Over 20 Wichita Falls Children Adopted for National Adoption Day

The Saturday before Thanksgiving is regularly National Adoption Day. But one day early, 22 Wichita Falls children were adopted by their new families.

For adoptive parents Joshua and Amberley Cohn, Friday was the culmination of nearly half a year caring for 11-year-old Hayden.  Though Hayden has been in foster care with Joshua and Amberley for 160 days, the official approval and adoption date wasn't set until six weeks ago,

It's very nerve-wracking, just getting to this point.  It's like the finish line, you're getting there and you're just excited for it to be done with and just get on with our lives and have a family.

Amberley said that Hayden has been excitedly updating his teachers with a countdown to his adoption,

All of Hayden's teachers have told us that he comes in every day for school and he's like, 'I've only got 10 more days!'  His teachers say he has a countdown going everyday at school too. So it's nice, all of his friends know he's getting adopted and he's excited about it.

Not only was Hayden adopted, but his two sisters were also adopted by Alicia Blasingame, their foster parent.  Though Hayden and his sisters weren't adopted by the same family, the Cohns and Blasingame have said they want to make sure the relationship between Hayden and his sisters remain strong.

They've had such a hard time and lost so much in their lives, and we just feel like them keeping with their siblings, and we just have such a good relationship with that other family," Amberley said. "We feel like it's a really good relationship to keep and for them to grow up knowing where they came from.

via KFDX