Earlier this week, Probate Judge Ben Bowden held a hearing on a non-relative adoption. It was the sixth placement of foster children into adoptive homes this year.

“Those are fairly rare in Covington County,” he said. “Usually, (adoption hearings are) for a step-father or grandparents.”

In this situation, he said, the birth parents have a lot of trouble and could not care for the child.

“So this young couple stepped in and adopted,” he said. “It’s a blessing to me to do adoptions, and it was a good day here to do that.”

Bowden said there has been an up-tick in non-relative adoptions in Covington County, and he credits the hard work of DHR employees for that change.

“DHR has worked to find not just temporary homes (for children), but homes with people who want to love and take care of them. I appreciate what they do.”

Bowden said adoptions are among the highlights of his job.

“We see a lot of different things in the probate office and probate court,” he said. “I value that role.”

It’s a role, he admitted candidly, that gives him some anxiety.

“I usually want to keep the children with me,” he said. “But there are home studies and criminal background checks. References are provided. The (adoptive parents) are people who are doing something that I describe as an act of grace. They are taking on the responsibility for raising somebody else’s child.

“As much as knowing child has got a chance because of this, I’m moved by the people who want to do that for a child.”