DETROIT (WXYZ) — Parents across Southeastern Michigan made their adoptions official on Tuesday.
“I feel good. It’s my gotcha day,” 3-year-old Kensington Jackson told 7 Action News from inside a Wayne County juvenile courtroom.
Her adopted mother Monique Jackson described the moment as both exciting and overwhelming.
“She has a little joke now where she calls me her best friend. We do everything together,” Monique Jackson said.
Their bond began to grow three years ago when she first began the process.
“In our case, it was an amazing time of bonding. Getting to be with her every day and see her grow, watch her milestones and see the transformation she’s taken,” Monique added.
In attendance at a special event downtown were two highly respected leaders on the bench: Chief Judge Timothy Kenny and Michigan Supreme Court Justice Richard Bernstein.
“We have more than 180 adoptions this year in Wayne County,” Kenny told us. “I’ve got a special feeling about it. Two of my grandchildren are adopted. The joy that occurs when children end up with a forever family is really incalculable.”
Another parent in Oakland County who also adopted Monday officially told us, “Now we are a family of four. It’s just great and right before the holidays.”
Bernstein took time to express his admiration while making his remarks downtown.
“They say to themselves, I am going to invest every fiber of my being into this child,” Bernstein told the court.
For more information on adoptions, you can call the Third Judicial Circuit of Michigan Adoption Unit at 313-833-1962 or Michigan Adoption Resource Exchange at 1-800-589-6273. You can also visit mare.org.
