Baylor law students help with adoptions

Ten families, 14 children and Judge Alan Mayfield of the 74th District Court in Waco will meet in a Baylor University School of Law classroom on Saturday, Nov. 15, participating in McLennan County’s National Adoption Day celebration, says Bridget Fuselier, a Baylor Law assistant professor. Baylor Law School’s Public Interest Legal Society is hosting the event, during which Mayfield will sign final adoption papers for the 14 foster care children, says Fuselier, the faculty sponsor of the society. About 40 law students are helping to organize and plan the event, as well as assist the attorneys who are working pro bono with the families. The students also have contacted local businesses to obtain items or money for items to fill gift baskets for the families, notes Fuselier. This is the ninth year that National Adoption Day events are scheduled around the country to help raise awareness about children in foster care. During the morning event on the law school campus, the participants will enjoy refreshments and be entertained by 1L student John Clauder, a balloon artist, Fuselier says. “We have fun, but it is a formal process too,” she notes. “The children will become official members of their new families.”
-- Jeanne Graham