Announcement, Press Release |
Ten children will be joined to eight loving families on Friday at a National Adoption Day ceremony hosted at the Daley Center courthouse.
The annual celebration, regarded by Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans as the “happiest day of the year” at the courthouse, will be presided over by the Hon. Maureen Ward Kirby, acting presiding judge of the County Division, along with the Hon. Araceli De La Cruz and the Hon. Mary Trew. The ceremony, complete with cake, stuffed animals and balloons, will begin at 10 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 22 in Courtroom 1703 of the Daley Center, 50 W. Washington Street. Media is welcome and encouraged to RSVP prior to Friday.
Participating families have agreed to share their stories with the public to help bring awareness to the thousands of children in Illinois waiting for their permanent homes.
“Adoption makes children feel safe, secure and happy in loving ‘forever homes,’” Judge Evans said. “We hope that this ceremony will encourage more adoptions in Cook County, so that more children who need permanent homes can be blessed with this special bond.”
This year’s ceremony will include two friends who are adopting three siblings, Dakota, 8; Dorien, 7; and Dillard, 4. The two women and three children live together in the same house.
Jocqualyn Carter said the children came into her life during a difficult time - she had just lost her mother and was feeling depressed when she learned that a cousin was in crisis and her children needed a home. The cousin has since died.
“They melted my heart when I saw them,” said Carter, who became a foster mother to two of the children. A third sibling was taken by another foster mother, Carleeta Johnson.
As they navigated their new family arrangement, Carter and Johnson decided the siblings weren’t seeing enough of each other.
“So we had this bright idea to move in together so they could grow up together,” Carter said. “We’re very excited because neither one of us have biological children. They’re all our babies.”
Another adoptive mother, Lorraine Liggins, has already raised eight biological children of her own. She said she has more love to share and adopted two siblings – Kraheim, 4, and Khadija, 5. She is now adopting a third child – Amara, 4.
“You have to make a difference, even if it’s just in one child’s life,” Liggins said. “These kids need to be loved. They don’t need to be bounced around. They need stability.”
Diana Olivo and her husband, Fernando, adopted a baby boy in 2021, and are now adopting a daughter, Rain. The children are just four and a half months apart. Diana Olivo joked that they are “twiblings,” and said they have brought love and joy to the home.
“I learn a life lesson every day with them,” she said. She wants to dispel the misconception that an adopted child is not the same as a biological child. “Family is family at the end of the day, and love is what makes a family.”
Adoption attorney Genie Miller Gillespie and Shelley Ballard, who worked with the families adopting children this coming Friday, both said that adoptions took a hit with the pandemic, but have started to bounce back.
Judge Ward Kirby thanked the agencies, adoptive families and counsel that will make the joyful ceremony possible.
“There are so many beautiful children in Illinois in need of adoption,” said Ward Kirby. “During this month of Thanksgiving, the judges of the County Division are happy and honored to raise awareness of children in need of adoption and to celebrate National Adoption Day to recognize all the wonderful people who have opened up their hearts and homes to create forever families.”
Started by adoption agencies and children’s advocates, National Adoption Day is designed to raise awareness of the more than 113,000 children waiting to be adopted from foster care in the U.S.
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