Home For The Holidays
Eighteen children were adopted during the annual event at the Marion County courthouse.
Robert Shaw, 7, gives Santa Claus a big hug and kiss after he was adopted during the Home For The Holidays adoption event at the Marion County Judicial Center in Ocala, Fla. on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025. Eighteen children found their new homes and families in time for the holidays during the adoption event on Friday. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2025.
Eighteen children found permanent homes Friday during the annual Home for the Holidays adoption event at the Marion County Judicial Center.
Circuit Judge Stacy Youmans presided over the adoptions on Dec. 12, finalizing each case in a courtroom decorated for the holidays. The event included a group adoption ceremony in which adoptive parents made vows and promises, and each child’s adoption was legally completed.
As part of the ceremony, Youmans read “Little Red Sleigh,” a children’s book about having the courage to reach for your dreams, with a little help from your friends, to the families and children gathered in the courtroom. The reading marked the start of the celebration, which is held annually to highlight the importance of permanency for children in foster care.
Following the court proceedings, families took turns posing for photos with Santa Claus, who was on hand as part of the holiday-themed event.
According to the event program, Home for the Holidays is designed not only to finalize adoptions, but also to raise awareness about the more than 360,000 children nationwide who remain in foster care and are still waiting for permanent families. According to the program, more than 15,000 foster children age out of the system every year without ever being placed with a permanent family.
The names of the 18 children formally adopted on Friday were read aloud during the ceremony, officially marking the end of their foster care cases and the beginning of their new families.
The children are:
Bentley Kean Flieger
Sadie Mae Rice
Braydon James Ricciotti
Rose Marie MacFarland
Roman Xavier Stewart Roberts
Eden Vasquez Stewart Roberts
Theo Yeshua Roman
Jayson Robert Dion
Maelyn Selena Dion
Marilyn Ivette Pedraza
Evalyn Ivette Pedraza
Scarlet Rose Shaw
Robert Wayne Shaw
Faith Elizabeth Barger
Isabella Grace Collings
Jordan Michael Rodriguez
Mila Reese (last name withheld at family request)
Sophia Bella Zayas
To learn more about adopting a child, go to adoptflorida.org
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