CASSOPOLIS — Six adoptions finalized Tuesday afternoon in Cass County Family Court will provide eight children with permanent homes just in time for Thanksgiving.
Charles and Maria Rankens of Dowagiac adopted their granddaughters, Belinda and Analyssa.

Ernest and Tammy Macon of Portage adopted 10-month-old Leah Gabrielle.
“Our biological children are grown. We have grandchildren,” Mrs. Macon said. “She’ll have all of our undivided attention.”
Olivia Diana joins the James and Kimberly Johnson family of Niles. She turns 2 on Christmas Eve.
“It’s a great day, but at the same time a bittersweet day for us,” Mrs. Johnson said, because Olivia is their granddaughter.
William and Heather Merrill of Edwardsburg added Navaya and Yessenia to their three children for a total of five. Mrs. Merrill, a Dowagiac graduate, works for Lewis Cass Intermediate School District.
Robert and Susan Menzel Jr. of St. Johns opened their hearts to Erika, who will grow up with four older brothers. She has been part of the Menzel’s family for 11 months and five days, since Dec. 17, 2010.
Nov. 22 was Michigan Adoption Day, which has been observed for nine years in Cass County Judge Susan Dobrich’s courtroom.
Statewide, about 30 counties finalized about 145 adoptions.
Michigan’s event is poised to be the nation’s largest.
It is co-sponsored by the Michigan Supreme Court, the Michigan Department of Human Services and the Michigan Adoption Resource Exchange.
In designating Nov. 22 as Michigan Adoption Day, the Supreme Court declared the event’s goal is “to draw attention to children and youth in foster care, particularly their need for permanent, loving families, and also to promote efforts to help those who remain in foster care.”
There are about 3,000 children in the foster care system with the goal of adoption.