Sixteen children officially joined their forever homes Friday during the Bell County Adoption Celebration during November's National Adoption Month.
In 2022 alone, 9,607 children throughout Texas were removed from their homes as a result of abuse or neglect. That includes 1,660 children in Central Texas.
A local family in Central Texas — Rochell Jacobs and Amanda Jacobs — stepped up to the plate and adopted not one but four children who were in need of a home.
“She wanted six kids, we decided maybe what over six, seven years ago, because we been together since we were 18," Rochell said. "We've been together 10 years and married six, so this is all her doing her ... 'The Brady Bunch.'”
“Some kids when we get them, they’re not talking... and we have a huge need for foster parents right now," said Jennifer Rivera, adoption supervisor with the Bell County Adoption Center. "We still have 2,700 kids in the state of Texas in foster care that need to be adopted."
The need is great, Rochell said.
“We been going back and forth to the fertility clinic, and then things happened with their parents and so we took them in... with no hesitation we took them in," Rochelle said.
For more information on how to Adopt a child in need of a home: Click here
