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WILKES-BARRE — Tears of joy trickled down the cheeks of smiling faces in Luzerne County Family Court on Wednesday as a 21-year-old woman was officially adopted after spending 11 years in the foster care system.
As Judge Jennifer Rogers set her pen to paper, Brittany Ann Bullock would thereafter be known as Brittany Ann Ogurkis, and officially became the daughter of Michael and Lorine Ogurkis, of Conyngham.
“I’m still in disbelief, honestly,” Brittany said after the proceedings, which took place in Rogers’ courtroom on the third floor of the Bernard C. Brominski Building.
“I feel like the days were going by so slow, but now I feel like it got here so quick. I just still can’t believe it. I have all these happy emotions inside. It’s so exciting. It’s just emotional. It’s emotional for me. It’s sad that it had to take me this long to get here, but it’s happy that it’s finally here and it happened,” she said.
During the proceedings, Lorine testified about how she met and bonded with Brittany, a story she has told countless times to friends old and new but, nevertheless, one that continues to cause her to pause as emotions momentarily overcome her.
Brittany was a student in one of Lorine’s law classes at Luzerne County Community College while Lorine and Michael were pursuing the adoption of their infant son, Michael Jr., now 3, through the county foster system. She recalled how a then shy and withdrawn Brittany would always sit in the back row of class, looking down, until Lori began sharing her adoption experience with her students.
One day, Brittany mustered up her courage and approached Lorine after class. Brittany told her how she had aged out of the foster system at age 18, and how her current foster family — one of several with whom she had been placed over the years — had told her after her 18th birthday that “it was time for her to move on.”
Lorine shared with the judge how Brittany, then on her own and staying with a friend, had told her, “Do you know what it’s like to know that if I died tomorrow, it really wouldn’t matter to anyone?”
The two became fast friends, going to lunch before class, having their nails done together. And before long, Lorine and Michael invited Brittany to move into their home and become part of their family along with Michael Jr. and their three other children, Dyllan, 16, Delainy, 12, and Julia, 10, all of whom attended their sister’s adoption.
Lorine said that if it wasn’t for Michael Jr. and Brittany coming into their lives and exemplifying the great need for foster and adoptive parents in Luzerne County, she and her close friend, state Rep. Tarah Toohil, who served as the Ogurkises’ attorney for the proceedings, probably never would have co-founded Brandon’s Forever Home in Hazleton.
The nonprofit, which provides free clothing, toys, sundries and services to foster children, was started out of the Ogurkises’ home. Last year, thanks to community support, the organization moved into a house purchased by the nonprofit. And Brittany has been volunteering right alongside the volunteers to make the venture a success.
“I am so proud and so honored to be her mother. She’s so beautiful, inside and out. She’s the sweetest girl you could ever imagine,” Lorine told the judge, adding how her husband also bonded with Brittany, who she called “a daddy’s girl.”
“Today, we’ll be making it official,” Michael told Rogers. “But she’s been our daughter for three years now.”
Michael said Brittany has told him “She think’s she’s the lucky one, but it’s all of us who are lucky.”
Brittany said the words spoken by her parents made her feel “loved and cared about. … I know they always cared about me, but just to hear it makes you feel great. It made me feel good about myself.”
Normally, adoption proceedings are closed to the public. But Brittany waived her right to privacy, and the news media was admitted to the courtroom because she wanted to share some messages with the public.
“To kids my age, I’d say: ‘Don’t give up, there’s still hope.’ For the parents out there who are afraid to adopt the older ones, I’d say: ‘Open up your heart, look into it. You can start with mentoring because it can lead to my circumstance and turn out to be a good turnout.’ They won’t know if they don’t try it, and there are a lot of kids out there who need them,” Brittany said.
“People come up to me, ‘Oh, you’re 21. Aren’t you an adult?’ Yes, I am an adult, but I still deserve a family. Everyone deserves someone, just having someone to lean on, someone who’ll listen, someone to rely on,” Brittany said. “You’re never too old.”