By Cathy Wharton
For Hometown News
The Community Partnership for Children joined the state Department of Children and Families and the Seventh Judicial Circuit to unite in a legal ceremony 13 area children with six pairs of parents Friday, Nov. 16, for National Adoption Day.
The agency's leaders expressed a lot of love during the ceremony at Sunset Harbor Yacht Club in Daytona Beach.
"You will be united with your forever family, who will show you love and listen to your concerns," Mark Jones, chief executive of the Community Partnership for Children, said to the adoptees.
Five judges presided over the ceremony, each taking a turn in the proceedings.
"We are binding families together in a relationship that will last forever," said Judge Leah Case. The other judges were Chief Judge William A. Parsons, James Clayton, David Walsh and Thomas Portuallo.
In presenting a proclamation, Volusia County Councilman Josh Wagner noted 34 adoptions took place in the tri-county area of Volusia, Flagler and Putnam, but there are still 42 children in need of adoptive homes.
"All you have to do is love them," said Col. David Abramowitz, director of the Northeast Region of the DCF.
During the ceremony, the families stepped to the front one at a time where they were introduced by their own attorney to the judge who would preside over their individual case. After a few short questions, the documents of adoption were signed, making each of the six new families "forever families."