Foster Care Graduate Pays it Forward: Single Mom Adopts 6 Boys To Make A Difference

• Jessica Benzakein, 46-year old single mom and a foster care system alumnus made news after finalizing the adoption of six boys
• Some may think the boys were ‘lucky’, but to Jessica, these boys had given her purpose
• Now, she shares a fun and safe home with her family – eight kids including two of her own

The ordeals and experiences of foster care system is never easy. Growing up without a family is the type of bitter story best told by people like Jessica Benzakein. Now a mom of two sons, Jessica is gathering attention of news sites after she adopts six boys from the same foster care system where she was placed over three decades ago.

Jessica Benzakein, now 46 years old, had shared how it all started when she was 12 years old and her mother terminated her parental rights. As a result, she became an overaged ward of the state, prompting Mr. Ron, her caseworker, to be frank in telling her that it will be very hard for her to be adopted.

She was told at age 12 that she is too old to be adopted, because she doesn’t “fit what people are looking for.” She further shared that her case worker said most people think children aged 12 andlike her are viewed as “deeply damaged and horribly troubled” with no hope for reversal. Between the ages of 2 and 5, your chances of adoption drop substantially.”

As predicted, she had to stay in the foster care system until she turned 18 and enrolled for college.

She also shared that being in the system is not easy as there are times when she had to stay by herself during holidays because she had no family to go home to. “You’re expected to leave, but I didn’t have anywhere to go,” she said. “So, I paid to stay in a room the size of a guest closet.”

With the zeal to make a change for the youth in foster care, even though she already has two biological sons, Eli, 14, and Brenna, 9, she took in six boys and gave them what she didn’t have few years back- a home and a family.

The boys she adopted are; siblings Will, 17, Carter, 14, Sidney, 13, and Buddy, 8, and brothers Kendrich, 6, and T.J., 4.

Filled with joy and gladness, she said in an interview, “Everybody tells me how lucky these kids are and what a good thing I did, but … I’m going to cry … they grounded me. I went through my 20s thinking I didn’t really need a family. But I did. They give me purpose.”

Narrating her contentment and the rapport between her biological and adopted sons, she said, “We have fun here. It’s total chaos in a good way,” She further explained that, “They have a safe place where they can screw up and make mistakes and laugh and joke and poke fun at each other.”

With the recently concluded final signing of adoption papers facilitated by Judge Mark Sanders, Jessica Benzakein, now a proud mother of eight sons said, “We’ve been living like a family for a long time, but now, no one can tell us we’re not.”