Extending the Family : The Arnolds Are Mom and Dad to 16 Children, and Their House Has Been a Home to Many More

When Bill and Judi Arnold decided to add to their family of four daughters seventeen years ago, they hoped to adopt a baby boy. Six boys and six girls later, the Arnold family numbers 18. And that doesn’t include the 100 or so foster children who have lived temporarily in the couple’s Sunland home since 1972.

The first child the couple took in was a 15-month-old girl who suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome and parental abuse.

“I took one look at her and said ‘This is it,’ ” Judi, 40, recalled. “The doctor said, ‘She’s going to die, but take her home to die because we don’t want her to die here.’ When I put her back in the car, I said, ‘No, I’m not going to take her home to die.”

The Arnolds nursed her back to health, and today that baby, named Sara, is 17 and looking forward to college. Bill and Judi were her foster parents until they adopted her at age 8.

Seated at a large oak dining room table in their nine-bedroom home, Judi ran down her list of children--nine of whom were adopted and three of whom are under the Arnolds’ guardianship--giving ages and nationalities. Bill, 46, had just arrived from his job as department manager at a Montrose Vons.

Children came and went as she talked: Three toddlers in the kitchen were blowing whistles and chewing on licorice sticks, a girl flew past the picture window on a skateboard, two brothers asked if they could watch TV and a half-dozen teen-agers tramped up and down the stairs to answer the telephone.

Judi listed her biological daughters--Ronda, 24; Robin, 23; Kimberly, 19, and Christina, 17. Ronda and Robin, who live in Pasadena, are the only children who have moved out of the home.

Then Judi named her adopted children.

Brian, 15, (“Mr. Personality”), was adopted at 13 months, two years after the couple took in Sara.

“Then came Gina,” Judi said.

Gina, a Vietnamese girl, now 19, was airlifted from Da Nang through “Operation Baby Lift” at the end of the Vietnam War when she was 5. The couple saw the polio-stricken girl on a TV show that featured adoptive children with medical problems. Gina, who was 10 then, had been through two foster homes and several schools geared toward the severely disabled, which, according to Judi, had hindered her education.

‘Carried Some Clout’

The couple adopted Christian, a half-Navajo, half-Caucasian girl, now 8. Judi said proudly that it is unusual for a Caucasian couple to adopt an American Indian child. “We never really knew how it happened, but we knew we carried some clout,” Judi said of Christian’s adoption seven years ago.

The Arnolds next offered to adopt De Andre and Michael, 10- and 11-year-old half brothers who are black. Judi said county officials were hesitant.

“But I said, ‘Oh, come on,’ and they said, ‘Oh, we can’t do that.’ And I said, ‘We’ll just do it anyway.’ And we did.” The adoption of De Andre and Michael was finalized two months ago.

Beth Warner, the boys’ caseworker with the Los Angeles County Department of Children’s Services, said every effort was made to place the boys with black families. But because the Arnolds “have an ability to deal with differences and to focus on a child’s individual needs,” the children were placed with them.

Judi then talked about Maria, a 3-year-old Mexican girl who was adopted two years ago. She was not expected to walk because she has spina bifida, an opening at the base of the spine, which frequently cripples children. But, although she may need a shunt implant to keep her spinal fluid circulating, Maria now walks.

Judi then mentioned Jahar and Leslie. Jahar, a 3-year-old boy adopted through a private agency in Chatsworth specializing in children from India, was adopted two years ago. Leslie, a 4-year-old boy, was adopted two months ago.

Bill and Judi said a shortage of families willing to adopt “special-needs” children was what prompted them to expand their family.

The constant shuffling of unwanted children through foster homes and institutions also spurred them, Bill said, adding that one of their adopted children had been through seven foster homes and a boy’s home in one year.

Warner, who said the county has worked with “a handful of other families that have adopted many different ethnic children,” described the Arnold family as unusual.

‘Unique Family’

“They are a unique family because they contribute tremendously to enrich their children’s lives,” Warner said.

Because of legal entanglements, the couple have no plans to adopt the two sisters and a brother--Joy, Abby, and Ryan--ages 6, 7, and 10, under their legal guardianship. They said the children will probably remain with them until each turns 18. The Arnolds are even considering adopting another baby.

The Arnold children attend five different schools. On Sundays, they attend St. James Catholic Church in Tujunga in shifts. “They’re pretty overwhelmed,” Judi said of parishioners who see the family en masse at Christmas and Easter Masses. “You have to remember that we’re in a predominantly Caucasian neighborhood.”

Father Richard Henry, an associate pastor of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary in Paramount who once served as pastor for the Arnolds, said “sometimes it’s a three-ring circus” at the Arnold household, “and it’s never dull.”

“They help the kids develop discipline and they have a real love,” he said.

The couple divide their time among the children as best they can. “It’s more or less first come, first served,” Bill said. “Whoever comes screaming first, gets what they want.”

Each child must do two chores a day, which is “a lot of responsibility,” said Brian, who added that he and Sara often help with the smaller children.

Everybody Helps Out

“Someone changes diapers, someone cooks dinner and with everybody helping out, it takes the hassle out of doing it,” Brian said. “Sometimes I disagree with somebody, but a lot of times I get along.”

Christina said that many of her friends, who call her brothers and sisters “the seven continents,” don’t have brothers and sisters of their own and like to visit her house. “I’d rather live here because my friends get lonely,” she said.

Judi, who begins her day at 5 a.m., said the entire clan usually gathers for meals. The dining room table seats 16, and there is an extra table nearby. “It probably doesn’t take me any longer to make dinner than the average mother with two kids,” she said. “Maybe I’m used to it, I don’t know. I know others view us as an oddity, but we don’t.”

And, yes, people stare at the four shopping carts of groceries she packs into her van each week. Her husband, who invests in the stock market, estimates that their food bill is $1,000 per month. The only assistance the couple receives is for Michael and De Andre--$300 a month from the county for the next two years.

Bill Arnold said his children have not encountered racial problems at home, at school or in the community.

“Kids are kids,” he said.

He looked at Sara and De Andre, who smiled and said, “We’re pals,” with their arms draped over each other’s shoulders.

“Adults make racial problems, kids don’t,” Bill said. “A child has no prejudice.”

The Arnold children are exposed to their cultural roots through organizations like Bal Jagat in Chatsworth, which arranged Jahar’s adoption.

Hemlata Momaya, who founded the agency that specializes in Indian adoptions, said the Arnold children seem to be adjusting well to each other.

“Many times you can’t tell which children they have adopted,” Momaya said. “And it is good to see how the older children take care of the younger children.”

In the Arnolds’ dining room, as more children entered from all corners of the house, a chorus of requests, all beginning with “Mom!” could be heard. The loudest came from Brian, who asked, “Mom! What’s for dinner?”

While attending to Maria, who tugged on her belt, and Leslie, who demanded more licorice, Judi Arnold looked her son square in the eye and deadpanned, “I haven’t got that far yet.”