Leota, MN, residents Ruby Celada, 36, and her 46-year-old husband Armando Ayala, are now parents to two girls and four boys. Their children include twelve-year-old girls Allana and six-year-old Aniya – and four boys: eight-year-old Jerry, eight-year-old Arturo, eight-year-old Aiden, and seven-year-old Avery.
The siblings and their cousin Jerry are very close after growing up together, so the couple adopted him as well. Ruby told the Argus Leader that she is happy the kids were not separated.
Before becoming the children’s mother, Ruby was an aunt to the siblings, though it is unclear if she was Jerry’s aunt. She said Child Protective Services took the children from her brother – their biological father – due to “neglect.”
Ruby told the Argus Leader – “They came a long, long way, they’ve been through so much. Kids want to be with their parents, but sometimes they cannot be, because of the choices the parents made.”
She kept tabs on them ever since they entered CPS’s custody with the intention of eventually adopting them. Among the children, three of their parents are in prison while the rest reside in the Sioux Falls area.
During the hearing, young Avery went up to his new father and gave him a bear hug and the 7-year-old told him – “I’ll take good care of you.”
Earlier this month, a New York state family adopted five siblings and became a family of eleven.