National Adoption Day celebrated at courthouse in Fargo

Fargo, North Dakota – Families look forward to this day for days, weeks, months, and even years, but following this weekend, three families won’t have to.

Three families took the next phase of their life on Saturday morning as they adopted their children in honor of National Adoption Day.

On Saturday morning, Brock Larson and his spouse Katie adopted a pair of boys.

“It’s been so exciting,” Brock said. “It’s been kind of a whirlwind of a day, getting everybody here, organizing everything, but obviously we’re so excited. Especially for the boys. We’ve had them for about 9 months so to now have them finally adopted is just overjoying.”

In conjunction with Catholic Charities North Dakota’s Adults Adopting Special Kids Program, the Cass County courthouse opened.

Lead Adoption Specialist Tesia Miller expressed how touching it is for everyone to be able to see a day like this.

“It’s amazing,” Miller said. “Truly blessed to be a part of a families journey from the beginning to this date in court, so it’s amazing day that we’re able to be a part of and walking along side them.”

Three adoptive families have children ranging in age from almost infants to teens. Two girls and three boys were adopted.

A court held a private hearing for each household. Following the last hearings, they were all given the opportunity to take part in a celebration.

In order to let these new parents know they have support, Matt and Emilie Baher discussed their adoption experience there.

“You’re not alone. And it’s going to be a wild, crazy ride. It’s gonna be hard, but so worth it,” Matt said.

These families claim they won’t forget the path that brought them thus far, even as they begin their new adventure.

“We do currently anticipate that we will continue with foster care and see where that goes or what that leads for us,” Katie said. “We really have a passion for our community and the children in our community that are just in need of a home so that’s something that we hope we’ll be able to continue to help with and provide.”