PORT ANGELES — Four children will be adopted in a ceremony Thursday at the Clallam County Courthouse, where speakers will tell of unusual adoption cases.
The four adoptions will be at 10 a.m. in Superior Court Courtroom 3, or Family Court, at the courthouse at 223 E. Fourth St.
They will be followed by a teen, Raven Gelder of Port Angeles, telling about being adopted in September when she was 17 years old.
“It speaks to people that you can adopt any age of child,” said Sherri Jones, adoption specialist for the division of children and family services with the Department of Social and Health Services.
Jones oversees adoptions in both Clallam and Jefferson counties.
Also speaking Thursday will be the mothers from two families who each adopted two siblings from the same family, Jones said.
The two families keep the four siblings — a high school student, a grade school student, a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old — in touch with each other by getting together often.
The adoptive parents had not known each other before, Jones explained.
“It’s just a wonderful testament about how they keep those siblings connected to each other,” Jones said.
“They invite each other’s families to events for the children. They make an effort to go to the kids’ events and support each other and get together on holidays and visits so the children can continue their relationship.”
Four adoptions
The four children who will be adopted are all boys. One is a private adoption, while three have been in foster families.
Three are from Port Angeles, while the fourth is from Forks.
One child was left at a hospital as an infant under the Safe Haven law, Jones said.
He is now 8 months old and will be adopted by his foster family.
Another, who was placed with his grandmother at birth, is being adopted by his grandmother. He will turn 4 in December.
An 18-month-old child will be adopted by his grandparents, with whom he has lived since he was
2 months old, Jones said.
She did not know the details of the private adoption.
Each of the foster children will be given shoes through the Kicks for Kids Shoe Drive by the Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program.
The shoe drive continues this week for the 215 children in foster care in Clallam County.
Purchased shoes can be dropped off in Port Angeles drop boxes by 4:30 p.m. Thursday at the Clallam County Courthouse; Jim’s Pharmacy, 424 E. Second St.; KONP, 721 E. First St.; Port Angeles High School, 304 E. Park Ave.; or in Sequim at Sound Bank, 645 W. Washington St.
Cash donations will be accepted at the shoe drive locations or at the CASA office at the Clallam County Courthouse to purchase shoes for any foster child who is not selected by a donor.
Checks should be written to Friends of Clallam County CASA.
For more information, contact Valerie Brooks, CASA program coordinator, at 360-565-2644 or vbrooks@co.clallam.wa.us.
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Executive Editor Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3530 or at lleach@peninsuladailynews.com.
Reporter Arwyn Rice contributed to this report.