November is National Adoption Month, and one local family celebrated their adoption finalization during National Adoption Day, a yearly tradition led by local organizations, including ChildNet and Children's Home Society.
Teens in care often wait the longest to find permanency, and that is what makes this adoption incredibly special.
Wiline Profil was Atchelie's first case worker with ChildNet and when she heard Atchelie was still in foster care, she decided to make her part of her Forever Family.
"She was such a sweet girl and for her to keep growing up in the system. I was like, I can't do that," says Wiline. "She reminds me of myself. She's Haitian, decent, just like me. I already connected with her when she was about six, seven years old."
"We had discussions," says dad Xavier Drayton. "And we felt like it was the right thing to do."
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So Wiline and Xavier moved forward with her placement and then adoption.
"When you listen to all of the people, and all of the organizations, it raises to the forefront that this is a community event, and a community effort, and speaks to the wonderful generosity of this Palm Beach community," says ChildNet CEO and President Larry Rein.
Atchelie says she's excited to have her forever family and not have to move from foster home to foster home.
As a teen, she will get the stability a loving home provides, which is needed to blossom and grow. And her family is excited about what they will receive.
"A lot of excitement. We have a younger child as well, so now he has an older sibling, so she really completes the family," says Xavier.
Congratulations again to Atchelie and her forever family! National Adoption Day is designed to shed light on the need to find more families willing to adopt since nearly 100 other children are still waiting for a home here in Palm Beach County.
To learn more about foster care or adoption, contact Forever Family in partnership with ChildNet by visiting foreverfamily.org.