Marine gets adopted in Christmas Eve ceremony

Marine gets adopted in Christmas Eve ceremony
The Associated Press
By FRANK ELTMAN
Published: December 24, 2013

MINEOLA, N.Y. — Lance Cpl. Christopher Mohedano-Hernandez found special significance in being formally adopted during a Christmas Eve ceremony held in a suburban New York courtroom.

The deeply religious 19-year-old Roman Catholic drew parallels Tuesday from his adoption by a man who married his mother when Mohedano-Hernandez was a young boy and the Biblical story of Joseph and Jesus.

"They weren't related by blood, but to Joseph, he was his son," Mohedano-Hernandez said. "I feel the same way about my father; he knows that I'm his son and I feel the same exact way. Blood relation or not, I am his son."

The adoption ceremony at Nassau County Surrogate's Court on Long Island also included two other families adopting young babies, but Judge Edward McCarty, a retired U.S. Army colonel who served in Iraq and Kuwait, paid special attention to the Marine and his family.

Mohedano-Hernandez is the latest in what experts call a growing trend of adult adoptions; McCarty estimates he has performed at least 40 adult adoptions in recent years.
read more here