NUECES COUNTY, Texas — National Adoption Day was celebrated across the country on Friday, which means some children found a home with their new families at the Nueces County Courthouse.
It was a huge day for children hoping to find a permanent spot to call home. As of late September, there's about 2,900 kids up for adoption across Texas.
Last year's adoption day took place entirely online, which actually helped increase the amount of people with access to adoption resources. As things returned in-person this year, these children finally met who they get to call mom and dad.
"This day, it brings a tear to everybody's eye,” Melissa Hernandez, Corpus Christi CPS Adoption Supervisor, said. “The judge, the caseworkers, everybody. Because everybody is just happy. The children, this is their forever family."
At the Nueces County Court today in Corpus Christi, 14 children found their forever homes as the country recognizes National Adoption Day.
And for these foster parents, their family is finally complete.
“They're the biological sisters of our adopted sons, so they complete our sibling group of four and then we have two biological sons,” Becca Redus, a foster parent said. “This is the completion of our family. We're a family of eight now and this is forever. We're really excited."
As for the kids themselves, the excitement is mutual.
"It's just so exciting knowing that our family unit is complete today,” Chris Redus said.
"My kids are grown and out of the house and I never thought that I could love anybody like I loved my kids,” Michael Grevey said. “I would highly recommend anyone to adopt."
Before today, there were 69 kids eligible for adoption in Nueces County. Despite COVID-19, over 5,200 kids were adopted across the state. And this year, everyone can do it again in-person.
"This is the first time we've actually had court in person for a lot of our case workers (and) a lot of our families,” Hernandez said. “And so, we've been able to work around COVID restrictions in order to actually make these adoptions possible today."
"There's no better way of giving back. You can give the community money; you can give them food or something. But there's nothing like giving an innocent child the time," Grevey added.
Every day might not be National Adoption Day, but any day is a good day to give a child in need a home. And that's exactly what this is all about.
For the latest updates on coronavirus in the Coastal Bend, click here.
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