On Friday, Dec. 19, Family Support Services and our community partners celebrated the adoption of 19 children at our last Home for the Holidays event of the year – complete with Santa, gifts, the Grinch, and recognizing teenagers being adopted from foster care, a group that can sometimes be overlooked.

One family, Emily Clement and Wesley Camp, finalized the adoption of 14-year-old Wyatt, who is experiencing many firsts this holiday season. He’s getting his first real Christmas tree, choosing his own special ornament with his mom and dad, decorating a home for the holidays for the first time, and all-around just being expected to be a kid at the holidays. New mom Emily shared that they will also take a family trip to see snow for the first time!

“People tend to forget that with older kids you still have a lot of firsts. This year it was the first time he got to pick out his own Christmas tree and decorating the home and have that full family dynamic,” Clement said.

Watch coverage from the 2025 Home for the Holidays event from Action News Jax here.

To learn more about adoption from foster care, click here or make plans to attend our next Pop In for Permanency event.