children in foster care are usually part of a larger sibling group, which are also more difficult to find permanent homes for, Salazar said.
Spaulding for Children, a nonprofit organization in Texas, specializes in the adoption of older foster children and those in sibling groups, Salazar said. The nonprofit has a contract with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to help find loving “forever families” for them.
Staff there helped Leah find hers.
“Older children deserve a family too and they’re more than willing to adapt,” Salazar said.
The agency, dedicated to raising awareness about the issue, spearheaded the Heart Gallery at the State Farm Arena earlier this month as part of National Adoption Month. Headshots of smiling children with a short biography written underneath were spread out through the arena halls for prospective parents to see.
But as the month comes to an end, advocates reiterate that the challenge of finding adoptive families is a continuous effort.
“Children need homes every month — all year long,” Salazar said. “It’s a constant mission to find families who want to adopt children.”
‘IN IT FOR THE PAYCHECK’
Leah and her siblings lived on and off with their biological parents since the age of 2, she said during a speech at the Heart Gallery. It wasn’t until she was 12 that the courts decided they were better off under the care of the state and therefore became eligible for adoption.
Now an advocate for the adoption of older children, Leah recalled one of the hardest moments in her young life.
She was about 14 years old and living with a woman she fondly remembers now, when a case worker showed up at the front door.
“You have five minutes to pack all of your things,” she recalls the case worker telling her. There was no explanation, no questions answered, just a tough goodbye for a little girl who thought she had finally found a woman she could call mom.
“I didn’t have a suitcase,” Leah recalled with tears welling in her eyes. “I packed all of my belongings in a trash bag. And that’s how I felt, like trash.”
“It felt like I was just in it for the paycheck.”
To this day, Leah doesn’t know why she was taken away from one of the homes where she felt most comfortable in.
It’s easy for a child in the foster care system to feel they are bad — to feel like they did something wrong, she said.
Many children in the system have been through a lot, but it doesn’t hinder their desire to love and be part of a family, Salazar said.
“It’s never easy to adopt a child — whether through private agencies or with foster kids — but it’s a relationship and a commitment,” she said, “And that’s what these children need. They need structure and support.”
POST ADOPTION
Spaulding for Children is one of the few organizations that focuses solely on adoption and is one of the even fewer ones to provide post-adoption services, said Delia Cedillo, who heads those services.
Cedillo began working with the organization soon after she and her husband adopted their three daughters the week before Thanksgiving eight years ago.
“We were blessed,” she said of the festivities that year. “We had a lot to be thankful for.”
Her girls — now ages 9, 11 and 12 — have given her purpose and experience as a parent, which she now shares with other newly adoptive parents at a monthly meeting the agency organizes.
Parents and their new children meet every third Friday of the month at the McAllen Boys and Girls Club, where they go into groups to discuss key issues such as stealing and lying, or any other concerns that may arise.
Cedillo recalled one family who was having trouble getting their child to take baths. She suggested the parents buy perfumed body washes and bubble baths to pique the child’s interest and the family soon had their problem resolved.
Adoptive parents often have the same problems biological parents have, she said.
Aside from the monthly meetings, the organization pays for any treatment the child may need, whether it’s psychological or physical, Cedillo added. They even pay baby-sitters for new parents who need some time alone.
Adoptive families require dedication and work, just like every other family, Salazar said.
Leah had planned on leaving for college after graduating from high school, but finding her forever family changed her mind. She applied for South Texas College and plans to live with her family in Hidalgo.
“We’re going to keep her here as long as we can,” her father Elias said, “even if we have to put a lock on the door.”
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Naxiely Lopez covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. She can be reached at naxil@themonitor.com and (956) 683-4434.
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