A Week Before 9-Year-Old Vincenzo’s Adoption Was Final, His Pop Warner Teammates Handed Him a Jersey With His New Last Name on the Back

On Friday, Oct. 16, inside Onondaga County Family Court in Syracuse, 9-year-old Vincenzo rang a bell, and the adoption that had been moving through the system for years became final. Judge Christina DeJoseph presided over the hearing. His new parents, Krista and Michael Wells, were beside him, and his fourth-grade classmates were watching on a video link.

Vincenzo Wells, of Baldwinsville, New York, had been living with the family for nearly three years. A week before the hearing, his Pop Warner football teammates had handed him a jersey with his new last name on the back. CNY Central, the Syracuse-area station that covered both moments, reported the details.

Before Christmas, on Less Than 24 Hours’ Notice

According to CNY Central’s report from the courthouse, Vincenzo came into the Wells home just before Christmas, nearly three years ago, on less than 24 hours’ notice. Extended family welcomed him right away and included him in a holiday trip that had already been planned.

In New York, a foster adoption begins with an agency. The state’s Office of Children and Family Services describes foster adoptions as agency adoptions, in which a local department of social services or an approved voluntary agency places the child with a family. After placement, the page says, the adoptive parents “proceed with completion of the adoption in court.”

That last step is the one the Wells family waited on. The process had been delayed by more than a year, according to the station’s earlier story on the jersey surprise. Vincenzo had been part of the family’s life for years in the meantime, so the hearing made an existing relationship official rather than starting a new one.

The Wells family also includes a younger sister, the station reported. Michael Wells described the wait this way: “It’s been a long road. It’s been a number of years.”

The Saturday Before the Hearing, in a Jersey Marked Wells

The week before the court date, Vincenzo’s Pop Warner teammates and coaches gave him a new jersey before a Saturday game. It carried the name “Wells,” the last name he was about to take. Krista Wells, his foster mother at the time, did not know it was coming, CNY Central reported. The jersey was made possible by Rick Magnanti of Mags Athletics, according to the station.

At the time, the station identified him as Vincenzo Murphy, a 9-year-old fourth grader who was preparing to become Vincenzo Wells. He told the reporter he felt good wearing the jersey, and that it was not something a person simply earns and gets to have.

Krista Wells told the station the family chose Vincenzo as much as he chose them. She said she had told him that he has many people who love him and that he is not losing anyone by joining the family.

Pop Warner describes itself on its website as a youth sports organization whose “scholar-athletes” take part in the classroom and community. For Vincenzo, the team’s gesture arrived about a week before a hearing that would settle his last name for good. The station reported that his whole fourth-grade class was expected to watch the ceremony virtually.

Parent Diaries has also covered a Kansas first grader who asked for his whole class to be there when his own adoption was finalized.

Oct. 16 in Syracuse, and Then Niagara Falls

The hearing took place at Onondaga County Family Court, which sits in the Onondaga County Courthouse at 401 Montgomery St. in Syracuse, according to the New York State court system. The court hears matters involving children and families, including adoption, guardianship and foster care review.

CNY Central reported that Vincenzo’s classmates joined virtually, and that his school principal and other supporters attended. Judge DeJoseph said she had never seen a classroom join an adoption ceremony that way and called the community support lovely. Vincenzo rang a bell to make the adoption official, and he later said the bell was what he would remember most.

He had a choice about his name. Vincenzo could keep his original last name, take Wells or combine the two, the station reported, and he was excited to become a Wells. He said he was really happy and that it felt really nice to be finally adopted.

Judge DeJoseph told the station that adoption ceremonies are among the most rewarding moments in a courtroom, adding, “It never gets old.” She said the family looks natural together and that it is no different than any other family.

Since the adoption, Vincenzo has started calling Krista and Michael “mom” and “dad,” the station reported. His parents let him decide when he was ready. They described the adoption as bringing peace after years of uncertainty, and one of them said of Vincenzo, “He’s here. He’s staying. And he wants to be here.”

The celebrating was not finished at the courthouse. The family planned a trip to Niagara Falls after the hearing, a destination Vincenzo had been looking forward to, according to CNY Central.

Syracuse also holds a group Adoption Day each fall. CNY Central reported on Nov. 21, 2025, that Syracuse’s 25th annual Adoption Day at the Oncenter ended with more than 38 children adopted. Vincenzo’s Oct. 16 hearing was a single case, but it ended the same way: a child with a new last name and a family that had waited.

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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.

Image: Warren LeMay – CC BY-SA 2.0/Wikimedia Commons