Three families make adoptions official

St. Joseph County Probate Court Judge David Tomlinson had the pleasure Monday of making official the adoption of six children to three different families as part of the 14th annual “Michigan Adoption Day.”
Michigan Adoption Day is staged annually around Thanksgiving with the theme, “Giving thanks for families.” The celebration spotlights the joys of adoption and encourages more families to provide children with permanency through adoption.
The adoption proceedings Monday were for 12-year-old Isabella Suter of Fawn River Township and her grandparents, Dwayne and Cynthia Suter; twenty-month-old Thomas Vazquez of Sturgis and parents Jose and Jessica Vazquez; and siblings Aiden, 10, Analeah, 6, Misty, 4 and Aveah, 3, of Sturgis and their parents, Ray and Donna Bontrager.
Seventeen-year-old Abbigale Van Singel of Sturgis gave a testimonial about how her adoption as a baby resulted in a life of love and caring she might not have had otherwise.