2 toddlers get forever famiies at Mahoning adoption event today

YOUNGSTOWN

‘We never outgrow the need for family” was the theme of the National Adoption Month observance in the Mahoning County Courthouse rotunda.

“You gave life to kids that you did not give birth to,” Randall Muth, executive director of the Mahoning County Children Services Board, told adoptive parents in the audience today.

“No matter how great my staff is, we would be paralyzed, we would be incapable of effectuating change and making lives better for kids without you,” he told them.

The event featured the finalization of the adoptions of two toddlers by Judge Robert Rusu of Mahoning County Probate Court.

To signal the event, the toddlers, held in their adoptive parents arms, banged the gavel Judge Rusu lent them.

The adoptees are Samuel Pearce Mager, who will turn 2 on Tuesday and was adopted by Matthew and Bernadine Mager of Youngstown; and Sarah Renee Delatore, 19 months, who was adopted by Drs. Jason and Rebekah Delatore of Poland.

Both couples had been foster parents of the children they adopted Friday.

Both couples were represented by Atty. Robert Christian, who has finalized more than 500 adoptions during his 39-year legal career.

Read more about today's event in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.