OLATHE, Kan. — It's something rarely seen as people come out of a courtroom — people smiling as 24 children from Johnson, Wyandotte and other counties were adopted.
"I delivered two children," joked Hope Hahn, who along with her husband adopted two children. "We added two to our family."
The Hahns have two biological children but two years ago, they felt there was something missing.
"We just wanted to help the community and be disciples of what we feel like we were called to do," Hahn said.
She trained with her husband and then all of a sudden, they got a call. They were becoming foster parents.
"It was these two," Hahn said.
In Kansas, there are more than 7,000 children and teens in foster care. In Johnson County, hundreds of children are waiting just to be placed in a foster home.
"That's just wrong," said Kathleen Sloan, a judge for the District Court of Johnson County. "So we need people to step forward and be foster parents because we have awesome foster parents in Kansas. We really do, but we need more."
Sloan puts children first, helping make sure they are in the right home and, sometimes, sees them get adopted.
She said days like National Adoption Day make her job an absolute dream.
"They have all been through so much trauma," Sloan said. "The children have and the families have. To be able to be done with foster care to have their lives in front of them, the future is so bright."
The Hahns said while it can be rough, it's worth it to give a child a forever family.
"It's just been amazing see our hearts continue to fall in love with them as our children. Like they are our children, they are our children now too," Hahn said.
To learn more about foster care in Kansas, click https://www.kvc.org/services/foster-care/.
