Milwaukee Adoption Day: 43 kids in Wisconsin foster care system adopted Friday
Adoption day in Milwaukee meant 43 foster kids left the system and won't return, finding 28 permanent families
Adoption day in Milwaukee meant 43 foster kids left the system and won't return, finding 28 permanent families
Adoption day in Milwaukee meant 43 foster kids left the system and won't return, finding 28 permanent families
Friday marked an emotional day at the Milwaukee County Juvenile Justice Center.
Forty-three Wisconsin children in foster care permanently left the program as 28 families finalized adoptions.
Eager, energetic kids filed into the courtrooms for their hearings Friday morning. They each left with permanent parents.
According to the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families, more than 600 children were adopted from foster care in Wisconsin last year. There are 7,000 children in the foster care system in Wisconsin at any given time.
Two of the children leaving the system for good are Noah, 3, and Ari, 2.
The two are a dynamic, energetic sibling duo destined to find a forever family.
They found it with the Branski's.
"It's been a wild journey and Arianna was with another family and they graciously volunteered to move her with Noah so they could grow up together, which is pretty remarkable," Mike Branski told 12 News. "They are a wild, energetic handful, but they're super sweet, loving and bright."
Mike and his wife Dani talked about having biological children but said life kept getting in the way.
When the pandemic hit, they made it their mission to register as foster parents.
"It was the direction we were pushed towards to do it," Dani Branski said. "I also was an MPS teacher for a few years and saw the rough places where the kids came from, and I wanted to make a bigger difference."
With the wallop of a gavel, it was official; Noah and Ari were theirs.
"This is what I've wanted, and I've been waiting for this moment for a long time, and it means a lot," Dani said.
Children's Wisconsin leaders said the 43 kids adopted today is more than double the amount on past "adoption days" in Milwaukee.