Over a dozen families across Mississippi celebrated an extra special holiday season as they finalized adoptions at the state’s “Home for the Holidays” campaign.
The mass adoption events in Hinds and Jackson County earlier this week followed two similar ceremonies in Meridian and Gulfport. A total of seven children were adopted by four families at the Hinds County Chancery Court on Monday, while ten families adopted 11 kids in the Jackson County Chancery Court the following day.
So far, the Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services (CPS) has worked with attorneys and judges throughout the state to finalize adoptions for 129 foster children in its campaign. The goal is to push for a total of 250 completed adoptions by the end of January 2023.
Commissioner Andrea Sanders, who leads the Department of Child Protection Services, was adopted when she was a week old.
“We are all committed to seeing that children don’t stay in custody one day longer than they have to. We will stand in the shoes of parents for children,” Sanders said. “We will always be a poor substitute for family.”
