Forty children are being adopted on Friday as part of Connecticut Adoption Day. It is a day during National Adoption Month in November, in which the Connecticut Department of Children and Families highlights some of the hundreds of families and children who go through the process.
Last year, Jessica Villanueva adopted 6-month-old Jeziah. Now a year later, Jeziah is 18 months old and thriving.
Jessica said he is an active, social and happy little boy.
“Loves to play with the dog that we have. He plays a lot with his sister. He loves music. He loves to dance, right buddy? So it's been a blessing to have him in our family,” said Villanueva.
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But the process to get to Connecticut Adoption Day is not easy.
If you start with fostering through DCF, Villanueva said, it’s a very long process filled with paperwork, trauma training, home visits and a lot of emotional ups and downs. That’s because, she said, DCF’s ultimate goal is reuniting the children with their birth families.
There’s also a potential that children could get matched with more than one adoptive family, so you get your hopes up and then there’s letdowns along the way.
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But for anyone thinking about adoption, Villanueva said to take the leap.
“There's so many kids out there that need a safe and loving home. So, if you have the ability to provide that for the child, I say go for it. You know, go and you avoid these kids jumping from foster home to foster home to foster home,” said Villanueva.
On average there are 400 adoptions every year, according to DCF. Forty happened on Friday in multiple cities including Torrington, Vernon, Norwich and New Haven.
