"Enjoy life with us," 19-year-old Wednesday's Child thrilled to be part of Santana family
SHREWSBURY - It's a Wednesday's Child story that is absolutely remarkable. Everything changed for 19-year-old Marisol Santana on March 17.
"It's my adoption day. It's the day I changed my name, the day I was able to be born into a family and it's really cool," she told WBZ-TV.
The newest member of the Santana family said the process started more than a year ago.
"I stayed there for a couple of weeks. It was very tough going back and forth, I cried every time. I would always say, 'I just want to be like a family, I just want to move in.' I was just waiting for the day for it to finally happen and then a year later I was adopted and I was like, 'Oh my God, this is everything that I wanted," Marisol said.
"Mari has the biggest personality that I've ever met," her mother, Heather Santana, told WBZ.
Heather and Edwin Santana have always helped their community. The two met when they were Marines and they have three of their own but when they were looking to give more love, they went a different route.
"We kind of have the mentality of like, we have another spot at our table, we have another room in our house. Let's invite someone else to enjoy life with us," Heather said.
"Her and I both did Big Brother, Big Sister in college and when we were in the Marines. So we've spent time with a little bit older kids and stuff like that. Seeing as we already had a bunch of children we thought it would be easier getting an older kid," Edwin Santana told WBZ.
And as you can imagine, the day this was all made official was an emotional one, not only for Heather, Edwin and Marisol but also for the whole extended family
"It was all hugs and sunshine and rainbows for me," Marisol said.
"They made the day very special. Everybody in the courtroom was really awesome," Edwin added.
"Everyone was crying," Marisol said.
"It's cool because she doesn't only have parents and siblings, she also has aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents," Heather said.
Now Marisol has a forever home with a brother and two sisters.
"We kind of joke that we like to have our kids in pairs. Teddy and Valerie are 18 months apart. She was born in May of 2021 and then we met here in October. So we basically had both sets of kids in pairs but this one was a baby and she was 17," Edwin said.
Marisol also has a message for those waiting for their forever family.
"To have hope, I struggled with it for years. It's really, really hard to have hope but you have to find that person to give you hope," she told WBZ.
For more information on adoption you can contact MARE: 617-964-MARE (6273) or visit www.mareinc.org.
Since its inception in 1981, Wednesday's Child has been a collaboration of the Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange (MARE), the Department of Children & Families and WBZ-TV/CBS Boston. Hosted by Jack Williams for 34 years, this weekly series has given a face and voice to the children who wait the longest for families. Wednesday's Child has helped find homes for hundreds of waiting children and continues to raise awareness about adoption from foster care.