For so many kids who have been through the foster care system, the day they’re officially adopted marks one of the happiest days of their lives.
As with everything in the world, this arrangement doesn’t always work out, but we can’t overstate how powerful it is when an adoption is everything a family hopes it will be.
Part of the reason why this moment is so exciting is that it usually comes at the end of a long and uncertain road that sees children spending years going from family to family with no guarantee of a “forever home.”
And while the Halloween ceremony we’re about to talk about may just seem like a fun idea for the 15 children who secured this happy ending, there’s a much more powerful reason behind it.
It’s important to remember that the holidays are often difficult for children seeking adoption as they serve as painful reminders of the families and homey experiences they don’t have.
So as Family Support Services of North Florida CEO Jenn Petion told Good Morning America, this is precisely why they’re known to hold adoption finalization ceremonies on Halloween.
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In her words, “So to have a finalization event that’s tied to a holiday really starts to change those memories and allows them to symbolize the start of forever, the start of something new, and that they really can have that wonderful happy ending.”
This year’s ceremony marked the official adoptions of 15 children. One of them was Shyla Sheppard, who just turned eight days before.
The woman who adopted her was Angie Sheppard, who had known Shyla for years because she ran the daycare that the child would frequent while she was in foster care.
Although she already had five children before meeting Shyla, Sheppard took it to heart when the girl said she wanted her to be her mom.
So when Shyla became eligible for adoption two years later, Sheppard followed up to make sure she was certain about this desire and started the adoption process once she heard a “yes.”
And as we just saw, that process was completed just in time for the Halloween ceremony, where Shyla dressed up as a bailiff.
Given her choice of costume, the judge figured it was appropriate to let her bang his gavel after each adoption.
But while this would be a funny and cute sight to most people, Sheppard said that the little girl had her in tears.
As she put it, “To know that she’s in a forever home now, I’m so happy and satisfied.”
Indeed, the wide variety of Halloween costumes on display didn’t make the event any less emotional for anyone else, either.
As Petion said, “I don’t think there was a dry eye in the courtroom.”
And it seemed particularly poignant to her that so many of the children being adopted were dressed as superheros.
In her words, “I always think of our foster kids as superheroes, because they really have been through some of the most unimaginable things in their young lives. They are always superheroes in disguise.”
h/t: Good Morning America
