{"id":300564,"date":"2023-10-24T10:37:55","date_gmt":"2023-10-24T15:37:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=300564"},"modified":"2023-10-23T16:20:27","modified_gmt":"2023-10-23T21:20:27","slug":"florida-teen-adopted-foster-before-18th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/florida-teen-adopted-foster-before-18th\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida teen adopted out of foster care hours before 18th birthday"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One Florida teen in foster care received a birthday present he\u2019ll never forget last week \u2013 a new family.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Roman Nehemiah Balassaitis was adopted by <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Renee and Brad Balassaitis of Jacksonville \u2014 just hours before his 18th birthday.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tfjHz9eVjbk?si=CnhxfCUKa9cNoS1a\" width=\"640\" height=\"355\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/center>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI was sweating bad. My heart was beating. I was very happy,\u201d Roman <a href=\"https:\/\/www.firstcoastnews.com\/article\/news\/local\/just-hours-turning-18-clay-county-teens-adoption-finalized\/77-e44e4134-5f37-49b7-8369-45195034b4d6?fbclid=IwAR2e8k-Zu3chzysGJ7IHJMsIUP6S3fBXpRBLHlx-Z3BvvNf7rkjz1wYn86c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> after his adoption was official. \u201cIt means I have someone to go to. It means if I need someone to talk to, I have people to talk to now.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Roman is now the seventh child Renee and Brad have adopted out of foster care, though they have fostered around 20 children over the years. They told <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.firstcoastnews.com\/article\/news\/local\/just-hours-turning-18-clay-county-teens-adoption-finalized\/77-e44e4134-5f37-49b7-8369-45195034b4d6?fbclid=IwAR2e8k-Zu3chzysGJ7IHJMsIUP6S3fBXpRBLHlx-Z3BvvNf7rkjz1wYn86c\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">First Coast News<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that though they started the adoption paperwork months ago, it was a close call getting things finalized before Roman turned 18.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cToday was a race to the finish line for Roman a day before he turns 18. And once he turns 18, there&#8217;s no adoption through the state as a minor. We&#8217;d have to go about it a whole different way,\u201d Renee said. \u201cAnd so, a lot of people work really hard at the end to get it all done in the nick of time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Going forward, having adoptive parents means that Roman will have a family to go home to and support him \u2013 something he\u2019s lacked nearly his whole life.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI think on paperwork it showed he has been in 19 different places over the past several years. So, it&#8217;s not been an easy life for him,\u201d Brad explained. \u201cI love that&#8230; we&#8217;ll have the opportunity to be a part of his life going forward, that he doesn&#8217;t have to worry about bouncing around anymore, he knows that we&#8217;re here for him.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Each year, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.adoptuskids.org\/meet-the-children\/children-in-foster-care\/older-youth-need-families\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">roughly 20,000 children<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> age out of the foster care system without a family to guide them or a place to call home. These young adults face a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/adoption.org\/dangers-aging-foster-care\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">number of dangers<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, including an increase in the chances of homelessness, unemployment, substance abuse, criminal activity, and more \u2013 issues that pose much less of a risk to Roman now that he has a family.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cHe knows that on holidays going forward, he&#8217;ll have a home here,\u201d <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/life\/humankind\/2023\/10\/20\/florida-teen-adopted-day-before-18th-birthday-roman-balassaitis\/71254282007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">added<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Brad. \u201cHe&#8217;ll be here for Thanksgiving and Christmas and even when the time comes that he moves out. That was really our goal, to kind of give him that stability so he&#8217;s got that base to launch from.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Roman was all smiles as his adoption was declared official.\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThank God! I want to say, \u2018Thank God, it happened!\u2019&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/stop-planned-parenthood\/?utm_campaign=sex_ed_petition&amp;utm_medium=LAN&amp;utm_source=website\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-295788\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Stop-PP-From-Sexualizing-Kids970x250-blur-700x180.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"180\" srcset=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Stop-PP-From-Sexualizing-Kids970x250-blur-700x180.jpg 700w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Stop-PP-From-Sexualizing-Kids970x250-blur-300x77.jpg 300w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Stop-PP-From-Sexualizing-Kids970x250-blur-768x198.jpg 768w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Stop-PP-From-Sexualizing-Kids970x250-blur-500x129.jpg 500w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Stop-PP-From-Sexualizing-Kids970x250-blur.jpg 970w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One Florida teen in foster care received a birthday present he\u2019ll never forget last week \u2013 a new family. Roman Nehemiah Balassaitis was adopted by Renee and Brad Balassaitis of Jacksonville \u2014 just hours before his 18th birthday. &nbsp; \u201cI was sweating bad. My heart was beating. I was very happy,\u201d Roman said after his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":607,"featured_media":300571,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[9455,3473],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Florida teen adopted out of foster care hours before 18th birthday<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Roman is now the seventh child the couple has adopted out of foster care, though they have fostered around 20 children over the years.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/florida-teen-adopted-foster-before-18th\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Florida teen adopted out of foster care hours before 18th birthday\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Roman is now the seventh child the couple has adopted out of foster care, though they have fostered around 20 children over the years.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/florida-teen-adopted-foster-before-18th\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-10-24T15:37:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-10-23T21:20:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/teen-adopted-foster-care.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bridget Sielicki\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bridget Sielicki\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/florida-teen-adopted-foster-before-18th\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/florida-teen-adopted-foster-before-18th\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bridget Sielicki\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/354818e37fca891455094342cfaacf2f\"},\"headline\":\"Florida teen adopted out of foster care hours before 18th birthday\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-24T15:37:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-23T21:20:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/florida-teen-adopted-foster-before-18th\/\"},\"wordCount\":424,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Human Interest\",\"Newsbreak\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/florida-teen-adopted-foster-before-18th\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/florida-teen-adopted-foster-before-18th\/\",\"name\":\"Florida teen adopted out of foster care hours before 18th birthday\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-24T15:37:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-23T21:20:27+00:00\",\"description\":\"Roman is now the seventh child the couple has adopted out of foster care, though they have fostered around 20 children over the years.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/florida-teen-adopted-foster-before-18th\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/florida-teen-adopted-foster-before-18th\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/florida-teen-adopted-foster-before-18th\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Florida teen adopted out of foster care hours before 18th birthday\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Live Action News\",\"description\":\"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, &amp; Pro-Life Issues\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Live Action\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"width\":701,\"height\":710,\"caption\":\"Live Action\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/354818e37fca891455094342cfaacf2f\",\"name\":\"Bridget Sielicki\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9cf04f4b8f1370c0d4ec72e4c6913a37?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9cf04f4b8f1370c0d4ec72e4c6913a37?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Bridget Sielicki\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/bridget-sielicki\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Florida teen adopted out of foster care hours before 18th birthday","description":"Roman is now the seventh child the couple has adopted out of foster care, though they have fostered around 20 children over the years.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/florida-teen-adopted-foster-before-18th\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Florida teen adopted out of foster care hours before 18th birthday","og_description":"Roman is now the seventh child the couple has adopted out of foster care, though they have fostered around 20 children over the years.","og_url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/florida-teen-adopted-foster-before-18th\/","og_site_name":"Live Action News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","article_published_time":"2023-10-24T15:37:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-10-23T21:20:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":650,"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/teen-adopted-foster-care.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Bridget Sielicki","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@liveaction","twitter_site":"@liveaction","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bridget Sielicki","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/florida-teen-adopted-foster-before-18th\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/florida-teen-adopted-foster-before-18th\/"},"author":{"name":"Bridget Sielicki","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/354818e37fca891455094342cfaacf2f"},"headline":"Florida teen adopted out of foster care hours before 18th birthday","datePublished":"2023-10-24T15:37:55+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-23T21:20:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/florida-teen-adopted-foster-before-18th\/"},"wordCount":424,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Human Interest","Newsbreak"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/florida-teen-adopted-foster-before-18th\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/florida-teen-adopted-foster-before-18th\/","name":"Florida teen adopted out of foster care hours before 18th birthday","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-10-24T15:37:55+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-23T21:20:27+00:00","description":"Roman is now the seventh child the couple has adopted out of foster care, though they have fostered around 20 children over the years.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/florida-teen-adopted-foster-before-18th\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/florida-teen-adopted-foster-before-18th\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/florida-teen-adopted-foster-before-18th\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Florida teen adopted out of foster care hours before 18th birthday"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","name":"Live Action News","description":"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, &amp; Pro-Life Issues","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization","name":"Live Action","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","width":701,"height":710,"caption":"Live Action"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/354818e37fca891455094342cfaacf2f","name":"Bridget Sielicki","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9cf04f4b8f1370c0d4ec72e4c6913a37?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9cf04f4b8f1370c0d4ec72e4c6913a37?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Bridget Sielicki"},"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/bridget-sielicki\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300564"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/607"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300564"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":300572,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300564\/revisions\/300572"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}