‘It’s amazing.’ 21 Coast children find forever homes in emotional adoption ceremony.
It was a unique day at the Jackson County courthouse. In a room typically reserved for solemn occasions, cake and lemonade were served as applause echoed off the walls.
Appropriately called adoption day, hardly a dry eye was in the attendance as the judges called up 14 families one by one to sign the paperwork officially welcoming a total of 21 children — varying in age from as old as a few months to teenagers — into their new families.
“Adoption day is a very special day in the lives of these children and parents,” said Chancery Court Judge Mark Maples, who over oversaw several of the adoption cases. “It is a tremendously rewarding day.”
Beyond the shared experience of being adopted, all the children present were children whose biological parents had terminated their parental rights. The kids were in immediate need of housing and often came from tough backgrounds.
The ceremony was held in open court. Normally such events are held in closed court, but on this occasion all the families had agreed to be part of a public ceremony.
“It’s been a journey, but I wouldn’t trade a moment for it,” said Katrina Johnson, who adopted her goddaughter and cousin Ava Sky.
Johnson’s mother, best friend and biological son were all in attendance to celebrate the occasion. Sky, 2, came into Johnson’s care when she was 7 months old.
“I didn’t expect it, but now that we are here it’s great to have her,” said Javonte Johnson, 14, with Sky in his arms. “At first, I was thinking, ‘OK, we’ll have her for a couple months,’ but then it turned into two years…I just want to keep showing her more love each day.”
Another family there was the Shaw family, who had so many out of town relatives they took up three rows in the court room. They were adopting their two foster children — Michael, 8, and Colton, 3 — who have been in their care for 599 days.
“It’s a very interesting journey we have been on,” said Donald “Heath” Shaw, reflecting on the fostering to adoption process.
They initially got the call at 9:30 p.m. to take in Michael and Colton, resulting in them needing to find clothes and such for them in the middle of the night. Although the Walmart was closed because of COVID, family and friends brought them what they needed.
The Shaw family will be heading to Disney World to celebrate.
“I want to do the Toy Story bumper cars,” said Michael, jumping up and down eliciting smiles from his new parents.
Others there had gone through this process before.
Micah Wiggins and his wife were there adopting their third child. The couple also has three biological children.
“We can’t imagine our lives without Truitt in it,” Wiggins said, holding his 14-month-old son. “It is amazing what you do for someone else, how it makes you feel.”
The Wiggins family had previously adopted Truitt’s sister, so they made a natural choice when Truitt entered the system.
“You don’t want to stop because there are more children who need help,” Wiggins said.
This story was originally published March 12, 2022 at 5:50 AM.