From left to right, Dakota, Madison, Paulette and Steve Ginnard watch on as Ashlee Ginnard signs her own adoption papers Friday afternoon at the Lewis County Superior Court in Chehalis.
Mason Porter hides under a table as Charlotte Porter is adopted into his family Friday afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court in Chehalis.
Kiara Kitsis-Price, center, hugs her new dad after signing adoption papers Friday afternoon at the Lewis County Superior Court in Chehalis.
Khaitlynn Hill, center left, wipes her eyes as she is finally adopted into the Selle family Friday afternoon at the Lewis County Superior Court in Chehalis.
Bonnie Pittman, left, watches as William Pittman, right, helps his son, Bradley Pittman, center right, sign the adoption papers Friday afternoon at Lewis County Superior Court in Chehalis.
Like most parents and their children, Lindsey and Aaron Porter fell in love with baby Charlotte from the moment they met her in the hospital.
But they were introduced to the tiny infant under unique circumstances — she had been surrendered anonymously under the state’s safe haven law, which allows parents to leave their up to 3-day-old baby at a fire station, hospital or health clinic with no repercussions.
“I got the call one day they had a baby that had no known parents, no known name,” Lindsey said, noting that she and her husband were already established foster parents. “I immediately said, ‘Yes, I’ll take her.’ ”
Since then, Charlotte has been a member of the family, but on Friday, the Porters made it official.
“This little girl has been your baby since she was born,” said attorney Mareen Bartlett in Lewis County Superior Court Friday. “She will become your daughter.”
Superior Court Judge Andrew Toynbee presided over the adoption of 12 children Friday afternoon, many adopted by longtime foster families, in honor of National Adoption Day.
“Adoptions are one of the few opportunities I get to do something joyous,” Toynbee said.
National Adoption Day was founded in 2000 to celebrate adoptive families and highlight the need for foster families, according to the Washington Administrative Office of the Courts.
Each of the families made a promise Friday to care for their adopted child as if the boy or girl was their own flesh and blood, until they are 18 and beyond.
One of the first to be adopted Friday was Kiara, a bubbly 6 ½ year old who has lived with her adoptive parents for about a year. She and mom Karen Kistis sang a chorus of “You Are My Sunshine” before signing adoption papers.
Kistis and husband Mark Price married three years ago, and for both, it was a second marriage, she said.
“We had a second chance finding each other,” she said, adding that they decided to give a child in the foster care system the same chance.
Possibly the largest family represented Friday belongs to Bonnie and William Pitman, who added Bradley, 4, to their already sizable family of 19 children — both adopted and biological.
“This family has adopted nine to date,” Bartlett said. “They really are a testament to our community.”
Bonnie Pitman said the family didn’t start out planning to foster and adopt so many children, but after becoming foster parents, they came across three sisters who needed a home.
The family adopted the girls, and haven’t looked back.
“What really gets our hearts is when these kids have no one who can pass a background check,” she said.
Many of the children in the foster system have a background of abandonment and neglect, and the family has to work hard to build good relationships, she said.
Washington state has 9,000 children in the foster care system, with 1,500 waiting for adoption. With so many children in need of safe homes, foster families are always in short supply.
“My family is built on biological kids and foster kids,” said Liana White after adopting son Randal. “We need more foster parents.”
White first became involved in the foster system after agreeing to watch a woman’s children for a few weeks. After more than six weeks, when the woman hadn’t come back for her kids, White said she called the state and learned she would need to be a foster parent to truly be an advocate for children in need.
She urged families to consider becoming foster parents through organizations such as Community Youth Services, based in Olympia.
“I look at it as a change of my future and the future of my kids,” White said. “All of these kids had parents in the system.”
A good foster family can help break that cycle and give children a good foundation for the rest of their lives, she said.
Become a Foster Parent
For information on becoming a foster parent, call Community Youth Services at 1-888-R-Foster.
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Reporter Natalie Johnson can be reached at 360-807-8235 or njohnson@chronline.com.
