13 Is Enough to Qualify for White House Honors

“Nobody is unadoptable,” says South Bay Municipal Judge Benjamin Aranda, who, with seven children of his own, adopted four more.

Today, First Lady Nancy Reagan will adopt the Aranda family’s program in a special White House ceremony honoring them and five other families for contributions to their communities and commitment to a strong family life.

The all-expense-paid trip to Washington--by the whole family, 13 strong--will be the first vacation the Arandas have ever had. “It costs a fortune,” explained the judge.

“We are very excited,” said son Benjamin, 15. “My eighth grade class went to Washington and I didn’t go because we couldn’t afford it. I’m looking forward to it.”

1986 Hispanic Family of the Year

The Aranda family was nominated for the Great American Family Awards program after being selected as the 1986 Hispanic Family of the Year.

Four years ago, the Arandas decided to adopt children into their already large family, Aranda said, because “you’re supposed to come into this world and try to make it a little better before you leave.”

They wanted children “considered unadoptable”--siblings with learning or physical disabilities, children older than 3, Hispanic children. That “is a problem for a lot of people but we were looking for Hispanic kids,” he said.

“There is nobody who is unadoptable. All they need is a lot of love and attention from brothers and sisters. . . .I just couldn’t see some poor kid being without a real home if we could do it.”

Doing it, he acknowledges, takes some doing--even with two incomes.

Aranda, who was appointed to his post in 1979, makes $74,432 a year. His wife, Emma, works part time for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Buying groceries costs about $2,000 a month and then there are shoes to buy. “Every payday, we buy a pair of shoes,” he said.

“We all sit around a table . . . all squeezed together,” Aranda said. “You should hear them argue about who does the dishes.”

An Orange County family, the Griffiths of Irvine, also will be honored at the White House today. Bill and Carolyn Griffith, who have two daughters and an adopted son, have cared for more than 20 foster children in the last six years.

Griffith, 40, will soon retire as a master sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps. In 1986, the Griffiths were named the Saddleback Valley Marine Corps family of the year. They will be the military family honored among the six recipients of the Great American Family Award.