One little boy in particular captured Rogers’ heart, he said.
“The entire day was stolen by one little boy,” the judge said. “I learned a lot Saturday, I learned about zombies and how they walk and then it was about T-Rex, very informative.”
This was the largest group of adoptions the judge has ever done at one time, and this year, the county had the largest total number of adoptions its seen in recent years. Children Services Adoption Supervisor Theresa Cooper said there have been 72 adoptions to date this year, compared to 56 last year and 51 in 2013.
Cooper said another unusual happenstance this year was the number of multiple sibling adoptions.
“Something unique to our adoptions that happened on Saturday, not to say this never, ever happens, but we had four sibling groups of three adopted, and we had four sibling groups of two,” Cooper said. “That’s kind of unique for the bigger groups of kids. Sometimes those are a little harder to place.”
Also uncommon on Saturday was the fact Pandora and Richard Logsdon of Middletown adopted their foster girls Kelsie, 19, and Kirstyn, 15. Kelsie emancipated from the foster care system when she was 18, but told the Journal-News at the graduation ceremony last June she wasn’t ready to be on her own.
The girls’ parents, mom who is 59 and dad 61, already have two grown children and are now retired. They had been empty nesters for 20 years when they decided to become foster parents. Pandora said her daughters came to live with them in April 2012.
“We specifically asked for older girls because we were told that older kids don’t get a very good chance at a forever home,” she said. “We picked girls because that’s what we have the aptitude for, and I know if they don’t get a good start they can have the worst time of it.”
Kelsie is now studying to be a medical technician at Cincinnati State in Middletown. She said now that their family is official, it is a little hard remembering she has a new last name, but her feelings are indescribable.
“It feels good, it really does,” she said. “It is honestly more than words can describe. What this means to me is I finally have parents that will be there for me no matter what.”
Her mom said she would not talk about how the girls came to be in the foster care system, but as bad as their life was, they are wonderful daughters.
“There was something about these two girls that my husband and I thought right from the beginning that they were just something special,” she said. “Despite all that went on with their mother, their mother raised two very nice, polite girls, we were lucky in that department.”
Cooper said there are 143 children available for adoption at the agency currently but 40 to 45 are potentially slated for adoption. She said every year they have between 80 and 100 kids in permanent custody who need forever homes.
Prospective parents are carefully screened with background checks, home studies, they look at a family’s financial ability to care for children, and the child has to be in the home for at least six months before an adoption can occur. Cooper said adoptive parents are given full disclosure about the child and any special needs there may be, and they try to find the best fit possible.
Rogers said adoption day is his favorite for obvious reasons, and he is awed by the families who are willing to open up their arms and homes to these children.
“You’ve got to give credit to these folks,” he said. “They take on a lot of responsibility.”
About the Author