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By Tovin Lapan (contact) 
Tuesday, Dec. 25, 2012 | 2 a.m.
It was a day full of adoptions in Judge Frank Sullivan’s courtroom. Thursday was one of a few days set aside toward the end of the year by the Clark County Family Court judge for signing off on adoptions. On this occasion, the jovial Sullivan wore ruby red robes and a Santa Claus hat, and every kid who walked through the courtroom doors received a lollipop. One family put an especially large dent in Sullivan’s candy bowl. It was the only family that showed up in two cars, including a white 12-passenger van. Catalina Maciel stood proudly, head held high, ...
Las Vegas,
NV
Wonderful story. This is one I'll remember for a long time.
Bless them. They are incredible people.
It sounds like in addition to huge hearts, the parents have great management skills. Managing 11 kids has got to be like herding cats. It sounds like the kids are team players, which is great.
My mom told me that back in what I would consider the old days, large families made it by having the older kids help out with the younger kids. I could barely get my two kids to refrain from killing one another. :)
I hope the family has a fantastic Christmas and New Year!
Lapan -- how warm and fuzzy. As much as the Maciels are worthy of praise, what about the families each of these kids came from? Your article fails by not mentioning that. In my experience a lot of adoptions are actually based on stealing children for profit.
"To different minds, the same world is a hell, and a heaven." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson (from "Metamorphosis"?)
Merry Xmas
KillerB: In between the lines there are clues, perhaps unknown to the reporter, that the adoptive families are using foster and adopted kids to qualify for many social welfare programs. How do you think that annoying tv family affords 19 kids? Yup, you and me. Tax refunds when they had nothing withheld. Down payment grants from the government. Free housing before buying. EBT SNAP food stamps, TANF, child care funding, endless non-profit programs..... Oh, I think it's great when a successful family adopts one or two, but to do so as a career INSTEAD of employment....not so good. And not even any mention of the $1,000 a month plus subsidy for each foster kid.