- February 7, 2025
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Friday, Nov. 17, was a special day for 23 children, ranging in age from a couple years old to their teens, when they were officially adopted during a public ceremony at the Plaza Resort and Spa in Daytona Beach. Thirteen families were presented at the ceremony to adopt the children, some of them siblings who were adopted by the same family.
The event coincided with November being National Adoption Day and deviated from the closed court hearings that the state usually performs for adoptions.
The ceremony included three judges, along with a clerk and stenographer, to officiate the adoption of three children from Putnam County and 20 from Volusia County. According to Ludmilla Lelis, court communications officer for the 7th Judicial Circuit of Florida, there are 47 children in Volusia County who are waiting to be adopted.
Lelis said this year's adoption ceremony was one of the largest events that has been held.
"Being able to find a permanent home for them and a forever family is vital to making sure these children flourish and succeed in life," Lelis said. "The families that are willing to take in a foster child and raise them as their own, it's amazing to see how they've created a new family with them."
