By Fallan Patterson
Staff Writer

Dressed in sparkled party dresses or formal button-up shirts and slacks, 15 children Friday were adopted into their permanent families at the Osceola County Courthouse in Kissimmee.

In honor of National Adoption Day, celebrated Nov. 17, Community Based Care of Central Florida, which handles foster care and adoption services in Osceola, Orange and Seminole counties, held its event complete with photographers, a caricaturist and a cake with every adopted child’s name written in icing.

Ninth Circuit Court Judge Donald Meyers Jr. presided over the adoptions for the first time. He and his wife of 27 years adopted their daughter 12 years ago.

“I needed my little girl more than she needed me. It has been the most amazing journey,” he said, calling adoptive parents “difference makers.”

Nancy White, of Kissimmee, adopted her fifth and sixth children Friday – siblings Shyanne, 4, and Hayley, 10 – who had been in her care as foster children for more than two years. She also has two biological sons in their 50’s.

White has been fostering children for 27 years, since she and friends found three brothers in a garbage can in New York City looking for food and keeping warm.

Over the years, she adopted children she felt a strong connection with, where she can see in the child’s eyes that they feel happy and safe in her care.

“They are my life, my second joy,” White said of the sisters. “It’s my dream come true. It’s like I got a birthday surprise that I always wanted.”

Orlando resident Johnetha Berry adopted her first child, Jazmin, 12, Friday after caring for the tween since July. Berry has been a foster parent since Dec. 2011 and has one biological daughter, 20.

After hearing that Jazmin had been placed in five homes in two years, Berry decided it was time to take her out of the system.

“It was scary and exciting,” Berry said, adding that she has a close relationship with her new daughter, who admitted to telling her everything. “I get to be a mother again.”

It’s those feelings Glen Casel, CEO and president of CBC, hopes to evoke in all of his adoptive parents.

“This is as fun as this work gets and it’s center to our mission,” he said. “The timing is particularly poignant as we enter the holiday season when families become even more important in our lives.”

Between the three counties Friday, the agency adopted out 35 children – 15 in both Osceola and Orange; five in Seminole.

Currently, the agency has 83 children available for adoption. On average, the agency adopts upward of 250 children annually.

“We’re very happy and excited about our progress,” Casel said.

That progress includes, in the nearly two years since CBC took over the services, adding more beds in Osceola County for children in the foster care system or who need emergency placement.

When the agency took over in April 2011, Osceola County had .4 beds available for these situations, forcing the agency to place children in neighboring counties. Now Osceola boasts .85 beds.  The agency has 2,500 children in foster care between the three counties.

“We feel very good about that progress,” Casel said,

Additionally, the agency has seen a 10 percent drop in children in foster care and a 15 percent drop in all children in their system, including those up for adoption or awaiting placement with family.

His next goal with the agency is to invest further in the community, with new diversion and intervention programming. With the new programming, Casel hopes to avoid the need for foster care in most situations, instead working families through financial difficulties and mental health  and substance abuse problems without removing children from their parents.

Casel also hopes to increase the agency’s stability numbers by decreasing the number of homes a child is moved to.

When a child is frequently moved, Casel said, their case typically slows as the child may end up with a new caseworker and they do more poorly in school.

“There’s no reason for them to leave Osceola County,” he said.

When the agency took over April 2011, Orange and Osceola counties combined had a 75 percent stability rate; that number is currently 86 percent. Seminole County, CBC’s flagship area, boasts a 92 percent stability rate.

“For us, it’s the best case scenario for the child,” Casel said, adding his motto is “First placement is the best placement.”

For more information on Community Based Care of Central Florida or to sign-up for foster care or adoption classes, visit www.cbccfl.org.