Baylor Law School Cultivates Ongoing Celebration Through Annual Partnership with McLennan County Adoption Day
Fostering and adoption are beautiful commitments stemming from a dire need. According to Baylor alumna Marissa Smith, B.A. ’12, M.Div. ’17, M.S.W. ’17, the crisis is evident in Waco: 77 local children currently reside in foster care outside their home community due to a severe shortage of local placements. Baylor Law School hosts McLennan County’s annual Adoption Day, which serves not only to make adoptions come to fruition, but also to cultivate a spirit of celebration throughout the process. This event reveals Baylor’s commitment to Christian values and service in a way that is positively transforming families forever.
Marissa Smith, now a licensed clinical social worker, experienced the celebration of Adoption Day firsthand through the adoption of her second daughter, Chloe. Smith’s first adoption experience for her daughter Cora was over Zoom due to the coronavirus pandemic. The first adoption felt "very, very quick" as her family “[sat] on [their] living room couch with not many family or friends,” Smith recalls.
“With Chloe, it was really about a redemption of that,” Smith said. “We wanted it to be a good celebratory day. We wanted it to be fun for Cora as well, so that way she could see [that] this is what adoption means and she could kind of experience it through that… It was… a redemption for Cora and a positive day for Chloe.”
A feeling of celebration undoubtedly marks this event. A theme, local food vendors, games and decorations are chosen and crafted every year to put memory-making at the center. A sterile courtroom becomes unrecognizable as decorations adorn the walls, covering up any sign of legal formality. For Chloe’s adoption in November 2025, the law school was a portal into the movie “Paddington Bear.”
“I love that Baylor celebrates Adoption Day so well– it’s not in a county courthouse, it’s not full of the scary things that have potentially happened there… it’s really built around a time of celebration and fun,” Smith said. “We wanted our kids to have really fun and positive memories of adoption day and so we’ve always leaned towards Baylor Adoption Day… Any time we see Paddington Bear for the rest of our lives, we will think of Chloe’s adoption day.”
The celebration would be impossible without countless eager volunteers. Students from the Baylor University School of Law serve as volunteers alongside other community members.
“There were a lot of people and a lot of moving parts,” Smith said. “I was filling out paperwork, I also was willing to talk to a reporter… and every time I turned around there was a Baylor Law student who was playing with my kids and just making them feel loved and celebrated and ensuring that they were having a good and fun time,” she said. “I do think that is what makes Baylor Adoption Day so special is that there are many volunteers there, and their only care in the world is that these families feel special and loved on this day.”
Bonnie Worstell is a current law student and president of the Baylor Law Public Interest Legal Society. This organization puts on the event each year, and Worstell has experienced the countless hours of planning involved in making this concept of celebration a reality. “We tend to have our heads down all the time doing a lot of work, so to get to see… the joy that the law can bring to a family is really special,” Worstell said.
Worstell’s personal passion for the event can be traced back to her own adoption experience. “It’s really fulfilling to get to celebrate kids who are experiencing what I experienced as a kid… Just the magicalness of having that affirmation that you are so wanted by someone that they want to officially make you their family is extremely special,” Worstell said.
Adoption Day points back to the university’s Christian values and commitment to service. Baylor University School of Law’s Associate Dean Patricia Wilson recognizes the spiritual celebration amid the decorations and themes. “Children held a special place in Jesus’ heart [in the Bible] and I think we have an obligation to take care of the vulnerable… [Adoption day] is one way that we can do service as called on to do,” Wilson said.
Similar to Worstell, Wilson has personal experience with adoption that colors her perspective of the event. Wilson was adopted and later adopted two children with her husband after caring for 20 foster children through the years. “A lot of what happens in a courtroom is very serious, it’s very somber, and often someone walks away disappointed,” Wilson said. “Adoption Day, or adoptions in general, are one of those legal proceedings where almost everybody is happy if not everyone.”
Baylor’s inaugural hosting of Adoption Day took place in 2006. A heart of celebration and service has always been the goal, but now the impact has expanded and will continue to. Along with the joy that comes from the legal permanence of adoption, it is clear that the delight on the faces of each family member is the return on all the labor that goes into the event.
“If you’re halfway through the year and you can wait 8 weeks or 12 weeks or 25 weeks for Baylor Adoption Day, I recommend it every time because it’s nothing like adopting in a courthouse,” Smith said. “Any time I know that a family is fostering and it is moving towards adoption… the first thing out of my mouth every time is ‘You should wait for Baylor Adoption Day.’ ”
