Staff photo / Ed Runyan Willow Nika Gemmell, 2, and her new dad, Andrew Gemmell, had a good time Friday during Adoption Day activities at the Mahoning County Courthouse.

YOUNGSTOWN — Kristine Daining of Poland said she is from a “larger family. There is always a lot of joy with that, and we’re a very close family. I want that for our children.”

Daining and her husband Timothy saw their family increase from four to six Friday when they adopted two children on Adoption Day at the Mahoning County Courthouse.

“We feel so blessed,” she said. “We just want to provide that care for them … and make a difference in their lives. They have just been such a huge blessing to all of us,” she said of Kimberly, 4, and Shepherd, 3.

The new Daining children were two of three children adopted during a hearing before Judge Robert Rusu Jr. of Mahoning County Probate Court. The annual event formalizes the adoption of several children each year, but also serves as a celebration of adoption with music and speakers and a party afterward in the courthouse rotunda.

Attorney Robert Christian served as the attorney for the Daining hearing, as well as the adoption hearing for Andrew and Jennifer Gemmell of Youngstown as they adopted 2-year-old Willow.

Under questioning by Christian, the couple agreed that Willow has been in their home since June of 2022 when they served as her foster parents. She has remained in their home since then.

Lynette Brown from Children Services testified that the Gemmels have provided Willow with a good home. “They are very engaged parents with Willow and it’s obvious the love they have for her. They have had her since she left the hospital. I’m just so happy. It’s been nothing but a pleasure,” Brown said.

“I think the best interest of Willow and the recommendation of Mahoning County Children Services is to adopt her,” she said. Brown also said Willow gets along well with her “little brother.”

This year’s event also featured two speakers, Regina Alston and Ed Metinger, both of whom are adults who were adopted.

Mahoning County Children Services has at any given time 250 to 300 children in need of foster care “with numbers rising.” The agency says there are not enough licensed foster homes in the county, and the agency is “seeking new foster and adoptive families for Mahoning County Children,” the agency stated in the Adoption Day program.

There also are 12 children in Mahoning County waiting for permanent adoptive families.