Cindy and Jeffrey Moore, a couple from New York, are celebrating the official adoption of 5-year-old Cece, who was placed with them through the foster care system when she was only two months old.
It took 1,954 days, but Cece’s adoption was made official on May 11, 2023, and Cece posed with a sign that read, “I’ve been in foster care for 1,954 days. Today, I’m being adopted!”
The sweet girl spoke with an ABC affiliate at the courthouse, saying she is “so excited to be here. My mom and dad are so nice.” She happily added, “I love them!”
Jeffrey Moore said, “We had very high hopes in the beginning that we would get to keep Cece long term and be able to adopt her into our family, and we’re ecstatic that it finally, finally got to that point.”
According to Good Morning America, the Moores became certified foster parents through Child and Family Services in 2015 after experiencing infertility. Cindy Moore explained, “Friends of ours had some children that they had fostered and then they were in the process of adopting some of them. So, we picked their brain a little bit, got a little bit of information about how the foster system worked and what their experiences were, and then they sent us information to the agency that we work through — Child and Family Services.”
The Moore home was originally just supposed to be an overnight stay for Cece. Cindy Moore explained, “Once we saw her cute little face, we jokingly told them, ‘If you need a place long term, let us know. The next day, they said, ‘You know, if you’re serious about it, we could really use a long-term placement for her.’ And yeah, here we are over five years later, and that long-term placement has now become a forever home for her.”
The Moore family has opened their home to approximately 30 children over the past 8 years. They have adopted two children, in addition to Cece, through the foster care system.
Jeffrey Moore shared, “It’s really, really gratifying for us. We’re very excited about it. Every time we take a child in our house, you never really know how it’s going to pan out long term by the time you start.”
“The same day that Cece was actually adopted, we found out that her half-brother that we’ve been fostering has been freed for adoption. So, we’ll be starting the adoption process with him as well,” Cindy Moore said.
Mr. & Mrs. Moore encourage others to consider becoming foster parents, too, and to understand how the process works. Cindy explained, “Something that I think that people need to go into foster care knowing is that the primary goal is always reunification with the family. And if that doesn’t happen, then you can go down the adoption route.” She continued, “For us, we’re very blessed and we’re very happy that for us, it ended that way.”
