47 Adoptions Finalized In Special Court Event

DENVER (CBS4) - Eight years ago, a Denver court judge had the tough task of putting a young girl into the foster care system because she was neglected. On Tuesday that young girl found her forever home, and that same judge came back to the bench specifically to preside over her adoption.

Karen Ashby was a Denver Juvenile Court judge when she placed DeJenee in foster care.

The years went by, and DeJenee still hadn't been adopted. But this year, things changed for the 17-year-old.

"For you, we tried a number of families and that didn't always work out, but now you have a great family and just sitting here looking at the three of you, you guys are gonna rock it," Ashby said from the bench to DeJenee, her new adoptive mother and younger sister (who is also being adopted by the woman).

DeJenee came to court Thursday wearing a fancy purple dress that matched her adoptive mother's purple dress, and they kept a box of tissues nearby when the tears naturally flowed out during the ceremony.

Not all children in foster care are as lucky as DeJenee and her sister. There are currently 39 children in Denver and 238 statewide who are in foster care and looking for permanent homes.

DeJenee's adoption proceeding was one of 34 that took place in Denver court Thursday to mark National Adoption Day.

LINK: denvergov.org/standupforme

In several of the ceremonies, parents were adopting more than one child. That included Scott and Chris Wedor, who made Zoey and her little brother Alex and official part of their home.

"We are now one year later and have our own two kids. ... We started just looking for one child and now we have two and we couldn't be happier to have two," Scott Wedor said.

"(It's) all about love and family," Zoey told CBS4.

Forty-seven children had their adoptions finalized on Thursday.

A total of 632 children have been adopted in Colorado during National Adoption Day over the years. The purpose is to raise awareness about the fact that there are more than 100,000 children across the country hoping to be adopted.