FORT WORTH, Texas -- National Adoption Day is a nationwide event and effort to raise awareness for more than 100,000 children in foster care waiting for a permanent and loving family.
On Nov. 21, Texas A&M University School of Law students took part in Tarrant County’s National Adoption Day, serving alongside practicing attorneys for the families, finalizing many adoptions. During this annual event, courts and attorneys waive all fees to consummate adoptions for dozens of foster children at the Tarrant County Family Law Center in downtown Fort Worth.
Texas A&M Law 2L Amanda Martinez, who was adopted on National Adoption Day in 2006 at the age of 16, was one of the students to help at the event. “Volunteering, to me, gave me a sense of purpose,” Martinez said.
“When I met my attorney ad litem, and I saw how hard he fought for my sisters and me, I knew I wanted to be that person one day.” Martinez hopes to one day open her own solo law firm that specializes in same-sex adoptions, CPS cases and reproductive law.
“National Adoption Day is important because I feel people forget what these children have been through,” Martinez stressed. “Many have bounced around from home to home, and they have lived lives that they did not choose. This day means all that can come to an end, and the children being adopted can begin a normal childhood.”
In total, 63 children were adopted into 45 forever families during this year’s event in Tarrant County.
Texas A&M School of Law students Adrian Jackson (top left) and Amanda Martinez (bottom left) with the newly expanded Tarwarter family. The Tarwaters adopted the three brothers, keeping them together, at the National Adoption Day event.
Photos by Christy Cleger, Texas A&M School of Law Marketing Coordinator
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In courtrooms filled with balloons and new families, Aggie Law students Chelsea Johnson (top) & Danielle Bonanno (bottom), prove-up the adoptions before the judge.
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