Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
Bristol Township native Jim Cawley and his wife, Suzanne, made an important choice several years back – to foster a young boy who parents were no longer around. It didn’t take long but the Cawleys soon adopted the child and now love him as their own.
Cawley, Pennsylvania’s former lieutenant governor and current CEO of the United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey, told the story of how his family decided to adopt Nick, who is now in third grade. Cawley spoke last week during a National Adoption Day event at the Bucks County Administration Building in Doylestown.
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“We wanted him to be part of our life for the rest of his life,” Cawley said, adding Nick is well-adjusted and brings joy to their family.
Bucks County Register of Wills and Clerk of the Orphans’ Court Don Petrille presented the second annual Friend of Adoption award to Bucks County-based adoption attorney Samuel C. Totaro Jr. and his wife Andrea J. Totaro, executive director and co-founder of ANA Adoptions LLC.
Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
The couple has devoted their adult lives to helping both mothers who gave up their children for adoption and the families taking in the kids. Andrea Totaro noted they have taken calls in the middle of the night to talk with mothers who just need someone to listen.
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The Totaros, who met working on adoptions in Philadelphia in the 1970s, adopted themselves after Andrea Totaro had a stillbirth.
“We realized this was the plan for us,” she said.
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“National Adoption Day is an opportunity to recognize all of the people and organizations that make adoption, a vital and vibrant institution for the people of Bucks County,” Petrille said. “Each adoption brings new life and new hope to both adoptive children and adopting families.”
Petrille’s office annually handles 150 adoptions per year.
At the end of his remarks, Cawley urged families to adopt.
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“Do it. It will in fact make a huge difference.”
