Berry family opens hearts to more

Article published on Monday, June 4, 2012 CLEARWATER - While most couples face their “golden years” with dreams of traveling the world, Esther and Chris Berry had a different dream. One that involved starting a school for exceptional students and later evolved into an exceptional story of adoption. Empty nesters with five biological children and four grandchildren, the Berrys started a school for exceptional students known simply as “Esther’s School.” They discovered that several students attending their school were living in foster care, featured on the Heart Gallery and waiting to be adopted. They knew they weren’t finished being parents, so the Berrys took steps to adopt. First to join the Berry family was the sibling group of Melissa, 16, and Willie, 17. They were adopted in 2011. In a May 31 ceremony at the Criminal Justice Center on 49th Street in Clearwater, the Berry's adopted their second brother-sister pair from Eckerd’s foster care system – Stephan, 17, and Dajah, 10. The Berrys also plan to adopt another foster teen living in their home, Christopher, 17, later this year. The youth, many of them older foster teens who risked “aging out” of foster care when they turned 18 without a forever family, had lived together in foster care and already knew each other before coming to stay with the Berrys. Even more ironic is that Stephan and Willie have known each other since kindergarten – before they were ever placed into foster care. Esther and Chris had always dreamed of having a big family and their once empty nest is filling up again. As Esther believes, “We were put on this earth to parent children who need our love and attention.”