At the attorney’s table in a small West Phoenix courtroom Saturday afternoon, 6-year-old Isaiah waited patiently to take on her new last name.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Pamela Svoboda cheered, “Congratulations. I declare you family.”
To Isaiah’s right, Tanasha Robertson, 42, wiped away tears as she and wife Lyanna Jones, 35, became Isaiah’s parents after raising him two and a half years ago. Isaiah was one of her 110 children whose adoption was finalized at the Durango Juvenile Court Center during Maricopa County’s annual National Adoption Day event.
Wearing a fake hawk and a metal chain, Isaiah is now Jones-Robertson.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Robert Brooks completed three hearings at the event. This is the same number he usually does each week. According to Brooks, the legal process for adoption in the county takes about four to five months. None of Saturday’s hearings were contested, he noted.
Before finalizing the adoption, Brooks and 29 other judges, who held hearings on Saturday, received the adoption petition, consents and reports from child protective services, and testimony from child caseworkers. I considered it.
“[These adoptions]provide these children with stability and permanence in a home that is safe and meets their needs. Almost all of us come from unstable families because of neglect, and it’s kind of traumatized us because of it,” Brooks said.
Nearly all of the adoptions at the event were children removed from their original homes by the state.
“[Adoptive parents]are heroes in my heart because they open up their homes to their children so they can grow up safe and healthy,” Brooks said.
Jones and Robertson adoption attorney Kathryn Pidgeon, 66, has completed nearly 4,000 adoptions in 33 years and has attended county events since 2001.
“We were the national leaders in this event,” Pigeon said of Maricopa County, noting that National Adoption Day is always held on a designated Saturday and that procedures are open to the public during the event. pointed out.
According to Pidgeon, the number of adoptions during National Adoption Day is higher than any other participating jurisdiction in the United States. The number of volunteers (he had 135 this year) is also usually higher than elsewhere, Pigeon said.
In-person events were suspended in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic and were conducted via video conferencing in Maricopa County, Pidgeon said. But adoption never stopped.
“Maricopa County has never stopped. COVID has never delayed an adoption,” Pigeon says.
Outside the Court Center building, families mingled between tents and balloons as some children climbed an inflatable slide while a DJ played pop hits in the background.
From the start of the event, it was Isaiah’s celebration when the Jones-Robertson family arrived at the court center in a limousine.
Every member of the Jones-Robertson family had a personal black T-shirt. In white letters, “MOM” was written on Jones’ shirt, “DAD” on Robertson’s shirt, and “BROTHER” on Isaiah’s shirt.
After the formalities were over, Isaiah’s new parents said they would reward Isaiah with ice cream or “whatever he wanted,” Jones said with a laugh. And they were about to start planning the Christmas present he requested, Disneyland.
Jones and Robertson had some advice for those looking to follow in their parenthood.
“We have a lot of children we can adopt,” said Jones. “I will definitely take the first step towards finding more information on how I can be involved in the lives of these children.
