JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – More than a dozen children in Jacksonville now have a family to call their own.
Those children were adopted in a finalization ceremony this Wednesday morning.
It was hosted by Family Support Services and their partners ahead of National Adoption Day, which will celebrate its 25th anniversary this weekend.
The event also recognized November as National Adoption Month.
One of those children adopted was 2-year-old Mia Sapp. She was adopted by Victoria and Troy Sapp.
“She didn’t ask to go through the situation she went through so I decided she needed a better life,” Victoria Sapp said. “And we felt we could give her that.”
Victoria and Troy have had Mia since she was 4-months-old and she celebrated turned two a day before she was adopted.
The couple had already adopted her brother Myles.
Victoria Sapp said the better life she planned to give Mia and Myles included lots of love, five older siblings and lessons to help Mia grow into a self-sufficient woman.
“I hope that I can provide her anything that she needs,” Victoria said. “I don’t think she should want or need anything as long as we’re in her life and I want to see her before I leave this world at least turn 18 or 19 to take care of herself.”
Sixteen children were adopted into 12 families.
News4JAX was able to sit in on three of them.
The last of those three included a family where a grandma named Denise Waiwaiole, was able to adopt three of her grandsons.
Her goal was to provide them stability.
“At the end of the day they all have a place and they know they belong,” Waiwaiole said. “There’s been times that Jason has asked ‘mimi are you always going to come back for me’ and now he knows for sure that I’m always going to be there.”
And both families told News4JAX that the ceremony was more special because it happened right before the holidays.
“There’s a lot of kids out there that need homes and need someone to love them and if you have the opportunity, please take it because these kids deserve more than sitting in a foster home,” Waiwaiole said.