SRA: Teen's Battle To Keep Siblings Together Leads To Loving Adoptive Home

SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) -- For Andrea Taylor-Alarcón and her adoptive moms Marcela Taylor and Sylvia Alarcón, family time is everything and on a recent weekday evening the close-knit trio strolled through their local park, the family dogs in tow.

This simple yet precious time together is something the mothers and their daughter are all grateful for.

Taylor-Alarcón's journey with her new family has been filled with lots of love, and special moments but also some heartbreak. The 19-year-old college freshman at Cal Poly Pomona came to the United States when she was very young.

Her birth mom struggled to care for Taylor-Alarcón and her two sisters. Eventually all three girls were placed in foster care together. Then an event happened that would change everything.

"My case was out into consideration for adoption," recalled Taylor-Alarcón. "And the social worker and the judge who was working on our case wanted to separate my sisters in and I. They wanted to put my sisters in one home for adoption in one home and me in another. They are my siblings. I would have never been separated from them."

So at just 11-years-old Taylor-Alarcón found herself fighting to keep her family together.

"The judge who was working on my case actually called me into his chambers and I got to speak with him," recalled Taylor-Alarcón. "He clearly asked me if I wanted to be separated from my siblings, and you know of course my answer was no...I fought really hard."

That fighting spirit paid off. Taylor-Alarcón and her sisters would soon find a forever home with Marcela and Sylvia, first as the spouses' foster children, then adopted children.

Their new, loving moms showering the sisters with family trips, holiday celebrations and pets.

It was a new life for Taylor-Alarcón. And a new name...Andrea Susana Taylor-Alarcón. She picked it herself as way to honor her new chosen family with love.

"Once I was adopted I knew I had to change my last name anyway, " explained Taylor-Alarcón. "So I wanted to change my first and middle name as well so my name is now Andrea Susana Taylor-Alarcón and my middle name honoring my current adoptive grandmother."

But her moms say the honor is all theirs, as they watch their daughter shine.

"She always helps us see the bright side and has us enchanted with that," said mom Marcela Taylor with pride. "We are proud of her and we know that she us going to go very far!"

Taylor-Alarcon recently declared biology for her major and she plans on becoming a heart surgeon, a career choice her moms say is no surprise to them as their daughter is always thinking of ways she can serve. Taylor-Alarcón is also an amazing cook and she plays seven instruments: the guitar, piano, flute, saxophone, Cajon, trumpet and drums.

But it's Taylor-Alarcón's compassion for others -- driven by her inner strength -- that inspires both of her moms.

"She's a giver," said Marcela Taylor. "And that is pretty amazing for someone who has gone through so much."

A sentiment echoed by her other mom Sylvia Alarcon.

"[Andrea's] an inspiration," declared mom Sylvia Alarcón. "Absolutely."