\u201cA family is made of love. Love knows No color or age.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Heartbreakingly, there are hundreds of thousands of kids<\/a> in the United States<\/a> in foster<\/a> care, and a severe shortage of capable families willing to permanently adopt them. The situation might even seem hopeless for young kids as they start to get older and become less \u201cdesirable\u201d to adopt. But it\u2019s never too late to find your family<\/a>. That\u2019s the heartwarming message being shared by Leah Paskalides and the daughter she adopted in 2021, then-19-year-old, Monyay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But this is no ordinary adoption<\/a> story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the age of 11, Monyay was placed into a foster care group home. The pain of having to go through life without a family was always difficult, but it hit hard in her senior year of school. \u201cMy senior year is when I went through one of those, \u2018I don\u2019t want to do it anymore, I\u2019m done,\u2019\u201d she told ABC News.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Monyay finished school a year early and used the extra time to volunteer with foster children<\/a> like her. But she faced a tough road ahead, as she was about to turn 18 and officially age out of the system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the Children\u2019s Home Society of Minnesota<\/a>, the 23,000 children who age out of foster care every year without families face many challenges. There are very few support systems in place for these now-adults. Without the watchful eye and help of their foster family and case workers, only 3% earn a college degree, half will develop a substance abuse problem, 60% of boys are convicted of crimes, and 70% of girls become pregnant before the age of 21.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After Monyay turned 18, it looked like she would have to enter the real world as an adult without any support. But then her caseworker and mentor from the Safe Children Coalition stepped up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Leah had always wanted to adopt Monyay, but it was a conflict of interest with her work. \u201cShe always said, \u2018I wish you could adopt me, wish you could adopt me,\u2019 and I couldn\u2019t because of the job and then I was watching a documentary where the person had been adopted as an adult, and I had never really heard of it,\u201d Leah said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After seeing a documentary about a man who was adopted as an adult, Leah decided that she wanted to adopt Monyay. \u201cI told her that I saw it and asked if it was something she would want, and she said yes,\u201d Paskalides recalled, according to Foster the Love<\/a><\/em>. \u201cI wanted to make sure she knew that she had somebody who loved her and who would have done this years ago and still would as an adult.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was important to me that she knew that she was wanted by somebody, that somebody loved her,\u201d Leah told Fox 13.<\/a> \u201cI could say that as many times as I want, but actions speak louder than words.\u201d On Tuesday, April 27, 2021, a judge signed the paperwork making the adoption official.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBeing told \u2018no\u2019 so many times, to hear that \u2018yes\u2019 and to hear them pronounce her as my mom, it\u2019s something that\u2019s like, oh my gosh, this is for real,\u201d Monyay told Fox 13.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As part of the adoption proceedings, the question lingered: which last name would Monyay like? When the 18-year-old announced it would be \u201cPaskiledes,\u201d both mom and new daughter began sobbing.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nChildren who age out of foster care face multiple challenges<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
It was important for Monyay to have a real family<\/h2>\n\n\n\n