'Every child deserves love': Franksville couple adopts 3 brothers from Ecuador, thanks to grant from Wisconsin nonprofit

 

FRANKSVILLE, Wis. (CBS 58) -- On a sunny Wednesday afternoon, Josue Gonzalez, 11, Darwin Gonzalez, 9, and Abraham Gonzalez, 6, happily kick around a soccer ball in a Franksville playground. 

But this simple trip to the park has been more than two years in the making. 

The three brothers spent the last five years living in an orphanage in Ecuador. 

Little did they know, their home would soon be found in Wisconsin.

“When we first found out that we weren’t going to have biological children, adoption was our first choice," Nicole Gonzalez told CBS 58's Ellie Nakamoto-White. 

She and her husband David decided to sign with an adoption agency in 2020, right before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

"I've always wanted to be a dad," David Gonzalez said.

The couple were first interested in adopting a child from Colombia as Gonzalez is half-Colombian but were notified those three young boys in Ecuador needed a family.

After spending seven weeks in South America, the two brought the brothers home at the end of March 2023.

“Now here we are with three!" Gonzalez said. “It's not an easy process, it’s a long process, there’s a lot of paperwork and a lot of vetting but it’s 100% worth it."

The adoption wouldn't have been possible without financial aid from Gift of Adoption Fund, a nonprofit organization that was founded in Wisconsin in 1996, that provides grants to complete the adoption process for hopeful parents. 

"Adoption is such a special gift and it really is the children," said Chrissy Lang, a board member with the Wisconsin chapter. “Every child deserves love. Every child deserves the opportunity to succeed. So, having the opportunity of just parents providing a loving environment that they may not have received in an orphanage or in foster care, that gives them stability and that gives them the opportunities to actually thrive.”

Since the start, the organization has been able to open up 27 chapters across the country and help over 5,000 children in Wisconsin alone. Josue Gonzalez is the five-thousandth. 

“This milestone of having the 5,000th child here back in Wisconsin is just a circle of amazement," Lang said. "There's easily 5,000 more to help."

The Gonzalez's said being able to be called "mami" and "papi" is a "welcome surprise" and they are looking forward to their first family camping trip.

“Adoption is amazing, and I think that we didn’t know how amazing it could be until we had these boys' home with us. We’re just so incredibly happy to have the support of Gift of Adoption because I don’t know where we’d be without that," Gonzalez said. “It honestly felt like they were supposed to be our boys. It’s definitely meant to be.”