November is National Adoption Month across the United States, and in Brown County alone 21 children have been adopted, through either kinship or foster parents, during the 2023 calendar year.
On Thursday morning at the Brown County Courthouse, the Brown County Child Welfare Board, in conjunction with 2INgage and The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, held a ceremony to celebrate where three more children were adopted into their new forever families.
“What an exciting day to be celebrating the adoptions that have occurred in the last year,” Brown County Judge Shane Britton said following the ceremony. “These parents that adopt these kids really are the heroes of the child welfare system. It’s wonderful that the court is taking the time to celebrate them and the success stories. We don’t talk about success stories very often, only the negatives of the child welfare system and these are the success stories – children that have been adopted and loved on by strangers who have taken them into their home and raised them as their own. What a beautiful ending to an otherwise sad story.”
Jimmy and Terri Valdez, who started as a foster care family in 1999, officially adopted their 13th child, Jacob, Thursday morning.
“We’ve also raised children, whether our biological ones or kin or neighbors’ kids, we’ve always had some kind of kids in the house,” Jimmy Valdez said during the ceremony. “Someone said to us once why don’t you try foster care?”
“My two older ones were in junior high and we had a five-bedroom house and we wondered what we would do when they’re gone,” Terri Valdez said during the ceremony. “Our lives had revolved around what they’d been doing so someone suggested foster care and we started.”
Jacob and Katy Bierman officially adopted teenager Nicole into their household.
“I can’t speak to the amount of growth she’s had in the few months since she’s been placed with us,” Jacob Bierman said during the ceremony. “She was placed with us in February and seeing what a wonderful young lady she has become throughout this, we’re so excited to see what the future holds for her and giving her a home to launch from, it’s truly amazing to be a part of that.”
“There’s a girl in our house,” Katy Bierman said with a laugh during the ceremony. “I do hair every day now, she makes me go shopping, all the girly things.”
Also Thursday, Dolores Castaneda, who was joined by her adult son Daniel, officially welcomed Nehemiah into their family.
The Honorable Elizabeth Watkins, Associate Judge with the Child Protection Court of the Concho Valley, presented the families with certificates and spoke to the families and children.
“I am honored to be a part of this celebration of love and families here in Brown County,” Watkins said. “As a Child Protection Court Judge, we work to achieve the very best possible outcomes for these children in care, and a safe, happy, healthy home is certainly what we want. This court team, from the caseworkers to the staff to the attorneys who do this work are dedicated, hard-working folks and make these kinds of successes possible. While we want to help our local families get healthy and have their children returned to them, sometimes that is just not possible. The generosity of heart and unselfishness these adoptive families have are a gift and a true blessing to witness and play a part in. I thank the Child Welfare Board for their hard work and this recognition and look forward to many more celebrations of biological and adoptive families.”
