7 children get new parents as county participates in National Adoption Day

For seven years Daina was shuffled from foster home to foster home, never knowing where she was going to live or who her "parents" were going to be.

"Sometimes you went to families you wanted to stay with. And sometimes you wouldn't like a family as soon as you walked in the door," said the 11-year-old cheerleader who grew up in Alabama.

But yesterday, Daina said she joined the best family she could ever imagine - officially becoming the child of Joe and Tina Sivilli during a special adoption ceremony at the county courthouse in Annapolis.

"I would never want another family besides them," the new Gambrills resident said. "It's A-W-E-S-O-M-E! Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!"

Seven children were adopted by seven families yesterday during the county's ninth annual celebration of National Adoption Day.

"It's wonderful," said Tom Faulkner of Edgewater, after formally adopting 2-year-old Hope.

"A big rock has been lifted off of us," added Loretta Faulkner, his wife.

The 30-minute ceremony was marked by applause and happy tears as the new parents watched months and years of hard work come to an end and their new lives begin.

Young children, dressed in their best dresses and suits, crawled and played at their parents' feet as Circuit Court Judge Michael E. Loney signed off on paperwork that legally recognized them as families. Later, outside the courtroom, the kids munched on M&M cookies and played with Teddy bears as the parents congratulated one another.

Between handshakes and family pictures, many of the parents complained about the confusing and often labor-intensive adoption process.

"It's frustrating," said Mrs. Sivilli, recommending anyone interested in adopt-ing hire some legal help. "You just don't know the forms."

The process almost was too convoluted for some parents.

"We ran into a lot of road blocks and heart breaks," said Michelle Bast of Lexington Park in St. Mary's County.

She and her husband, Greg, kept finding children only to see the adoption fall though. Eventually, they gave up on domestic adoption and looked to Guatemala.

"We knew we couldn't keep on that roller coaster," she said, holding her new 2-year-old-son, Benjamin Jose.

Maria Stanley of Crownsville also adopted a Guatemalan child yesterday - her second in the past three years. She, too, lamented how hard it is to adopt in the United States.

"It's a horror story in general. The process is so bureaucratic it takes forever," she said, watching daughters Maxine, 15 months, and MaryKate, 4, play with the other kids outside the courtroom.

"But I guess it is in the best interests of the children," she said.

Others, like Cristina and Peter Morse of Annapolis, said they always wanted to adopt a child from another country.

"We just fell in love with the idea of being a multicultural family," said Mrs. Morse, holding her 16-month-old Vietnamese daughter, Charlotte Lam.

Many of the families who adopt children in Anne Arundel County meet their future sons and daughters as foster children - like Mr. and Mrs. Faulkner. They picked up their daughter at the hospital in 2006 only to see her returned to her birth mother two months later.

Over the past two years, the Faulkners kept in touch with the birth mother. Then, earlier this year, they received a call asking them to babysit.

"Her mother asked if we would watch her for a couple days or maybe longer," Mrs. Faulkner said. "Five months went by and we got only two phone calls."

Eventually, the Faulkners asked if they could adopt Hope and the mother consented.

"She is a blessing to us," Mrs. Faulkner said. "She is a great gift."

Judge Loney said adoptions were much more difficult a decade ago.

He said the law made it hard for single parents or other non-traditional families. While the laws aren't as stringent as they once were, Judge Loney said the state still must scrutinize who is adopting a child.

"This is a very serious thing," he said. "It is not something to be done lightly."

According to the Clerk of the Circuit Court, 130 children were adopted in Anne Arundel County between July 1, 2007 and June 30. The county Department of Social Services said children adopted out of foster care usually are in the system for about 30 months.

The day was especially poignant for Clerk of the Circuit Court Robert P. Duckworth, who was adopted out of an orphanage when he was 5.

"I found a life," he said. "I don't know where I would be without the loving parents who adopted me."