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Ten families celebrated their "forevers" with new family members Friday on National Adoption Day.
Rocking t-shirts with messages like, “Forever Starts Today” and “We Are the Village,” 10 families in Osceola County saw their adoptions legally finalized Friday, recognized as National Adoption Day.
The state of Florida had already designated November as Florida Adoption Month. Nearly 22,000 Florida children are in the foster-care system, awaiting a “forever family” through adoption. Nearly 4,000 found that family in the last fiscal year, Osceola County Embrace Families Executive Director Naseeam McPherson-James said at Friday’s event.
A new state website, AdoptionFlorida. org, features a list of those looking for an adoptive family, and testimonials from those who have gone through the process and added to their families. Two moms who added to their families Friday, Melissa Walker and Aubry Baird, shared those in person at the event.
Walker is adopted for the first time after fostering 18 different children in her time.
“I’m so blessed to have my son begin a life with what he’s been through,” she said.
Baird said Friday was “a long time coming,” and that her family has been very much positively affected by adoption — her grandparents adopted her mother.
“I always knew, as a little girl, that some day I wanted to adopt,” she said. “I love a quote that says, ‘Adoption carries the added dimension of a connection, not only to your own child, but beyond, and what constitutes love ties into a larger embrace.’ We’re so thankful for those who helped us pursue this best decision and worked together to make it happen, all along this journey.”
Judge Laura Shaffer, who presided over some of Friday’s adoptions, said adoption was a “big part of my law practice” before moving on to the bench.
“Adoption’s a huge blessing in many ways: it changes the child’s life for generations to come. It gives grandchildren, nieces and nephews, people in his or her life to love and support them and help them reach their potential,” the judge said. “When an entire family helps ensure their success, their success is guaranteed.”
Note: Representatives of the county court system and the adopting families asked the media to refrain from publishing photos showing the adoptive children's faces. The News-Gazette complied with that request.
