SALEM — It was an atypical scene at the Essex Probate and Family Court as the usually solemn courtroom was filled with smiles, balloons, and tears of joy as 12 different families finalized their adoptions at this year’s National Adoption Day celebration.
“The journey each family has taken to get here today is unique and special, but everyone comes together with one goal; to give children of any age an unconditional future of love, confidence, hope, and success,” First Justice Frances M. Giordano said.
This is the sixth year the Essex Probate and Family Court has participated in National Adoption Day in which courts nationally finalize thousands of adoptions just before Thanksgiving, as well as raise awareness about foster children waiting for adoption. For adopting parents like Diorgenes Ferreira of Methuen, who officially adopted his teenage stepdaughter Maria Clara at the ceremony, the day was much more than just a legal proceeding.
“From the moment we met, she’s always been my daughter,” Ferreira said. “It feels phenomenal to have her share my last name, as I’ve known her for over seven years now. I don’t believe that a father is the one who simply helps to give birth, it’s the one that raises the child and teaches her how to pursue a better future for themselves.”
The youngest person to be adopted on Friday was 5-month-old Achille “Archie” Dean-Palmieri, whose mothers Tawny and Alicia Dean-Palmieri of Peabody were all smiles throughout the ceremony.
“My wife Alicia gave birth to Archie about five weeks ago, and even though I know I’m on the birth certificate, we wanted to make sure that I would be recognized as his parent (throughout) the whole country,” Tawny Dean-Palmieri said.
For Phil Gray, who has known his stepdaughter Ashlynn since she was just 1 year old, the finalization of the adoption only reaffirmed what the Groveland family already knew — that she is Phil’s daughter. Now, Ashlynn shares the same last name as her father, as well as her three brothers Connor, Zach, and Jackson, who were all in attendance along with extended family.
“Today hasn’t changed a thing, she’s always been my daughter,” Phil Gray said.
The lobby outside the courtrooms was decorated with art projects from the Clark School in Rowley, who donated their time and creativity for the annual event in past years under the direction of art director Jeph Ellis, who was adopted himself. The most recent art display was an “adoption tree” mural painted by the Clark School’s honors art program students, which sees families writing the names of their adoptees on recycled bottles to add as leaves to the tree among the names of many other North Shore adoptees.
Clark School students have previously donated a colorful origami display hanging from the lobby’s ceiling, as well as a colorfully painted rocking horse, also made from recycled materials. Originally creating four different rocking horses in 2022, the students have since given the horses a “forever home” of their own by later donating them to the DCF visiting center in Salem, the Adoptions Journeys Child and Family Services in Lawrence, Children’s Center in Lynn, and the last for the Clark School — who return the horse to the courtroom lobby every year to celebrate National Adoption Day.
At the end of the ceremony Giordano shared a quote from Maya Angelou that highlighted the many different paths each person has taken to become a family.
“Love recognizes no barriers,” she said. “It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.”
Michael McHugh can be contacted at mmchugh@northofboston.com or at 781-799-5202