Julian's Story In foster care since birth, he longed to be connected with family...

Julian was on the verge of being another foster care statistic, aging out without support or significant lifetime connections when he went to Hollygrove and met Linda Librizzi, head of Family Finding.  Hollygrove is part of EMQ FamiliesFirst, California’s largest children’s services agency.

When Julian first came to Hollygrove, he was 16, had been in foster care since birth and was cut off from any birth family he might have had.  But unlike most other youth in the system, he had learned to be a strong advocate for his own needs and was very capable of asking for what he wanted.  What he wanted most was to find his family. 

The Family Finding program at EMQ FamiliesFirst helps reconnect children with safe, healthy families. Using Internet search technology and dogged perseverance, biological family members are found for children who believe they have no one.

Determined to make a connection, Julian would regularly call Linda for updates and progress.  He was tenacious, and wanted to find his family through any means.

Julian had provided Linda with information on some family members with whom he’d had contact in the past.  Eventually Linda found Janet, an aunt on his mother’s side.  She had been adopted as a baby and coincidentally had started her own search for birth family.  She was thrilled to learn of Julian, and very concerned to know he was in foster care.  She wrote a letter and sent photos, which were passed to Julian.  He was excited to learn of her and how they had similar interests, and that they even looked alike.   After the agency thoroughly checked to ensure the potential relationship would be a safe one for Julian, a meeting was arranged.

The weekend visit went so well Julian didn’t want to leave.  “I finally feel love from someone related to me,” he said before his reluctant return to his foster home.  Janet and the county worked together in the hopes that Julian would be placed with her, but due to a number of issues, Julian’s search was not over.

Through Janet, Linda learned that Julian’s mother was in jail, but attempts to contact her via mail or by personal visit were unsuccessful.  Janet also had information that lead the team to discover Julian had two older siblings.  After discussing this with Julian and obtaining a court order so that the agency could act as confidential intermediary, requests went out to these siblings to see if they wanted contact.  During this time, Julian was still rootless, moving to various placements, missing school credits, unable to play on school sports teams and feeling hopeless about his future.

His older sister Paulina was the first to respond.  She did, indeed, want to have contact with Julian.  She sent photos of herself, her six-month-old daughter and her adoptive family.  The family resemblance with Julian was astounding.  Contact started with phone calls, and Julian, a child who didn’t often smile or show any outward signs of happiness beamed when talking to his sister on the phone. 

When Julian and Paulina met in person, they hit it off immediately and started regularly communicating via phone and text messaging.  Paulina told Linda, “My brother has touched my heart and I want to do everything I can to help him.  Later she called to say that her own adoptive mother wanted to meet Julian.  Joy was a certified foster parent and while she had no placements at the time, she considered taking Julian in as her own.  Julian so wanted this to happen that he even offered to get a job to help offset the expense of raising him.  However, Joy told him his job was to focus on completing high school and to play team sports – something he desperately wanted to do.  Within a month, Julian was living with Joy and Paulina was living nearby.  He enjoyed having a sister and being an uncle to his niece.  He soon started making up schoolwork, playing on two sports teams and was enrolled in a gym.  When asked how happy he was on a scale of 1 to 10, he enthusiastically responded “100!”

Julian’s search didn’t end there.  He and Paulina wanted to find their older brother, Charles.  Linda again began searching and found Charles living nearby.  Linda learned that he was developmentally disabled, but working and living in an apartment through a program he’d been involved with for years.  As she got to know him, she provided him with as much information as she could legally, and tried to assuage his concern that his new-found siblings wouldn’t like him because of his disability.

Eventually, all three met.  They were nervous at first but were soon all crying with joy and sharing information about interests, talents, and their individual histories. They agreed that this was their first day together as a family.  Soon after they spent a Thanksgiving morning
together – all thankful for having found each other.

Julian now reports that for the first time in his life, he feels truly loved and cared for.  He’s excelling in school and is doing “regular teenager stuff.”  And thanks to the Family Finding Program at EMQ FamiliesFirst he’s finally got a family – and roots.

» Next Success Story

» How Can I Help?

Confidentiality of EMQ FamiliesFirst children and families has been preserved
through the use of models. Some stories may be composites of multiple cases.