23 Jacksonville kids adopted ahead of Mother’s Day

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Just in time for Mother’s Day, 23 children were officially adopted at the Duval County Courthouse Friday.

Single mom Morgan Butler adopted Austin and Brandon after having grown fond of them over the past year.

STORY: ‘Give a dog a chance’: ACPS ‘critically full’, asking for adopters and fosters

“It just kind of turned into just hanging out with them, learning their story, what happened,” she said. “I wasn’t planning on adopting at the time, but it’s just one of those things I just knew was supposed to happen.”

Family Support Services and Judge Michael Kalil put on the event, resuming the first in-person annual Mother’s Day adoption since the start of the pandemic.

“It’s a wonderful event to be celebrating right before Mother’s Day, and so there’s a number of wonderful mothers who are adopting these kids, and we’re very excited for them to be celebrating both those mothers — as we know, that’s the hardest job in the world — as well as for these children today,” Kalil said.

Austin and Brandon told Action News Jax how excited they were for the adoption event, moments before it kicked off Friday afternoon.

INVESTIGATES: FDOT, JTA could be on collision course over Acosta Bridge lights ahead of Pride Month

“We’ll do whatever they want to do for the day,” Morgan told Action News Jax.

Austin and Brandon said they were especially excited to be adopted by Morgan just in time for summer break.

Currently, Family Support Services is working to find more than 300 kids in the foster care system their permanent homes.

©2022 Cox Media Group