San Diego

Dozens of San Diego Foster Children Adopted on National Adoption Day

November is National Adoption Month and to mark the occasion, 22 boys and girls from around the county were adopted Friday as part of National Adoption Day.

This year, the County is celebrating 70 years of adoption services.

San Diego's foster-care system struggles with finding homes for teens, children from minority backgrounds and siblings who want to stay together.

But that didn’t take away from the joy felt in the San Diego County Juvenile Courthouse on Friday.

Isis Aranda was among the 18 other families who participated in National Adoption Day.

Her family of four is now a family of five.

The newest member of the family is 10-year-old Hector.

He's been staying with them for three years but Friday made it all official.

A decision that wasn't hard for Aranda and her family since Hector is her cousin's son.

β€œI’m happy that the day is finally here,” she said. β€œHector woke up today at 3 a.m. and again at 5 because of how excited he was.”

The same excitement echoed when Bob Hanley and Aaron Omlor signed the dotted line to officially adopt Eric Hanley Omlor. He had been in the foster system for two years. Friday was a dream come true for the little guy two days shy of his 10th birthday.

β€œI feel special, my hopes went up when I met Bob and Aaron and they said they would sign the papers,” Hanley Omlor said. 

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