'It's almost like having Christmas 100 times': 145 kids adopted in Maricopa County event

BrieAnna J. Frank | The Republic | azcentral.com

Corrections & Clarifications: A previous version of this article misspelled Judge Joseph Kreamer's name.

Kim Lewis stood outside of a courtroom on the second floor of the Durango Juvenile Court Center in Phoenix on Saturday morning, eagerly anticipating a hearing that would change her life forever.

She was going from being the second cousin of three children to being their mother.

"For me, it's like a change in a lot of ways, as far as showing compassion to another human ...," Lewis said about the occasion before she was cut off by a woman telling her that Judge Norman Davis was ready for her.

Almost immediately after Lewis took her place at the table with 15-year-old Khadijah, 6-year-old David and 5-year-old Ezrah, she started crying and at one point fist pumped the air in joy as the hearing began.

Lewis and Khadijah had to give a brief testimony during the hearing, which lasted around 10 minutes.

It was a long time to wait, though, for David and Ezrah.

They shared the same chair and both wore red-and-black plaid shirts that matched Lewis's. Ezrah held the string of an orange balloon in his hands as the hearing progressed.

The brothers had a few innocuous outbursts and were several times hushed by their sister.

When Davis announced the completion of the adoption process, he told the two brothers he had a gift for them and gestured toward a box of plush toys sitting on the desk beside him.

The new family posed for photographs, and Lewis's voice quivered as she told The Arizona Republic the feeling of being a new mother was "amazing" and "overwhelming."

Those sentiments were mirrored by Khadijah, who said it was a "really good feeling."

"Now I have a permanent family, and it's really great," she said.

Above all else, Khadijah said she's grateful that Lewis adopted her along with both of her brothers, whom she described as being her "everything."

"(I'm) very grateful, I really don't know where we'd all be," she said.

Adoptions 'fill an incredible void'

The trio joined 142 other children formerly in foster care who were officially adopted Saturday during Maricopa County's National Adoption Day Celebration.

The annual event has been the largest in the nation in recent years, with more children being adopted than in any other city across the nation, according to an event press release.

Gov. Doug Ducey briefly spoke at the start of the event, saying he had a personal connection to the event — his nephew and godson, Adam, who was adopted out of foster care.

"We're grateful for the blessing that adoption has been to Adam, and even more so for the blessing Adam has been to us and our family," Ducey said.

He said that during the past 20 years, more than 4,000 children in Maricopa County have been adopted on National Adoption Day, but added that many children still remain without permanent homes.

"Arizona will never stop working on your behalf to find you the families you deserve," he said.

Judge Joseph Kreamer, the county's presiding juvenile judge, said working at the annual event is "the most exciting, fun thing" a juvenile officer can do.

"Some of these kids have been waiting literally for years to find permanency and they've had really difficult circumstances, so to be part of that, to be part of this event, is really special," he said.

Kreamer said it becomes somewhat of a competition for judges who want to participate in the event because of how profound it is, with signup sheets oftentimes being completely filled within 24 hours.

Signing off on any adoption is an exciting occasion, Kreamer said, but the annual event takes it to another level.

"It's almost like having Christmas 100 times," he said. "It's really fun."

He thanked the parents who adopted children at Saturday's event, saying their actions have "filled an incredible void" in their children's lives.

Making a special day memorable

The opposite is also true for Jennifer Gilmore, a mother to five biological children and seven adoptive children, five of whom were adopted during National Adoption Day events in years past.

She said fostering and adopting children has been an "amazing" journey for her family.

The Gilmore family in recent years has collected stuffed animals, with the help of a daycare and two Girl Scout troops, to hand out to families participating in National Adoption Day.

That's how the family earned the moniker "Zoo Crew," which was emblazoned on each of their bright blue shirts Saturday.

They set up shop at one of dozens of booths that also included book giveaways, craft activities and treat stations.

Eventually, Gilmore said she hopes each booth is manned by a family who's adopted children at the event.

She wants to make other people's special day just as memorable as each of hers have been.

"It was a happy, joyous day and we want to make it that for everyone coming behind us," she said.

She hoped that publicity for events like Saturday's might nudge more people to consider fostering or adopting children, saying that parenthood isn't always easy but that it's always been worth it for her.

"I think of it as a roller coaster," she said. "It's going to be good, bad, hard, sad — it's every emotion under the sun. But most of all it's beauty, beauty coming from the ashes."

Reach the reporter at bfrank@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8529. Follow her on Twitter @brieannafrank.

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