What photographer sees at National Adoption Day

Photographer Patty Kaufman will get to the Durango Juvenile Court Center in Phoenix early today to set up a makeshift studio next to the bank of elevators that lead to the courtrooms upstairs.

This is the 19th annual National Adoption Day. In Maricopa County, 180 children, 90 boys and 90 girls, are scheduled to finalize their adoptions on this one day. That’s one of the highest totals in the country.

As soon as the new families step off the elevator, Kaufman will take their first portrait.

She’s done this for 15 years. She knows that families can be made in courtrooms. Her husband is adopted.

Kaufman hangs a backdrop. She gets only minutes with each family, but in those moments, she sees something special through her lens.

She has seen so many families come through here. A couple adopting for their eighth child. A new single mom of a teenager. Grandparents adopting grandchildren. One of her favorites was two dads and their daughter in a princess dress.

“I wanted to go home with them, too,” she said.

Some of the children have disabilities, some visible to her camera, some not.

Families wear coordinating outfits or the same necklace. One year, Kaufman shot a family of superheroes.

Another year, she squeezed 19 people into one frame.

“They just all kind of meld in there,” Kaufman said. One big, happy family.

So many foster children wait years for this moment. She can see the relief on their parents’ faces. This day makes the child permanently theirs. Forever.

Parents self-address an envelope so Kaufman can mail the 8-by-10 portrait for free. Her costs are covered by the Maricopa County National Adoption Day Foundation. She volunteers her time.

As Kaufman lines up a shot, her assistant plops a stuffed frog on top of her head. It ribbits, and the kids laugh.

She can see the love through her lens.