BUFFALO, N.Y., Dec. 16 (UPI) -- A judge in Erie County, N.Y., says a 61-year-old woman is now the legal mother of five biological sisters who had been her foster kids for 3 1/2 years.
The Buffalo (N.Y.) News reported Erie County Family Court Judge Margaret O. Szczur approved Jessie Washington's request to adopt five biological sisters between the ages of 6 and 13 and form a legal family.
"You are now, officially and finally, a forever family," Szczur said Tuesday.
Washington praised the judge's ruling, which came more than four years after she first took in one of the sisters as a foster child.
"I just felt like this weight was off my shoulder," said Washington, who became the foster parent to an infant Michelle Sayonna in September 2005. "I felt lifted up. The ultimate had happened."
Washington adopted Sayonna's sisters, Telesha, Jayla Infinity, Ladaeja and Lashaundra during the next year, the News reported.
"They don't have to go to school and have kids say they're in a foster home," Washington said of her new daughters. "They have a stable home, and it's going to feel permanent."
