EDINBURG — Purple and white balloons formed the backdrop behind Judge Carlos Villalon’s desk on the stage of the Hidalgo County Courthouse auditorium Monday.
Dozens of people filled the auditorium’s gray seats awaiting the day’s proceedings. Among those waiting were at least five families, and one via Zoom, who in a matter of minutes would welcome new members.
Carmen Mendoza, 25, and her husband Israel Villarreal, 27, traveled from Laredo to be at the courthouse. It was a special occasion for the young couple and a little girl wearing a white, poofy, “haute couture” dress made just for her.
“We made her our forever baby,” Mendoza said, holding 1-year-old Yliana Catalina Villarreal as she rested her head on her now-mother’s shoulder and fell asleep. “I got her when she was 1-month (old). The process was to foster her for six months, and then she was going to go up for adoption. Because of circumstances, it kept getting delayed, but we finally got our date for adoption.”
Yliana was born without legs and a cleft lip, among other disabilities. Her new mother said that she will need therapy, and her new family is ready to go down that path with her.
“She’s been a special baby since day one,” Mendoza said. “She’s really happy. Her friends call her a diva. She’s a real diva baby. She likes to party. She likes to dance. She’ll give you attitude when she’s mad, but she’s a really great baby.”
Monday, Nov. 21, marked Adoption Day in Hidalgo County, and the county observed the day by holding adoption hearings for nine children and their six forever families.
The event was organized by the Child Protective Services’ RGV Adoption Unit. CPS is a department of the Texas Department of Family & Protective Services.
“This is a happy day for us,” Villalon said, addressing the crowd prior to the day’s proceedings. “What we deal with, what our community stakeholders deal with, what our child welfare stakeholders deal with, can be very, very difficult. Today we get to celebrate. We get to rejoice the permanency of these children. They get a forever home, and sometimes it seems like it takes forever to get there … but we’re finally here.”
“The families that are coming before us today have gone on a long path,” he continued. “These children have been on a very long path to finally be finalized today. I can’t think of a better time, right before Thanksgiving because it’s a blessing. It really is.”
For the Espinosa family of Mission, their path to adoption saw them waiting for an estimated 1,898 days. Monday’s event saw them completing their family with the adoption of 11-year-old Malachi. Three years prior, the family adopted Malachi’s younger sister, Anaya.
“It’s a blessing to get him as well and keep them together as a family,” Jeorge Espinosa said.
“I feel excited to finally be setting in stone what everyone has always felt since we’ve had him with us,” Andrea Espinosa said. “He’s always been an Espinosa. Now he gets to represent that also on paper and say that he is part of our family. I know he’s really excited about that. He’s into football, so now his jersey will say ‘Espinosa’ on the back. We’re just really happy and excited for the years to come and watching him grow into a man.”
The month of November, National Adoption Awareness month, is observed with numerous adoption events to raise awareness about the adoption process and the high number of children who are in need of their forever families.
Alexandra Hernandez, adoptions unit supervisor, shared some statistics prior to the adoption proceedings Monday.
“We do have 2,704 children who are waiting to be adopted (in Texas),” Hernandez said. “Here in South Texas, we have 193 children. In Cameron County we have 44 children, Hidalgo County (has) 28, Starr county (has) one and Willacy (has) four.”
She said that there are a total of 77 children in the Rio Grande Valley waiting to be matched with a permanent family. There were over 4,452 children adopted in the last fiscal year which ended in February.
“It’s all thanks to events like this,” Hernandez said.
Maryann Denner, director and chief juvenile probation officer for Hidalgo County, was a guest speaker during the adoption event. She herself was adopted by a family from Pharr in 1962.
She recalled the hardships her family faced as a result of her adoption given her biracial background and extreme racial prejudice that was common at the time.
“Later on I found out as I got older that my parents lost a lot of friends for what they did,” Denner said. “At the time, there was a law stating that any child that was one-eighth Black, they could not adopt. My family, along with another family, were the reason that the law was changed.”
Denner grew emotional as she recalled her own story of adoption and the sacrifices made by her parents.
“It means a lot to see people opening their homes and saying, ‘You know what, this child is going to make our home complete. We love them that much. We chose you,’” she said. “That’s what makes it so special. My mother used to always say, ‘You weren’t expected. You were selected.’”
