From foster care to forever homes: 106 children's adoptions finalized in San Bernardino County

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Thursday, November 14, 2024
106 children's adoptions finalized in San Bernardino County
About 70 families took part in San Bernardino County's 24th Annual Adoption Finalization celebration at the Ontario Convention Center.

ONTARIO, Calif. (KABC) -- Little Taylor Morrison was unaware as she sat and had her face painted that her life was about to change forever.

Just one day before the toddler's third birthday, she is being adopted.

"It's a feeling I can't even explain," Taylor's mother Yvette Morrison said. "The love is unconditional. These little guys just look up to you, and it is just an amazing feeling."

Morrison is not new to the adoption process, which can often times include years of court dates and foster care.

"I wasn't able to have kids of my own and thought that my calling was to help kids in need," Morrison said. "I was very very fortunate to be able to adopt my first son who is four now."

She and her husband are one of the 70 families taking part in San Bernardino County's 24th Annual Adoption Finalization celebration at the Ontario Convention Center.

The event put on with the Department of Children and Family Service and juvenile courts celebrates adoptive families, while also highlighting the many children waiting for a loving home.

"We're always looking for families to even just try it, maybe just as a foster parent and then possibly adoption," Children and Family Services San Bernardino County Director Jeany Zepeda said. "A lot of times, you get the child and they are up for adoption, and you fall in love with them and you are there."

Janea Jones attended the event with her three boys ages three, two and two.

"All of us are basically learning how to be a family," Jones said. "It has been a journey, but it is a blessing and I can't wait to see what the future holds as well."

Jones said she was drawn to fostering children led by the example her parents set.

"Grew up with my parents taking in families, helping their families with children and stuff like that," Jones said. "It really impacted me and wanting to reach out and do the same thing."

At the appointed times, families gathered in makeshift courtrooms as a judge finalized their adoption papers.

For 106 children, the day marked the end of a long -- and sometimes complicated -- foster care journey and the beginning of a new permanent chapter.

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