Cass County celebrates 2014 Adoption Day

Normally, outbursts from the courtroom gallery would elicit scorn and a possible contempt of court charge from the presiding judge.

The various shouts and cries from the audience simply drew a smile and a little laugher from Judge Susan Dobrich Tuesday afternoon.

Her Cassopolis courtroom was the venue for the creation of several new families that day, as the county celebrated its 12th annual Adoption Day. Seven area children officially became members of their foster families that day, to the applause of the over 50 people in attendance in the pews behind them.

Several special guest speakers from around the community kicked Tuesday’s ceremony off, including Cindy Underwood, the director of the county’s department of human services. With her staff working on cases dealing with neglected children throughout the year, seeing kids find a new, permanent home makes her team’s efforts worth it, she said.

“This day, Adoption Day, a few days before Thanksgiving, just makes sense,” Underwood said. “It brings it all together. We’re watching families being made right before our eyes.”

The county’s celebration was but one of several taking place around the state. More than 2,160 Michigan children have been adopted this year, with 35 taking place in Cass County. However, it’s just a fraction of the 12,883 children currently in the Michigan foster care system.

“Cass County needs foster homes,” Underwood said. “We need foster homes for infants, we need foster homes for older youth and we need foster homes for our sibling groups.”

The families participating in this year’s ceremonies were doing just that. One couple, Ryan and Koti Post, adopted 3-year-old Breonna into their family that afternoon. The two have been doing foster care for the past two and a half years, and finally decided to officially to bring the toddler into their household this spring.

“Foster care is a long process, especially the adoption part,” Koti said. “We’re excited to finally be on this side of things now.”

For them, participating in the ceremony was not just about adopting Breonna, but to help show to others about the importance of foster care.

“Anytime you can better someone’s life, to take someone in need of help into your home, that’s the right thing to do,” Post said.