Meet the Osorio Family!
We were married in 2002. After years of infertility, our son was born in 2011. As he got older, our son began asking for a sibling so he could read to him-her. After a few more years of not being able to conceive, we decided that we would become a foster resource family.
On December 2nd, 2019, we received a call for emergency placement for a sibling set; a 4-year-old boy named Nathan and a 2-year-old girl named Caydence. Both of the children moved into the home with some behaviors that initially required a lot of management. Nathan, having a predominant speech delay, was hard to understand but with his hard work and dedication to learn, he has progressed quickly. Nathan has always been a builder, he loves building with anything her can get his hands on, but Legos are his preferred building material. He can put a Lego set together pretty quickly with not much help. Caydence is very much a girlie girl but isn’t afraid to get down and dirty. She loves to watch her brothers play baseball and can’t wait until she is old enough to play in the league.
As we drew closer to the beginning of our new life as a family of 5, we asked all of our children how they felt about adoption. Both Nathan and Caydence were excited to move forward with adoption. They stated, “Yes, we want you to be my new mommy and new daddy. We want to stay in our home with you”. Our eldest son said, ‘really, mom, do you have to ask me that’. Receiving a resounding yes from all three children, we moved forward with the adoption process and officially adopted Caydence and Nathan in May 2021. The 1st time Caydence and Nathan, said, ‘I love you mom and dad’, was one of the best feelings, we as foster/adoptive parents, could have ever experienced.
We have had the support of teachers, our workplaces, friends, and family. Nathan and Caydence were loved from day one, not just by us but by everyone in our lives. Nathan and Caydence continue to make connections with people, including some of their birth families, which we feel, is very important for the kids to have.
Through our journey, we have learned that the state and counties need to always keep the child’s well-being at the front and center. Although reunification should always be the primary goal, it is important to recognize when this is not a viable option or in the children’s best interest. We also have learned the importance of having knowledge of and access to many resources. We would encourage child welfare systems across the nation to provide resource families with this information and to help link them to resources both prior to and after permanency.
For our family, ‘Permanence’ means stability, safety, structure, HOME.
As hard as fostering can be, if you were to ask us if we would do it again, we would respond with ‘In a heartbeat!’ Every child deserves a chance at a stable life. Every child deserves to excel.
“Persistence and resilience only come from having been given the chance to work through difficult problems.” ― Gever Tulley
