175 foster kids in Washington get 'forever families'

The most important thing to the families at the adoption celebration in the King County Courthouse wasn't the balloons or stuffed animals, the fancy clothes or the applause.

It wasn't the chance to meet a baseball team mascot or even to miss school.

It was the huge sense of relief.

"I'm just so glad she's finally mine and I don't have to wake up and wonder if someone's going to come and take her away," said Eileen Hardin, who on Friday adopted 2 ½-year-old Katrina, a child she'd fostered almost since birth.

"It does take away the pressure," said Cara Baze, who adopted a set of siblings who brought her family total to eight.

The two families were among scores who together adopted 175 foster children in ceremonies Friday at courthouses throughout the state.

The public celebration of the typically private proceedings were held to recognize National Adoption Day and to raise awareness of the thousands of adoptable children living in foster care.

"It is a joy to have these children find the safety and warmth of loving, forever families," said Denise Revels Robinson, assistant secretary of the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) Children's Administration.

"For the children and their new families, this is a day they will never forget," Robinson said.

According to DSHS, there were 9,546 children living in foster care in Washington at the beginning of this year. Of those, 1,750 were available for adoption, meaning the courts had permanently terminated their biological parents' rights to raise them.

Although a record number of Washington foster children were adopted into new families this year — up more than 500 from last year's 1,177 — adoptive families are still needed.

"Foster children are in our care, and we owe them a special responsibility," said retired Supreme Court Justice Bobbe Bridge, founder and co-chair of the Supreme Court Commission on Children in Foster Care. "We know that finding permanent, loving homes for these children can save them years of stress, uncertainty and personal struggles."

Adopting foster children can be a long and emotional process, according to several of the parents at Friday's ceremony.

The state is required to make every effort to reunify biological families before parental rights are terminated. And foster parents, no matter how long they have cared for a child, do not have a legal right to that child, according to Hardin.

That means waiting for the legal process to be finalized can be fraught with anxiety and worry, said Hardin, who became a licensed foster parent four years ago when she was asked to care for her niece's son, Jacob. She has since fostered 13 children and adopted two.

Katrina was brought to Hardin's house when she was 7 days old. The girl's mother agreed to termination of her rights but then disappeared, and the adoption process was delayed, Hardin said.

"I was always afraid that something would happen and she would be taken from me," Hardin said.

The 20 or so children who attended Friday's event in King County with their new families ranged from toddlers to teens.

Some clung to their parents' necks while others ran up and down the aisles.

Like their new parents, many children spoke of happiness and relief.

"I feel great," said Kennajha Green-Bloodsaw, 14, the oldest of six children adopted by their grandparents. "Living with my grandma and grandpa is the best thing ever because we would have been lost without them."

For Katy Baze, the importance of the day was simple. "It's about finally having a family and not having to move anymore."

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com