For Chancellor Thomas (Skip) Frierson, Nov. 18, National Adoption Day, will be special for two reasons - personally, because he and his wife Jane have three adopted children, and professionally as he helps create permanency in the lives of seven young Tennesseans.
Frierson, of Morristown, will open the Hamblen County Courthouse doors at 9 a.m. for a special Saturday adoption ceremony for the seven children, including two siblings.
The formal ceremony will be followed by a celebration. The judge, his staff and the Hamblen County Bar Association are providing refreshments and will decorate the courtroom with balloons. Each child also will receive a special Teddy bear to commemorate the change in their lives. Recognition also will be given to families who have previously adopted children.
For Frierson, the legal duty is a personal pleasur
“As the father of three adopted children - a daughter and two sons - I cannot imagine a more rewarding and fulfilling honor than to have a small role in creating these new families,” he said.
“Handling adoptions is always very special,” Frierson said. “Courtrooms often are the scenes of confrontations and angry exchanges, so it is wonderful to do something in a courtroom that makes so many people happy.”
The Frierson family includes children adopted in the United States and from Russian orphanages.
National Adoption Day was designed to facilitate the adoption of foster children and bring attention to their plight. Across the nation, attorneys, judges, foster care professionals and child advocates join forces to encourage the adoptions of children needing permanent homes.
Frierson and other judges across the nation finalized the adoptions of more than 3,100 children from foster care during 227 National Adoption Day events in 2005. Many of the adoptees had spent most of their lives in state custody. Currently, there are more than 7,100 foster children in Tennessee, including 838 who are eligible for adoption.
Frierson said in some cases parents have voluntarily given up their children, but many others have had their parental rights terminated by the courts because of child abuse or neglect.