Adoptions bring jubilation for Trumbull County families

By Ed Runyan

Seven children were formally adopted Thursday.

WARREN — For most of the 19 years they have been married, Dan and Emma Glaeser have known that they wanted to adopt a child.

Trouble was, they couldn’t decide whether it should be a young child or teen.

“For 18 years, we went back and forth,” Emma said. “My husband always wanted teenagers, and I always wanted little ones.”

But a couple of years ago, Emma went to visit her uncle, Bill Troyer of Warren, and his wife, Sarah, and met the two little children living with them, Nadia and Aidan.

The Troyers, who have seven children of their own, were providing a foster home for Nadia and Aidan.

“When I met Nadia and Aidan, it was like I knew they were meant to be ours,” Emma said Thursday at the Trumbull County Courthouse. “I prayed for five days and told [Dan] about the kids.”

She then arranged a visit so Dan could meet them.

“Nadia crawled up in his lap and said, ‘Hi, Daddy,’ and that was it. He was smitten,” Emma says.

In the following months, the Glaesers took the required foster- parenting classes and then became foster parents to Nadia and Aidan in June 2008 with a goal of adopting them.

On Thursday the Glaesers were one of five families who completed that process, formally adopting Nadia, 4, and Aidan, 3, in a ceremony at the courthouse that also marked National Adoption Day.

In all, seven children were adopted during the ceremony.

“Nadia and Aidan are happy, healthy and well-adjusted. They have truly become a family,” said Maleen Cunning, an adoption assessor for the Trumbull County Children’s Services Board, which organized the ceremony.

Probate Court Judge Thomas A. Swift formally approved each adoption after hearing testimony from CSB workers on each case.

The theme of this year’s ceremony was “Filling Family Portraits,” which adoption advocates will use today on the steps of the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus to ask Ohio legislators to adequately fund the state’s adoption agencies.

For the event, sponsors will display empty picture frames, representing the 129,000 children nationwide who are in foster care waiting to be adopted. On average, a child stays in foster care about two years while waiting, said Marcia Tiger, CSB executive director.

In Trumbull County, 22 children are waiting to be adopted, and their photos were displayed in a frame during Thursday’s ceremony.

Also completing the adoption process Thursday was Elizabeth Lehman of Southington, who adopted 2-year-old Braydon after serving as his foster parent since December.

Lehman has been a foster parent to 11 children during the past two years and expects to continue to serve in that role, she said.

Lehman said one of the challenging aspects of being a foster parent has been not knowing much about the history of some of the children in her care. “It’s challenging not knowing what will happen down the road — like [the child’s] medical history,” she said.

Mark and Wendy Wagner of Howland were back for a second consecutive year.

The Wagners adopted Daina last year and completed the process to become permanent parents to Alaina this year. Daina is 21‚Ñ2, and Alaina is 11‚Ñ2, and the Wagners have had custody of the biological sisters since they were born.

The Wagners, who have fostered nine other children since 2005, also have two grown children, Kelly Bako, 26, Bobby Bako, 30.

“Now we have two sisters and occasionally two pseudo children,” Kelly said of her and her brother, who are both single. “They’re our internship in parenting.”

runyan@vindy.com