Posted on 11/02/2017 6:21:57 AM PDT by SandRat
SIERRA VISTA – Happy endings are not always found in a courtroom, but for Terry Bannon every Friday is an exception. That’s when the Cochise County Superior Court Judge (Division VI) has the pleasurable task of formally finalizing the adoptions of children into permanent, loving homes.
And later this month, Bannon will help around half a dozen more families realize a dream when she presides over the County’s National Adoption Day celebrations on November 17.
“National Adoption Day recognizes the joy and solemnness of the adoption process,” Bannon said. “It’s been a national event for about 20 years, although we were a little late coming to the party. But when we entered the room, we came in big.”
Now in its third year, the county’s event will be held at the Cochise College Community Room at the main Sierra Vista campus, where Bannon will officially legalize up to seven adoptions.
“This will be the final day in what has been a long journey for several families,” Bannon said. “We deliberately keep it to a small number because a lot of the children’s emotions are high, so we like it be an intimate size.”
The public is invited to attend the ceremony and around 150 people took up that offer last year.
For Bannon, the event has a special meaning because her two brothers are adopted.
“I have to fight off the tears a lot of times,” she admits. “One of the assignments I have on the bench is severing the rights of some of these children’s parents, so it’s nice to see a happy ending.”
The adoption ceremony, which begins at 10 a.m., will include a speech by Arizona Supreme Court Justice John Lopez, whose sister is adopted.
“Adoption affects more families than you could possibly know,” said Bannon, who legalizes an average two to four adoptions every week. “It’s amazing to see the open heartedness of the people in this community. This county just has a heart of infinite size.”
In 2016, around 4,700 children were adopted on National Adoption Day in 400 locations across the country and more than 65,000 children have moved from foster care to permanent homes since the initiative started in 2000.
For further information contact Superior Court Administrator Eric Silverberg at (520) 432-8505.
In related news. Thousands of feminists scream “they should have been aborted!”.
Why I hate feminazis.
Had an experience close to that. Twenty years ago my naive young self was chatting with my feminist boss about the challenges faced by my parents and adopted brother due to the alcohol and drug use by his birth mother.
She emphatically said,”That’s exactly why I believe all women should have the right to choose!”
I think my jaw dropped and she realized that she had just told me that my nine year old brother should be dead. She quickly changed the subject, but I never got over that cruel and heartless comment.
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