Admittedly certain days working in child welfare are extremely difficult. There are days that you’ll get yelled at, tasked with investigating and put in uncomfortable situations. There are long nights, many court reports to write, calls to make and children to visit. Then there are days like today. It is National Adoption Day. For the occasion the clay courthouse planned a large adoption day with many families scheduled to appear in front of the judge to complete their unit. Just so happened that I had 8 children scheduled to be united with their forever homes. I had several guardian ad Litem volunteers come to be with their kids on their special day, one of our GAL attorneys, our circuit director and my CAM supervisor, along with every family and their biggest supporters. One by one, each family took the oath before the judge. The judge listened to testimony from caseworkers, family members, GALs and Adoption workers.

I started the morning gathering gifts, gift bags, tissue paper and assembling 8 gifts for these wonderful kids. I sat in awe of these families as they shared their stories of unconditional love for each other. I learned about the large amount of support these families have, parents, grandparents, ,brothers, sisters, siblings, aunts, uncles, friends. Some kids were excited, others cried tears of joy, all of them looking to their parents with looks of security and stability. Watching these children achieve permanency today, means the world to me. Seeing all eight kids, five different cases close to this happy ending makes my heart full. It was a very long day, a day that I will always remember.

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