Suffolk County Adoption Day: Suffolk kids in the foster care system find their forever homes

Samuel Rodriguez Purnell, 12, had been living in a foster home for the past three years before he was adopted.

The boy was previously in a Port Jefferson Station group home before he joined a Riverhead foster family three years ago as an emergency placement. On Friday, they officially became his own adoptive family.

"We were waiting for this day a very long time," said his adoptive mother, Stephanie Clark, 35, who said she will stay in touch with Samuel's biological mother. "Although it doesn't feel different, deep down we know he’s ours the rest of our lives and it’s a special feeling."

Samuel was one of nine children officially adopted by families Friday and approved by Suffolk County Family Court judges at the Long Island Aquarium in Riverhead. Suffolk observed its annual National Adoption Day ceremony while it is marked nationally on Nov. 22.

"As soon as we met, we had a great connection," Samuel said in an interview. While he had doubts that the adoption would actually go through, he said he now "feels like I’m a part of something."

There are nearly 770 children in the foster system in Suffolk County and a lucky few are able to complete the sometimes lengthy and difficult process to be in a final adoption. The number of foster children in Suffolk's care has increased by about 200 children since last year, said Presiding Family Court Judge Caren Loguercio.

Suffolk County finalized 51 adoptions last year, including 11 at last year’s adoption ceremony at the aquarium, according to a county social services report. This year's figures were not available Friday.

"Every day, in Family Court, we see tragic and very upsetting stories with children who need safety, security and love and sometimes even just having their basic needs met," Loguercio said. "When we're able to culminate these cases in such a wonderful celebration here, it sends such a powerful message about the need for people to step up and open their hearts and their homes, for these children to provide them with everything that a child deserves, no matter how old they are."

The adoptions were completed with a Family Court judge who reviews background checks and financial and medical disclosures before signing off to make the adoption official.

Families on Friday were joined by a character actress dressed as Ariel from the Little Mermaid and Long Island Ducks mascot QuackerJack. Families were then invited to explore the aquarium.

Chris Fetherston -Koch, a former police officer and FDNY firefighter, and his husband, John, adopted their second son, 6-month-old Liam, whom they have had since he was an infant. He will join their 6-year-old adopted son Noah.

The couple decided two years ago to begin the process for their second adoption. Just when they were about to give up, they got the call that Liam might be coming.

"It felt like he was ours from the beginning," Chris Fetherston -Koch said.

John Fetherston -Koch said they didn’t want to get their hopes up before Liam was born.

"I never in my wildest dreams thought that I would have one child, let alone two of them," John Fetherston -Koch said. "There are a lot of things, growing up that I didn't think I'd have at all. So, to have so many dreams come true, and to have a family, it's literally dreams come true, prayers answered."

Gloria Lopez and her nephew Daniel Alejandro Gutierrez Lopez, 12, of Riverhead, waited 12 years for their adoption to be finalized. Lopez said the adopted the boy's mother, her sister, had to return to Ecuador shortly after he was born.

"There are no words to express the happiness. We’re blessed as a family," Lopez said. "When you make something yours, it’s a miracle in your heart."