The Providence Journal / Andrew Dickerman
Lisa McGough reacts as her adoption of John, 10, is finalized. View the photo gallery.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Inside a courthouse normally reserved for custody fights and divorce hearings, more than 250 people packed a fifth-floor hallway decorated with balloons to celebrate the adoption of 19 children.
Family Court judges on Saturday approved the adoption of 6 girls and 13 boys, ages 1 to 10, during the morning event timed to celebrate National Adoption Day.
"Every child deserves a family and every family deserves a child," Janice E. DeFrances, director of the state Department of Children, Youth and Families, said at the welcoming ceremony.
R.I. Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul A. Suttell described the event as the happiest day of the year. "This is a day where the only thing happening in our court is families being created," he said, "as opposed to families being disolved."
Family Court judges approve about 500 adoptions a year, but another 300 children are still waiting to find a permanent home, Family Court Chief Judge Haiganush R. Bedrosian said.