Staff photo / Ed Runyan The newly expanded Souffrain family of North Olmsted poses with Judge Robert Rusu Jr., right, of Mahoning County Probate Court after an adoption ceremony Monday ended in the rotunda of the Mahoning County Courthouse. They are from left, Thomas, K’Alia, 12; Myra, 10; Zipporah, and Amira, 13. The three girls are siblings from Mahoning County who were all adopted by the Suffrains.

YOUNGSTOWN — Three sisters from Mahoning County officially became the Souffrain sisters on Monday in the county courthouse.

At the same time, all became the daughters of Thomas and Zipporah Souffrain during an adoption day ceremony carried out by Mahoning County Probate Judge Robert Rusu Jr. and Mahoning County Children’s Services.

It was an official legal hearing during which the parents, an attorney representing the girls and a children services caseworker attest to the children and their new parents being a good fit for a lifelong bond.

But it also serves as a way to show the public how adoption can improve the lives of children and the parents who adopt them.

Children services says Mahoning County has 49 children waiting for adoption. Of those, 17 have an identified adoptive family, but 32 others are without an identified family.

“If we can connect one waiting child with an adoptive family through this event, it is a success,” Rusu said.

The Souffrain sisters waited several years. One of the girls spent about seven years in nine foster homes. She was removed from her birth home earlier than the other two girls, who were placed with foster parents seven times, Elizabeth Kollar, children services adoption assessor and caseworker, said.

In this case, the girls were placed with the Souffrains, who live in North Olmsted near Cleveland, who saw a video produced by Northeast Ohio Adoption Services of Warren and decided to look into adopting the girls.

The Souffrains had spent the first four or five months having the girls come stay with them every other weekend, then move into their home as foster children in December.

At that point, Kollar traveled to North Olmsted for monthly visits to see how the family was doing, she said.

CSB tries to place the children with Mahoning County families where possible to make it easier for them to keep in contact with foster families with whom they have become close, Kollar said.

“I think our first choice would be anybody who is a match for the kids,” Kollar said. “Zipporah and Thomas are able to provide these kids what they need. They’re hands-on parents. They are extremely involved in school. They are extremely involved in counseling.

“So everything these girls need, these parents are able to provide,” she said.

Thomas said he and Zipporah had been married about two years when Zipporah viewed a video of the girls and suggested that they think about becoming foster parents. They had raised three children of their own who are now adults.

“We decided it would be nice to give back,” Thomas said. “It made sense. Just to give these kids the best possible chance to achieve in life.”

After six months of fostering the girls, they were ready to adopt. Zipporah said she has a background in foster care.

“I watched the video of the girls and got all misty eyed. When we both watched the video, we both had tears in our eyes,” she said.

“The girls, throughout their foster care journey, have been moved several times from home to home,” said video narrator Laura Murry of Northeast Ohio Adoption Services.

“And that’s just been really hard because they get comfortable, they start making friends at school, they start to find where they really fit in and then they have to pack up their bags again and leave,” she said while video of the girls together was shown.

“On top of the loss they have already experienced in the lives, they just have to lose those relationships that they have built and started to trust people again.”

“I would love to have a mom and dad to read with me,” Myra, 10, said in the video.

“What would really make me happy is to have a family.”

Anthony, 16, who likes interior design, was featured in a video played at the ceremony as another Mahoning County child hoping to be adopted.