As Hispanic Heritage Month shines a light on the importance of culture and tradition, the Gutierrez family shares how their roots guide their journey as foster parents.
“We’re trying to teach the girls,” Yolanda Gutierrez said. “We are Mexican Americans, and we love our Mexican heritage.”
Family is at the heart of Hispanic culture, and for these Arrow foster parents, Yolanda and Blanca Gutierrez, fostering has deepened that meaning.
“I went to a Catholic school at a very young age which I believe is what rooted me in Christ, my beliefs and my faith in the Church,” Yolanda said. “I started teaching them about Jesus and about the tradition itself because they had no knowledge of it even though they’re Hispanic.”
They have raised their foster daughters for more than six years in an environment that honors who they are and where they come from.
“Making the connection between the importance of understanding and accepting your culture,” Blanca Gutierrez said.
Heritage is celebrated in many ways like through food, celebrations and daily life, for Yolanda and Blanca, music is an important part of their Mexican-American culture and holds a special sentiment in their lives.
“My uncles on my father’s side of the family were all musicians while my aunt was a Spanish dancer, she danced and taught flamenco so that also inspires us as we’ve taught them the importance of listening to Hispanic music,” Yolanda said.
Proudly Mexican American, they are making sure the two young girls recognize and appreciate some impactful hispanic icons too.
“We’ve introduced them to Selena, taken them to the Mexican restaurant which was Selena’s favorite and visited her museum,” Blanca said. “Funny enough, we brought up the idea to go to South Padre, the girls responded ‘No, we want to go to Corpus Christi’ so we ended up visiting her grave.”
There’s a special sentiment for culture being best shared around the table, food has been the perfect chance for Yolanda and Blanca to pass down traditions to the two young girls.
“They know how to make so many Mexican dishes already, they love cooking tacos, we taught them to cook birria, pozole, menudo and Yolanda showed them how to make tamales; we introduced them to all of that,” Blanca said.
Food has not only been a way to pass on heritage, but also to build confidence and pride in the kitchen.
“The youngest is a perfect flauta maker, she wants to be a chef and loves to make flautas,” Yolanda said. “The oldest has a lot of patience when it comes to tamales and is so meticulous when she rolls out the tortilla, she adds more chicken to the ending and presses it in with her finger, and she always wants to be the one to do it.”
Both Yolanda and Blanca notice a deeper interest after teaching the girls about their food traditions – specifically when it comes to tamale season.
“During the holidays we will sit down to make tamales, they even put the hairnets on and everything like we practiced with our mothers,” Blanca said. “They used to ask if we are going to make tamales, but they’ve learned that what we do during Thanksgiving, we make tamales, enough to go into Christmas.”
Holidays have become opportunities to create new memories.
“Holidays, we try to make an extra special for them,” Yolanda said. “There was a Halloween where we dressed up, I was the grandma from Coco and Blanca did Frida Kahlo and we bought Mexican dresses for the girls.”
They hope that in their care the girls feel connected not only to their new home but also to their heritage.
For Blanca and Yolanda, celebrating their culture is a gift they want the girls to carry with them for life. They encourage other foster families, of all backgrounds, to do the same.
We celebrate all cultures, so even if you were not raised from Mexico–like my family didn’t celebrate Dia de los Muertos– teach the kids and do it slowly, movies have helped us so much too” Yolanda said. “It may take a while for the kids to break into everything, so make sure to have a lot of patience.”
Yolanda and Blanca tell us the main thing they want for the girls is for them to be comfortable, they aim to go above and beyond for them for everything.
This sense of belonging reflects the core of Arrow’s mission: providing children with stability, and identity rooted in love.