On Friday, Oct. 16, inside Onondaga County Family Court in Syracuse, 9-year-old Vincenzo rang a bell, and the adoption that had been moving through the system for years became final. Judge Christina DeJoseph presided over the hearing. His new parents, Krista and Michael Wells, were beside him, and his fourth-grade classmates were watching on a video link.
Vincenzo Wells, of Baldwinsville, New York, had been living with the family for nearly three years. A week before the hearing, his Pop Warner football teammates had handed him a jersey with his new last name on the back. CNY Central, the Syracuse-area station that covered both moments, reported the details.
Before Christmas, on Less Than 24 Hours’ Notice
According to CNY Central’s report from the courthouse, Vincenzo came into the Wells home just before Christmas, nearly three years ago, on less than 24 hours’ notice. Extended family welcomed him right away and included him in a holiday trip that had already been planned.
In New York, a foster adoption begins with an agency. The state’s Office of Children and Family Services describes foster adoptions as agency adoptions, in which a local department of social services or an approved voluntary agency places the child with a family. After placement, the page says, the adoptive parents “proceed with completion of the adoption in court.”…