Thursday marked the end of a journey and the start of a family for Lansana Mohamed, Sintayehu, Ayehu, Shanti Puja and 60 other children.

Little boys in ties and girls in dresses filled the downtown San Jose courthouse as part of National Adoption Month.

Sixty-four children - 38 of them foster kids - were officially adopted when their new parents promised in front of a judge to love them and encourage their dreams.

Among the first to swear to "never betray his hopes or discourage his dreams" were Bhai and Mafereh Sesay. There were no tears, only smiles in Superior Court Judge Shawna Schwarz's courtroom.

Lansana Mohamed, 11, was the Sesays' nephew - he came to live with them after his mother died in Sierra Leone's civil war. The family has since relocated to Maryland but came back to Santa Clara County to complete the adoption process.

Lansana beamed as he was made officially part of the family, joining his cousins. He and 11-year-old Malcolm Sesay smiled broadly in a photo with the judge. Two tall skinny boys in blue shirts of different shades, now brothers.

"This is a great day," Bhai Sesay said with a smile.

Before the ceremonies, presiding Superior Court Judge Catherine Gallagher talked of some of the new families - parents who had already raised four daughters adopting four more, 26 kids being adopted by their step-parents. A melody of crying and cooing babies filled the jury assembly room.

Then the kids and their

Advertisement
families jammed elevators and filled walkways as they headed to meet with judges who would make their families official.

The adoptions didn't just change the lives of the families involved. The courthouse was upended for the morning. Grandparents and proud parents-to-be flooded the hallways as kids of all ages scampered about, teasing siblings, crying and demanding attention.

Judges agreed to clear their calendars to handle the influx in celebration of National Adoption Month. Schwarz and Gallagher talked about how much they relished their role on adoption day, when everyone leaves their courtrooms happy.

With more than 500,000 children in foster care nationally and hundreds of thousands of children in need of homes worldwide, Gallagher said she stood in awe of the families that opened their hearts and their homes to children in need.

Across the hallway from Schwarz's courtroom, Los Gatos residents John Clements and Sharon Van Epps waited nervously to make Sintayehu, Ayehu and Shanti Puja legally their children.

The couple decided to create a family though international adoption after hearing about Karin Evans' book "The Lost Daughters of China," detailing her adoption experience.

The journey forming their new family had bumps along the road. In 2003, a planned adoption in India fell through. It was heartbreaking. But the couple kept trying.

In 2006, they brought home Sintayehu, now 5, and his sister Ayehu, now 4, from Ethiopia. A year later, Shanti Puja, now 6, joined the family from India.

Waiting to go into Superior Court Judge Thomas Edwards' chambers, the kids clamored and played like the siblings they were about to legally become. Sintayehu tried to tease his sisters, only to hurt himself. Shanti Puja answered questions directed at Ayehu, the way older sisters all over the world do.

"You're seeing the worst of their behavior," Van Epps said with a laugh as she corralled the kids in the hallway.

It was exhausting. And it was everything she and her husband ever wanted. As she tried to find the words to describe the family's decision to adopt, Van Epps paused to think.

"Mom," Ayehu said.

Van Epps smiled, "There it is."