Geminus Family Services Celebrates National Adoption Day, Honors Families With Adopted Children

Geminus Family Services Celebrates National Adoption Day, Honors Families With Adopted Children

On Saturday, Geminus Family Services celebrated National Adoption Day and honored families and their adopted children in Lake County with a luncheon and a moving program that featured stories from Geminus’ partners and adopting families at the Chateau Banquet Hall in Merrillville.

Geminus Family Services, along with the Department of Child Services, Benchmark Family Services, The Villages and White's Residential and Family Services, are honoring the tireless work done by families who have adopted children in Lake County.

“It’s about having fun today and appreciating the moment,” said Nicholas Neal, Director at Geminus Family Services. “This is the third year for the event that we hold with the Indiana Department of Child Services of Lake County and various other foster care agencies. Lots of times all you hear about is D.C.S. removing kids so this is a good event where we celebrate National Adoption Day with these families.”

To see more photos from the event, click here!

“Geminus has the child abuse program called Community Partners which is the division sponsoring today’s event but we have a myriad of services that work with D.C.S.,” said Neal. “We have the Real Fathers Initiative program, we have AIM, Abuse Intervention Managment, and we also have a truancy prevention program. All of our services are derived from the goal of keeping D.C.S. from having to come in and remove the children.”

The Director of the Indiana Department of Child Services, Judge Mary Beth Bonaventura, is a Lake County native and has worked closely with family services agencies since her time as a juvenile court judge in Lake County.

“Our agency contracts with Geminus and the other agencies here to provide services to families who are in crisis,” said Judge Bonaventura. “When children can’t reunite with their families after the child is removed then we have to make a permanency plan and sometimes that ends up in adoption.”

“It’s tough,” said Bonaventura. “The journey begins after adoption and after the government steps out. We provide services after adoption and that’s what the providers do here today. You see, as a judge, both sides. You get to see the whole picture and to have that perspective is really invaluable. This is really exciting. I’m an adoptive parent as well so today is really, really special to me. I couldn’t have loved anyone more than I loved my son and I didn’t have him biologically. It doesn’t really matter how people come to you, family is what you feel in your heart and I feel very blessed to have been able to do that.”

Lake County was one of sixteen counties that held adoptions yesterday in the State of Indiana and at the end of the day 44 kids were adopted in Lake County alone. The goal for next year is to have all 92 counties in Indiana holding adoptions all on the same day.

Candice Porter, one of the adoptive parents speaking at the celebration, spoke about her children and all the people who have helped along the way.

“We were able to adopt three children and they are my blessings,” said Porter. “They are the biggest blessings of my life. I want to thank the caseworkers, the casa’s, and the judges and everybody that puts in time, effort and energy because you will always have your prints on our family's hearts and our lives.”

To find out more about Geminus Family Services, the agencies they partner with and all the services they provide go to: www.geminus.org