Whisper
July 20th, 2010, 01:49 AM
Adoption ceremony held for abandoned baby
Henrico, Va. --
The crowd looked at the boy in delight yesterday as he moved his tiny arms up and down, sporting a white long-sleeved shirt and a black vest and matching pants.
A bib with figures of musical instruments -- and his eye-catching smile -- complemented the adorable outfit little Nehemiah Christopher Allen wore for the special occasion.
The boy wasn't at all overwhelmed by all the attention he was getting inside a Henrico County Circuit courtroom yesterday morning. He was playful, happy and loved.
Last August, Nehemiah, then just hours old, was discovered naked on the front lawn of a home in eastern Henrico.
Some miles away, in western Henrico, Terrence and Bridget Allen, a young couple who have been married for six years, had been waiting for a call from the Henrico Department of Social Services. Having just finished their foster-care training, they were open to the opportunity to care for a child, no matter his or her age.
"I said, 'That's my baby,'" Bridget Allen recalls saying when she read about the baby boy in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. "My heart went out for the baby."
Yesterday, the boy, who is now almost 11 months old, officially became part of the Allen family. Family and friends, along with county and state officials, gathered for the adoption ceremony to celebrate a happy outcome for the baby boy.
The boy, who was in good health when he was abandoned last Aug. 27, stole the Allens' hearts as soon as they picked him up to be his foster parents that same week.
"It's been a long run," said Terrence Allen, an insurance salesman who celebrated his 31st birthday this week with the gift of a child. "He has been such a blessing to our lives."
The Allens knew from the start that authorities were going to try to find the baby's parents, but after no one came forward to claim the boy and the parental rights were declared terminated in January, the couple sought to become his permanent parents.
Child abandonment is rare in Virginia and when it occurs, Social Services usually finds a relative of the child who would take the custody, State Commissioner Martin D. Brown said. The state Department of Social Services said Nehemiah was the fifth child-abandonment case in Virginia last year after none was recorded in 2007 or 2008.
Most adoptions that result from foster care are usually with the involvement of blood parents, social-services officials said.
Nehemiah's extraordinary case made yesterday's occasion even much more joyful.
"It is a wonderful day," Brown said. "What could have been a tragedy is now a celebration. It is a celebration for the baby, it's a celebration for the parents, it's a celebration for Henrico County and for the state."
The only lament, officials say, is that a child was abandoned on the street when the option to give him up for adoption exists. In Virginia, a parent can take a baby within the first 14 days of birth to either a hospital that provides 24-hour emergency services or a rescue squad that employs emergency medical technicians and be protected from prosecution for abuse, neglect or endangerment.
[...]
Nehemiah"Baby Henrico," as Judge Gary A. Hicks called , was celebrated as a blessing yesterday. "There are a lot of things that take place in court, and this is truly a special occasion."
Bridget Allen, 30, a certified nursing assistant, believes it was God's purpose. "Nehemiah was for us," she said. "God allowed him to be there."http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2010/jul/17/baby17-ar-161398/
http://i31.tinypic.com/im44yd.jpg
Bridget,Nehemiah & Terrencehttp://i31.tinypic.com/i5c3fo.jpg
Henrico, Va. --
The crowd looked at the boy in delight yesterday as he moved his tiny arms up and down, sporting a white long-sleeved shirt and a black vest and matching pants.
A bib with figures of musical instruments -- and his eye-catching smile -- complemented the adorable outfit little Nehemiah Christopher Allen wore for the special occasion.
The boy wasn't at all overwhelmed by all the attention he was getting inside a Henrico County Circuit courtroom yesterday morning. He was playful, happy and loved.
Last August, Nehemiah, then just hours old, was discovered naked on the front lawn of a home in eastern Henrico.
Some miles away, in western Henrico, Terrence and Bridget Allen, a young couple who have been married for six years, had been waiting for a call from the Henrico Department of Social Services. Having just finished their foster-care training, they were open to the opportunity to care for a child, no matter his or her age.
"I said, 'That's my baby,'" Bridget Allen recalls saying when she read about the baby boy in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. "My heart went out for the baby."
Yesterday, the boy, who is now almost 11 months old, officially became part of the Allen family. Family and friends, along with county and state officials, gathered for the adoption ceremony to celebrate a happy outcome for the baby boy.
The boy, who was in good health when he was abandoned last Aug. 27, stole the Allens' hearts as soon as they picked him up to be his foster parents that same week.
"It's been a long run," said Terrence Allen, an insurance salesman who celebrated his 31st birthday this week with the gift of a child. "He has been such a blessing to our lives."
The Allens knew from the start that authorities were going to try to find the baby's parents, but after no one came forward to claim the boy and the parental rights were declared terminated in January, the couple sought to become his permanent parents.
Child abandonment is rare in Virginia and when it occurs, Social Services usually finds a relative of the child who would take the custody, State Commissioner Martin D. Brown said. The state Department of Social Services said Nehemiah was the fifth child-abandonment case in Virginia last year after none was recorded in 2007 or 2008.
Most adoptions that result from foster care are usually with the involvement of blood parents, social-services officials said.
Nehemiah's extraordinary case made yesterday's occasion even much more joyful.
"It is a wonderful day," Brown said. "What could have been a tragedy is now a celebration. It is a celebration for the baby, it's a celebration for the parents, it's a celebration for Henrico County and for the state."
The only lament, officials say, is that a child was abandoned on the street when the option to give him up for adoption exists. In Virginia, a parent can take a baby within the first 14 days of birth to either a hospital that provides 24-hour emergency services or a rescue squad that employs emergency medical technicians and be protected from prosecution for abuse, neglect or endangerment.
[...]
Nehemiah"Baby Henrico," as Judge Gary A. Hicks called , was celebrated as a blessing yesterday. "There are a lot of things that take place in court, and this is truly a special occasion."
Bridget Allen, 30, a certified nursing assistant, believes it was God's purpose. "Nehemiah was for us," she said. "God allowed him to be there."http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2010/jul/17/baby17-ar-161398/
http://i31.tinypic.com/im44yd.jpg
Bridget,Nehemiah & Terrencehttp://i31.tinypic.com/i5c3fo.jpg