Hayward grandmother adopts her grandson on Adoption Day
- November 24, 2010
It's a bittersweet time for Hayward resident Brenda Volasgis. Last week her mother died. But on Saturday, she gained a son.
That son is 10-year-old Marcus Hopkins, formerly her grandchild, who has been living as a foster child with Volasgis since 2006, after his 23-year-old father died from asphyxiation due to a seizure.
On Saturday, an Alameda County Superior Court judge formally made her Marcus' mother. In about nine months, Marcus will receive a new birth certificate, stating that Volasgis is his mother.
"It's truly being born again today," said Melissa Ryan, Volasgis' adoption social worker for the last four years.
The adoption was done on National Adoption Day, which saw 37 families adopt 41 children -- ages 1 to 17 -- at the Wiley Manuel Courthouse in Oakland.
It was the 11th time Alameda County has participated in the adoption day, a catered event with hundreds of balloons, stuffed teddy bears and other gifts given to children.
The event was far more of a celebration than the typical adoption, no more than a handful of which are processed by Alameda County every Friday.
"It's very dry, very anti-climactic," Ryan said.
The number of children adopted at the annual event continues to decline, a testament to the work of the Alameda County Social Services Agency, said Fredi Juni, the management analyst for the agency's Department of Children and Family Services.
When the event began, about 5,000 children were in the foster care system, while today there are 1,600. The decline is not due to the economy, she said, but to the efforts of children and family services in collaboration with the Alameda County Juvenile Court.
Children without parents or those who are removed from a home because of neglect enter the county's foster care system while social services strives to place them with relatives and eventually find them a permanent home.
Across the country, more than 4,500 adoptions were planned on National Adoption Day while 114,000 children were still waiting to find families.
For Volasgis, her adoption saga began in 2002, when her son Michael Hopkins died after having a seizure. After hearing the news, she said her father had a heart attack and died two weeks later.
Marcus' mother, who has a total of seven children from different fathers, has a drug habit and is not stable enough to take care of him, so Volasgis became his foster mother.
"It's been a rough road, because he lost both parents, one to death and the other to not being stable," Volasgis said. And the turmoil has taken an emotional toll. "He goes to counseling," she said. "He's very, very happy with his therapist."
No fewer than 13 relatives and in-laws watched the 10-minute court proceeding which gave parental rights to Volasgis and canceled any future foster care court dates. Some were in town coincidentally for Volasgis' mother's funeral.
Volasgis, a school bus driver who is studying social work at Cal State East Bay, will be living with her husband and Marcus in the Hayward hills, in the same home her family lived in for decades and where her son died while taking care of his grandparents, she said. Her children include Genesis Jackson, 9, and Vanessa Hopkins, her adult daughter from a previous marriage.
"It's a real blessing that Mom was strong enough to go through the process, so he'll be with us forever," Hopkins said.
"I feel good because today's the big day," Marcus said.
Sitting in front of the judge in court with his soon-to-be mother, Marcus cuddled with a deflating balloon, yawned and laid his head back in the chair. Beaming, Judge Gail Bereola asked whether Volasgis understood and agreed to take full responsibility for her new son's financial and emotional well-being.
"Wholeheartedly," Volasgis replied.
Bereola said she was heartened to see so many relatives turn out and that familial support would be crucial during Marcus' teen years.
If the parents are unavailable, placing children with relatives is ideal, social worker Ryan said. The county even went as far as paying for the dissolution of Volasgis' previous marriage to resolve any custody issues.
Volasgis said being able to travel outside of California with Marcus will be one of the perks of the adoption.
"It helps to heal my heart because of my son passing," she said. "I feel like I'm giving something back."
To learn about becoming a foster or adoptive parent in Alameda County, call 510-259-3575 or go online at www.pathwaytohome.org.
Read article: