The hallway in a Ventura County courthouse is buzzing with excitement. It’s not often people are actually excited to appear in court. But here, at the Ventura County Juvenile Court in Oxnard, it’s adoption day, and a dozen children and teens are going to officially get permanent homes.
Amanda DeLeone literally has her hands full. She’s carrying two young children and is towing a third. The three girls are about to become a permanent part of her family.
"So, I have six. Three of them are my biological kids, and I have the three little girls that are joining our family today. There's Laney, who's six, Lacey is five, and Haven is four," said DeLeone.
The children being adopted are DeLeone’s niece’s kids. They were already unofficially a part of the family.
"We took placement Laney and Lacey five and a half years ago, and Haven in February of 2022," said the mother.
The woman who’s about to officially become the mother of six is excited that the big day is finally happening.
"It's the last step of stability for all of us," said DeLeone.
Fifteen-year-old Kaydence DeLeone is thrilled about her new sisters.
"It's very exciting. I'm very happy, because I've always wanted little sisters," said the teenager. "Now I have three."
A judge is walking through the hallway, greeting the families and meeting the kids he will soon be permanently placing in homes.
"Every Friday, we do adoptions. Friday afternoons, I don't know of any better way to end your week," said Ventura County Superior Court Judge Gilbert Romero, who is finalizing the adoptions. "This event (the adoptions with a party) happens once a year, and it's a celebration and reminder of the 100,000 kids in foster care waiting to be adopted. This is a way to celebrate the children being adopted, and the families getting new children."
"A lot of the kids being adopted today are kids I had on my docket in certain dependency cases, juvenile justice cases," said the judge. "I've been with them sometime two years, sometimes three years, and to finally see them find their forever homes, it's just so happy it's hard to express in words."
Michelle Evans is an adoption attorney and also represents parents in dependency cases. She said the goal is to try to work out issues to keep kids with their parents, but there are times when it’s simply not in the child’s best interests.
She helped organize this adoption event.
"These kids and these families have come a long way to get to this day," said Evans. "Lots and lots of time, and heartache. It's nice that the government lets us celebrate it. There are some very bittersweet emotions for a lot of people, including the kids, and I think it's so nice to celebrate today."
"Parents, depending on the age of the child, have up to 18 months to reunify, and potentially a little bit longer depending on the circumstances. If they're not successful, then we move forward to sadly terminating parental rights, and moving towards adoption or guardianship," said Attorney Lisa Sayle, who represents some of the kids here today. She added that they hope other family members, friends of the family, or even caregivers will step up to adopt the kids.
Finally, the doors open, and the families go into the courtroom for the big day.
Many of the children are too young to fully grasp the impact of what is happening. It looks like a party in the courtroom, with balloons everywhere and stuffed animals on desktops.
Each child being adopted gets to adopt a stuffed animal. But the new parents have enough tears for the families, as they officially welcome their new members.
